SMS Payments/Pay by text

[downsouth]

Just looking into the area of SMS Payment for a sports club to assist with membership collection, low level transactions etc

Does anyone have any views on this? currently does it? and who the provider is?

 

[Nochexman]

Are you thinking of using SMS to send out a payment link to collect membership payments?

 

[andygambles]

Banks can offer the PAYM system to businesses which allows you to receive payments by text message.

I know Barclays offers this service. As your own bank what they can do.

 

[arnydnxluk]

Transaction fees on SMS payments can be anywhere between 20% and 50%+, so compared to the usual options (card payments, direct debit or simple bank transfers) it's very expensive. Additionally it's limited to digital content only AFAIK and there is often a minimum monthly turnover required. SMS is normally used in industries where people can't or won't use traditional payment methods, such as gaming. Even something as simple as linking a payment to a certain customer is going to become more difficult with SMS payments. Something like GoCardless seems like it would be more suitable for membership fees?

 

[downsouth]

Are you thinking of using SMS to send out a payment link to collect membership payments?

Not an SME in this area for sure, but was thinking text ££ to YYYYY, where ££ is the membership amount and YYYYY is the SMS number

Feasible?

 

[downsouth]

Transaction fees on SMS payments can be anywhere between 20% and 50%+, so compared to the usual options (card payments, direct debit or simple bank transfers) it's very expensive. Additionally it's limited to digital content only AFAIK and there is often a minimum monthly turnover required. SMS is normally used in industries where people can't or won't use traditional payment methods, such as gaming. Even something as simple as linking a payment to a certain customer is going to become more difficult with SMS payments. Something like GoCardless seems like it would be more suitable for membership fees?

Thanks Mike, i'll take a look, those fees seem very punchy to say the least!!

Obvious blocker here is that club doesn't have a ecommerce website, but i'll take a look at the cardless site for options etc

 

[Nochexman]

Feasible - yes, but very expensive. As arnydnxluk points out, transaction fees on SMS payments are in the 40% range last time I checked.

The way we use SMS is to direct the "YYYYY" to the club's payment page or a membership page on our website (enables the club to collect information from members when they renew their membership). Generally seems to work pretty well, but email is cheaper. We tend to use SMS for laggards only.

 

[downsouth]

So are charities etc paying 40% fees when they say text 5 to YYYYY to donate your fiver etc

or is this a complete volume based industry?

 

[Nochexman]

So are charities etc paying 40% fees when they say text 5 to YYYYY to donate your fiver etc

That is an interesting question.

As I understand it registered charities receive the full amount of the donation at no charge to them. The donation is either added to the phone bill or taken from the balance of a pay-as-you-go account. The amounts tend to be quite small - say £5.

Is your sports club a registered charity?

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

For the membership would card payment/Direct Debit not be an option?

 

[downsouth]

yes they are options, this was more about expanding the range of options, some of the guys live on their phones so this might be a simpler way to get them to pay, few seconds and done style

 

[arnydnxluk]

yes they are options, this was more about expanding the range of options, some of the guys live on their phones so this might be a simpler way to get them to pay, few seconds and done style

True that people are on their phones but given that most people have a smartphone they can easily open their banking app and make a transfer from their phone within a couple of minutes.

The PayM idea was good but will just confuse things IMO (requires registration I believe).

Here's a good idea for simplifying payments, how about the PayPal Here Card Reader?

https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/credit-card-reader

Then your members will just need to pull their contactless card or smartphone out and tap it on your card reader, boom - payment complete.

 

[Nochexman]

yes they are options, this was more about expanding the range of options, some of the guys live on their phones so this might be a simpler way to get them to pay, few seconds and done style

Send them an invoice via email - much cheaper than SMS.

 

[Nochexman]

Just looking into the area of SMS Payment for a sports club to assist with membership collection, low level transactions etc

Does anyone have any views on this? currently does it? and who the provider is?

What did you decide to do in the end?