It’s not an instant transfer, but it doesn’t take long to capture your funds.
You know by now that you can accept credit cards as payment for products and services in QuickBooks. But do you know how the funds get into your company’s bank account? It’s basically a 3-step process (if you don’t count setup).
In order to receive payment this way, you need to have a paid subscription to Intuit’s QuickBooks Merchant Service (requires monthly and per-transaction fees), which lets you accept credit cards within QuickBooks, on your e-commerce site or using a mobile device. We can help you get set up with this.
Simple recording in QuickBooks
Let’s follow the path of a payment through the desktop version of QuickBooks Premier 2013 (your program screens will look different in earlier versions). Say a customer received an invoice and wants to give you his credit card number over the phone (this is assuming you haven’t set up a payment link within your invoices, or that the customer is uncomfortable entering financial information online). You’d click the Receive Payments icon on the home page to open this screen:
Figure 1: You’ve probably used this screen before to record incoming checks. You enter credit card charges in a similar fashion.
Receiving payment via credit card is not so different from the process you’ve followed to record a check. You select a customer from the drop-down list next to RECEIVED FROM and fill in the AMOUNT field. Data from any outstanding invoices will appear in the register. (Note: If there are multiple invoices and the customer has submitted a partial payment, be sure that there’s a check mark next to the one(s) that should be credited.)
If you set up a credit card as a preferred payment method in the customer’s record, the card type, number and expiration date will automatically appear. If not, you can enter them here, though this is not necessary if you’re swiping a card. Be sure to put a check mark next to Process [card type] payment when saving. When all necessary fields are completed, save the transaction.
A central clearinghouse
After you click Save & Close, this screen from the Merchant Service Center (a password-protected site containing your merchant account information, processing tools and reports) will appear, with the customer’s payment information already filled in:
Figure 2: This screen appears when you are ready to authorize a credit card payment.
(Note: You should have already linked QuickBooks to your merchant account during setup. If not, you’ll see a message that tells you to do so and provides a link for creating the connection.)
If everything looks correct, click Submit. Your customer’s address will be checked to make sure that it matches the name, card number, etc., and you’ll receive a transaction receipt that can be printed or e-mailed (or voided) if it’s approved. This means that the cardholder’s bank has indicated that enough credit exists to fund the transaction, and it begins the process of moving the money to your bank account. This can take 1-5 days, though two days is typical.
More to do
You can log in to the Merchant Service Center anytime to access information about your account, including the status of deposits to your bank account. You can also set up email alerts so you’ll be notified when deposits are completed. Go to Account | Settings & Alerts to do this.
Figure 3: This is a screen from the Merchant Service Center, where you can create email alerts notifying you of deposits.
Of course, you still have to make sure that those incoming deposits are recorded in QuickBooks and applied to the correct invoices. This process varies depending on your QuickBooks version, method employed to capture funds, etc.
Let us introduce you to the Intuit PaymentNetwork. Its tools are intuitive, but it’s important that you understand the procedures involved in accepting credit cards. Once we’ve walked you through it a few times, you’ll be equipped to manage it on your own – and get paid faster in the process.