What We’re Reading: Strategies to Get Paid, Mobile Marketing, Mobile POS, and More (Part I)

What’s on your summer reading list? We’ll tell you what’s on ours, beginning this week. We’re sharing the most interesting articles we’ve read in a new weekly blog round-up of stories. We hope these provide insight into the world of small business trends, payments, mobile tips and more. Let us know what you think – (or anything we should add!) in the comments section below, or Tweet at us @IPNTeam.

Credit and Debit Card Evolution Forbes

The credit card. For decades, it has been critical for business transactions. However, its days as the primary method of payment are numbered. There are many changes set to take place over the next several years in the electronic payments and merchant services industry. Read more

7 Simple Strategies to Get Paid Faster and On Time Huffington Post

As a successful small biz owner, you’re brilliant at what you do. You’re on top of your craft and often go above and beyond to impress your clients and customers. Yet when it comes to billing your clients and tracking those expenses, it’s so much harder to feel the same passion. Rest assured, it’s not uncommon to put off your accounting. Read more

Happy holidays from the Intuit PaymentNetwork Team!

As we wrap up the year, we’d like to wish you a joyful holiday season and a prosperous 2012.

You might be hearing sleigh bells ringing, but this year, we heard you – our customers – loud and clear! As a result of your great feedback, here are a couple of the many features we’ve implemented:

• Credit card acceptance –Intuit PaymentNetwork businesses that send invoices through QuickBooks, QuickBooks Online and the Intuit PaymentNetwork site can now get paid by credit card, in addition to bank payments.

• Custom pay link – You can create your own pay link and insert it anywhere you want to get paid from (QuickBooks statements, your web page, your social page, emailed invoices, etc). Just sign in to Intuit PaymentNetwork and click on the ‘Custom Payment Link’ tab in the left navigation.

Lastly, we wanted to thank you for the positive survey feedback. The majority of our customers have reported that they are extremely likely to recommend Intuit PaymentNetwork to a colleague or friend. The best compliment you can give us is this level of referral, and for this, we are quite grateful.

Thank you for using Intuit PaymentNetwork. We hope we helped make getting paid faster and easier. The team here is looking forward to rolling out new functions and features in 2012 to make your business even more successful than ever.

Warmest wishes – IPN Team

QuickBooks Online users can now accept credit card payments

This holiday season, while elves are busy making toys … we’re working hard on adding functionality to make Intuit PaymentNetwork even better. This week, we launched a handful of new features and here are just a few highlights:

1. QuickBooks Online users can accept credit card payments.

Turning on this feature gives your customers the ability to use a credit card to pay their invoice. As a QuickBooks Online user, you can manage (turn on/off) this optional feature at any time by signing into Intuit PaymentNetwork and clicking on ‘Profile’ in the left navigation bar. Navigate to ‘Receiving Preferences’ and click the ‘Turn On’ button. That’s it – easy! All invoices you create and send after turning this option ON can be paid by either credit card or bank account. You can turn this option OFF at any time.

2. IPN pay links go mobile!

It’s now even easier for your payors to pay you quickly – wherever they are! We’ve introduced a mobile friendly experience for custom pay links, which allow your customers to easily pay you when visiting your website/Facebook page etc. And now, if customers tap on your pay link through a mobile device* they will see a mobile friendly site (see below).

* Devices supported: iPhone, iPod touch and Android devices. Other devices will display the desktop friendly IPN website.

 3. Scheduling credit card payments

Customers who receive invoices through Intuit PaymentNetwork and QuickBooks can now schedule a credit card payment, once signed in. Please note that merchants must accept credit card payments to activate this feature.

4. Adding other forms of payment

While sending a payment, in addition to selecting previously entered payment accounts, payers can now add a new bank account or credit card without exiting the payment process.

A big thanks to our Intuit PaymentNetwork customers for the feedback, which helps us build great products for you. Keep the comments coming!

Increase payment conversion by using IPN – Getting rid of sign ups

Dear users,

We work hard at helping you get paid fast. Based on your feedback we launched the following new features:

1) Guest payments on payment requests

Customers that receive ‘Payment Requests’ sent from IPN do not need to sign up anymore to make a payment. They can do one time ‘Guest Payments’.

Signing up does gives them the benefits of doing recurring payments and saving their bank account and credit card information for future payments…. but its not mandatory anymore.

2) Pay button on payment requests

Based on your feedback we have incorporated a ‘Pay By IPN’ button on payment requests.

3) Increased focus on your small business brand

The pay page on a payment request now says ‘Pay Payment Request from Your Company Name‘ at the top.

Here are some screenshots of our new features:

• New Payment Request email that a customer receives:

• Guest payment page when a customer clicks to pay:

Please provide feedback on these features.

Happy Thanksgiving from your IPN team

Help us spread the word – Like us on Facebook

WE ARE NOW ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER

Follow us on Twitter (@ipnteam) and check us out on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/IntuitPaymentNetwork)

You can also tweet about us (Twitter), recommend us (Facebook) or like us (Facebook) from the IPN Home Page

Top 5 reasons for joining our fan base:

1) Give us feedback. Your feedback has helped us improve IPN (recurring payments, pay links, guest payments, etc). Now you can post your thoughts on Facebook and we will consider your suggestions

2) Get updates on latest features and releases. You can now check our ‘What’s New’ section on Facebook or read our posts/tweet to be abreast of the latest features we launch

3) The more you rave about us….the more it helps awareness. With every like, recommendation or tweet, more users find out about IPN and start using IPN. This in turn helps you get more payments through IPN

4) Find out what others are saying about us.

5) and last but not the least…”We like you”.  As our esteemed customers we would love to have you be part of our social networks

IPN sign up in QuickBooks Online (QBO) is now simpler than ever

We’re happy to announce that we’ve rolled out a new and improved IPN signup in QuickBooks Online (QBO)

You can sign up for Intuit PaymentNetwork inside QuickBooks Online in the following ways:

• From Company > Preferences, on the side menu, select Accept Online Payment and then click Learn More

 

• From Create Invoice, click on Learn more under “Let customer pay online” in the Delivery Information box.

New improved sign up lets you get started in minutes.

 1)      It’s just one step: create an account using your QB online log in info and let us know which bank account you would like your invoice payments to be deposited into.

2)      Next, set up QuickBooks Online to record Intuit PaymentNetwork payments automatically.

 

 

Receiving more payments through IPN

While we’ve simplified signup, we recognize that our customers often need more processing power. You can either apply for higher limits right away, or later, by logging in to http://ipn.intuit.com.

Try it out and let us know what you think!

Significantly better “Reconciliation” for QuickBooks 2012

Dear users,

For the last few months you told us:

1) Is there an easier way to connect my QB company file with IPN?

2) Which business profile in SYNC manager should I use to link to IPN? There are many I have created and don’t really know which one I should use.

3) The current process of reconciling is complicated and is very challenging to understand and use.

4) Why does SYNC do double posting on my invoices?

5) Why cant I reconcile my 50 c fees in QB? My bank statements don’t match my deposits in QB. Can you fix this?

6) Whats a realm id?

We took all of your inputs and recently launched a turbo charged way to reconcile in QB 2012. Here is what you can now do to close your books

Access reconciliation directly from your Quick Books

Once you are in the QB company file that you want reconciled with IPN, go to the ‘Online Services’ menu in QuickBooks then click ‘Intuit PaymentNetwork’ and select ‘Download Payments’

Login to your IPN account that you want reconciled

Download payments into QuickBooks

• Click the ‘X’ if you don’t want to select a specific payment to download

• You can either chose to only close invoices or also choose to do bank deposits. Bank deposits will automatically record the fees against the QB bank you pick. Fees will be marked in an ‘IPN Fees’ expense account in QuickBooks

• You can select a single payment or multiple payments

• Both ACH (bank payments) and Credit Card payments can be reconciled

• Only payments off QB invoices can be reconciled

Confirmation

View downloaded history

Enjoy and please provide feedback on this feature…Your comments truly help us build a better product.

- Your IPN team

Donate buttons for non-profits, credit card on payment requests and a slick new home page

Dear users,

Thanks for providing feedback on the recent features we launched. Based on what you told us, we now have the following enhancements in IPN:

• Donate buttons

This is particularly useful if you are a non-profit and want to get paid for only 50 cents a payment from your web site. You can create blue and orange ‘Donate’ buttons when you add a new button from your ‘ECommerce Buttons’ menu on the left in IPN.

• Credit card payments on payment requests

We are extending credit card capabilities beyond QuickBooks invoices. Now as a small business when you turn CC capabilities ‘ON’ from your ‘Profile’ menu on the left in IPN, your customers can pay you using CC when they do an email payment from IPN or when then click the pay button on your payment request.

• Invoice/Reference # field in ‘Send Payment’ and ‘Request Payment’ flows

You can now track your payments or payment requests with a reference #. This reference # can be an account #, invoice # or any other identifier that you want to use.

• Memo field in ‘Custom Pay Link’

When customers pay from a customized pay link they can now enter a message. Some examples of messages could be ‘Payment for bolts delivered’, ‘Payment for account # 21269′, etc

• Emails on scheduled payments

You will now receive an email notification when a customer schedules a payment for a future date letting you know when the payment is scheduled for.

• New IPN home page

Slicker , cleaner home page that focuses on the key benefit to users (50 c payments) and other value added features (eCommerce payments, QB integration, etc)

As always…. please continue to provide feedback on what you like about the existing features of IPN and what enhancements you would like us to build to better serve your needs.

Thanks,

The IPN team

Credit card and recurring payments

PAYING USING CREDIT CARD

Customers that receive QuickBooks invoices can now pay using their Credit Card (VISA and MasterCard).

Set-up to pay with a credit card:

1. Sign In to your IPN account and click on ‘Accounts’ on the left
2. Click on ‘Add a Credit Card’
3. Confirmation screen

Paying using a credit card:

Now you can pay using a Credit Card on QuickBooks invoices if the Small Business is enabled for accepting credit card payments.

• Click on IPN payment link when you get a QB invoice

• Sign In to your IPN account

• Select your CC as an option to pay

• You can track your CC payment through IPN

PAYING USING RECURRING PAYMENTS

You now have the option of setting recurring monthly and weekly payments when you pay from IPN

You can manage your recurring payment schedules by going to the ‘Recurring Payments’ tab on the left

As our valued customers please feel free to provide feedback on these features. We strive to build better products based on what you tell us.

Cheers,

Your IPN team

Credit Card, Recurring, Variable eCommerce and Custom Pay Link

IPN Feedback

YOU SPOKE AND WE LISTENED

Thank you all IPN customers for guiding us and telling us what to build in the product. Based on your comments, emails and phone calls we are launching the following features this week (week of 3rd Oct):

Credit Card payments on QuickBooks invoices

IPN small business that send invoices through QuickBooks can now get paid by Credit Card in addition to Bank Payments. This is an optional feature and can be managed (ON/OFF) at any time by the small business by signing into IPN and clicking on ‘Profile’ on the left.

As always we continue to keep our promise of low fees; and this feature like bank payments will not have a monthly, set up or termination fees. You will also not be charged any fixed authorization fees/transaction. The only fee you will have to pay is 3.25% per transaction.

Recurring payments

You now have the option of setting recurring monthly and weekly payments when you pay from IPN

You can manage your recurring payment schedules by going to the ‘Recurring Payments’ tab on the left

Recurring payment requests

For small business (e.g. landlords, home owners associations, etc) that invoice/send payment requests from IPN, you now have the option of setting recurring monthly and weekly payment requests

You can manage your recurring payment request schedules by going to the ‘Recurring Payments’ tab on the left

Variable eCommerce

You can now create variable price eCommerce buttons to place on your website in addition to fixed price eCommerce buttons. When you go to add a new button from your ‘eCommerce buttons’ tab in IPN, leave the price field blank to create a variable price button. This can be beneficial to non-profits for donations as well as to associations that take membership fees online.

Custom Pay Link

And now saving the best for last. Life is full of choices and payments shouldn’t be any different. As small businesses you can now create your own pay link and insert it anywhere you want to get paid from (QuickBooks statements, your web page, your social page, emailed invoices, etc). Just sign in to IPN and click on the ‘Custom Payment Link’ tab on the left.

As our valued customers please feel free to provide feedback on these features. We strive to build better products based on what you tell us.

Cheers,

Your IPN team