I’m in a band, and am going to start selling our debut CD on the band’s website. I already have a Paypal account, so is that the best way to go to allow secure credit card payments? Does a person have to have a Paypal account to use a credit card, or can they just plug in the information for a one-time use?
Also, what are the legalaties regarding money order payments? Can they make the money order out to the band? My ‘band name’ is different then my legal name, so I don’t want them making the payments out to me. Any suggestions?
To make a payment with PayPal, your customers must first sign up as PayPal members, which can take a few days to jump through all the security hoops. You will probably lose some sales to people who don’t want to be bothered, or who don’t trust PayPal. The only alternative is to process credit card payments yourself, which means you have to get a merchant account. This costs $250-300 to set up.
Your band is a business, so you will need to register as a DBA (Doing Business As) with the state or local government entity that issues business licenses in your area, usually the county. They will require that you collect sales tax (if applicable in your area). With your business license, you can open a business checking account in the band’s name, and deposit checks made out to the band name.
That’s NOT true, “Fear”. You can make a payment in seconds with Paypal. It does take a few days (confirming bank transactions) to be a member and ACCEPT payment, but you can send money to anyone with an e-mail address at any time. Via Credit Card. I accept Paypal from my website and I get money from non-Paypal account holders all the time.
Your statement about people who don’t trust Paypal stands unchallenged.
You cannot send a PayPal payment without signing up with PayPal. However, you may be correct in that it doesn’t take as long to sign up if you just want to make a payment.
I have tried this on several occasions and it has failed each and every time. It has always ended up with PayPal saying they would charge my card, I would have to wait several weeks for my credit card statement to arrive at my home to get a number and then my membership would be confirmed. I have never been able to simply pay a PayPal user without ending up going through the rigamarole of signing up for membership.
Bias Discalimer: I hate, hate, HATE PayPal, as a result fo the problems we had and their extremely lousy customer service.
JAPru one band I work with lost hundreds of sales from customers who had started the PayPal process, but then never completed it because it took a few days too many (essentially, it wasn’t immediate). I would recommend CD Baby as one of the most artist-friendly thrid party services, or if you expect o sell about $50 worth or more a month, e-mail me and I can tell you about a few other third-party processor options that are used by our artists effectively, and I can give you some information on CD Baby-like services to avoid (who are in doo-doo with the Better Business Bureau.)
I work with, and network with many, many indie artists and have never heard any bad feedback about CD Baby. They seem to run a smooth operation and can also take orders by telephone (and may link up with iTunes).
As for cheques or money orders made to your band name, I can address that as well, but I’d need to know what juristiction you’re in. Eg./ I know a few bands you have registered their band name as a business name and can accept cheques or money orders made out to the either the business proprietors or the the business. But note, you’ll likely want to avoid a Small Business bank account because the user fees will bleed you dry.
Eats, I’m trying to E-mail you, but I keep getting an error. Please E-mail me when you get a chance at JoelWhy@dearstarlet.com
As for CDBaby, it looks like a great site, but since the CD is an EP, we’re only selling it for $5.00. CDBaby charges $4.00 per CD, which would be fine for a full-length, but isn’t workable for what we want to charge. I think we’re going to need to use some type of service that allows for the direct charging of credit cards…