Secure invoices for payment online?

[Boswell]

Could anyone advise on a reasonable solution for secure invoice payment, by our customers, online?

We need to send invoices for secure payment by credit card. Our workaround has been PayPal. With PayPal you can design invoice templates (up to 10, I think), although they are a bit crude, and need tweaking to make them legal for UK VAT purposes (you can store your VAT number etc.). The customer can then choose to use PayPal or, if they don't have a PayPal account, use their credit card.

Advantages for us is that the system is fairly flexible and quick - also it's totally online and can be sent from any PC with online access (in an internet caff, for instance), and to secure a sale I need to respond quickly. The PP invoices can also be tweaked to show our bank details in case the punter prefers to make a bank transfer. Some invoices (in our experience to France) arrive with the template translated into a foreign language.

Another advantage is that you can bill in a whole load of currencies, though £ Sterling, US$ and € Euros are all we need, and these stack up in separate PP accounts. PayPal also accepts Amex (which we ditched a couple of years ago).

Serious downside is the high commission rate (3.9%?), the customer can feel they are being pushed into joining PayPal, and the fact that some countries make it very difficult to use PayPal (Eastern Europe and China in our experience - maybe due to local banking regs.?). Another disadvantage is PayPal's chargeback system which appears to work very much in favour of the punter - a dispute could be messy and lengthy - PayPal technical support is a mystery to us - beyond dire.

Another workaround is using a simple shopping cart but it's clumsy, for this purpose, and not easy away from the main desktop.

What we are looking for is a secure online invoicing system which could tie into our merchant credit card account system - similar to PayPal, but to take advantage of our lower-rate-commission merchant system. There are plenty of secure merchant systems, and quite a few online invoicing systems, but we need a solution which blends the two.

Explained badly, but hopefully might be understood, and would appreciate any leads.

[openmind]

www.whmcs.com

We use for the hosting side of the business but you could probably adapt it for your needs.

[Boswell]

Seriously useful, thanks, Phil.

A few questions, which I've fired off to their support.

[Boswell]

WHMCS were very helpful with their response, but their system would have problems dealing with 4 separate (small) businesses, and we're not in a position to have 4 separate accounts.

It's a very sophisticated solution, but our needs are very simple - invoices which can be paid securely online - there has to be a solution besides PayPal, so still looking.

[Boswell]

Interesting to see that this thread is #1 on Google for:

online secure invoice system uk

I've not found a solution - there are plenty of firms out there offering online invoices, but trying to keep it simple, without all the bells and whistles, isn't easy - especially an outfit in the UK (I assume that would be easier to hook up to a UK merchant c'card service).

Surely this is something that many of us would use? Customer orders via email/web/phone/snail mail; we generate an invoice as a web page on a secure site (or email and attached PDF); customer chooses to pay via credit card / PayPal / bank transfer, invoice downloadable at both ends as a PDF.

If PayPal can do it surely there's a market for it?

Simple, neat, carbon friendly, quick....what don't I see?

[EasiEar]

Have you tried Tweeting your question? Maybe an entrepreneur is "listening"!

[Boswell]

Thanks, I have to admit that I don't 'get' Twitter for business use, yet, and I would have thought there's enough knowledge on this forum to give us a lead.

I've found a dozen outfits, with perfectly good systems, but they're either very US orientated (so can't use a UK c'card service) or tied to PayPal or WorldPay, so commission is high.

[Boswell]

Online invoicing looks routine in N. America, but in its infancy here. I've tried 15 systems out, but only one looks hopeful.

One idea is not to consider invoicing on its own, but to try online accounting systems, so it knocks off business accounts at the same time as solving the invoicing problem.

There are some complicated systems, out there, and some high prices for quite clumsy solutions. Intuit's Billing Manager, based in the States is an interesting one - totally online, no limits that I can see with number of customers, invoices etc. and proper PDF downloads at each end (seller and buyer). Plus the added attraction is that it's free. Equivalent UK products are from £12/month upwards - in some cases double.

Not just invoices, but useful for reminders, estimates (to convert to invoices), statements etc.

Tech support looks good, and there's a related forum. I've asked them to consider adding an option for (use in the UK) BACS payment and information for the customer to make an online bank transfer. The fields are tweakable, so maybe that's dead easy.

Even stranger is that the UK end of Inuit have never heard of it, and although the default currency is US$, you can tweak it to any currency and tax rate you prefer.

Downside so far, is that payment providers are US outfits (and the tie to them may be the reason it's free), but I can't see any reason at all that it can't be hooked to a UK merchant credit card service - it's totally secure. Surely we've got enough clued up guys on this forum to tie this service to a UK PSP and come up with a winning combination?

(no affiliation....yet)

[openmind]

If I had a completely free week (that's how long it would take) I would knock something up but I'm up to my eyeballs...

[consultant]

Boswell,

what accounts system do you you use? If you have to enter your invoice on 2 systems, this is costing you, never mind the Paypal charges.

If you used an online accounting system they may have this option built in.

For exisiting invoices could create a paypal button that you can add to an invoice (even a pdf). Also, clients do not need a paypal account to pay by card (maybe on PP Pro?).

As for charges, if you are doing a reasonable volume you can get a discount from PP.

Have you spoken to your merchant account provider? As Phil indicates, you could get someone to code something specifically to tie into your merchant account, like the paypal button!