Looking for help with PTFA payment systems

[Mumski45]

Hi
I am the treasurer of a secondary school PTFA and we are looking at ways of taking payments by contactless and chip and pin payments at events as we are missing out on sales by having to take cash only.

I have researched this and looked at the izettle reader which seems like good value and a simple system to use but wondered if I could please harness the power of mums net to ask the following:

• does anyone have experience of using izettle in either a PTFA or small business setting
  
• Could anyone recommend another system which they are currently using
  
• the basic system does not provide receipts and I wondered if this would be a problem and prevent people from using it. I think we could buy a printer but this involves more cost and would make selling at events more complicated.
  
  Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Mumski45]

Sorry I have another question. As we are a registered charity I think there may be issues with security as we have a policy of requiring 2 signatures for any payments.

An online account would be under the control of only one person i.e. the bank account which deposits are paid into could be changed by whoever knows the password for the account leaving open the opportunity for fraud. However is this any different than one person having the takings from an event in cash and taking it to the bank the next working day.

Has anybody found a way around this or is the risk accepted in the same way that risks around cash are accepted on the basis of trust.

Thanks again.

[TeenPlusTwenties]

Hi. Fellow treasurer here.

We also occasionally use izettle. We have had no issue with people wanting receipts.

Pros

• people who no longer carry cash can buy things
  
• seems quick to get going on the evening provided you have internet access (I think we use the school wifi)
  
• seems relatively easy to add new things (e.g. we have hot drink, cake, cookies, wine etc)
  

Cons

• someone needs to provide their tablet / phone to run it. I don't currently have a tablet or an app enabled phone so we need our chair/secretary to be their with theirs
  
• we often have 2 or 3 selling/payment points at school musical and the izettle can only be at one point (unless of course we bought more), so we have it with the alcohol where sales are higher
  
• as treasurer I have to wait until the emails come through the next day to know how much we took online
  

At the moment I would still say cash is easier for me, but for parents without cash on them it's great.

On the whole positive, and that is from a tech-averse person.

[JammyDodgersandPeas]

I use SumUp for my small business, it works really well, easy to use and you can send receipts by email or text by just entering details at the checkout.

[TeenPlusTwenties]

The izettle payments only go in to your bank account, they take their commission before transferring the rest, so I don't think the 2 signature thing should matter.

We have recently started trying to do rough count of cash at events to mitigate the risk of me running off with all the takings. But we currently only have 1 signature on cheques as it's just too awkward otherwise. It's a risk v practicality issue.

[TeenPlusTwenties]

The thing with PTA events is you tend to need very fast throughput (eg refreshments in intervals of shows), so I think faffing with emails or phone numbers could slow things down a lot?

[Mumski45]

Hi
Thanks very much for your help and advice. My main worry is around security and the ability for someone to get into the app and change the bank details for account which the money goes to.

[MrsJoshNavidi]

Can you not advertise the event as cash only OP?
We don't have any problem at Guiding events, no one expects our Christmas Fayres etc to take electronic payments.

[Hoppinggreen]

We only take cash (PTA), we are very clear about it and it’s never been a problem. The Treasurer says it’s easiest for her and as she’s the one who would have the extra faff then the rest of us agree.

[Mumski45]

Yes we do currently advertise our events as cash only. However people don't always take notice and as generally people carry less cash we sometimes lose sales. At events it is generally drinks sales but we also sell other school related items.

In addition to events we have a school shop which is open for a few hours on a Friday and Saturday selling second hand uniform and school branded products. Apparently there are often people asking to pay by card or restricting items they buy to the amount of cash they have on them so we could use it for that as well.

[CostcoFan]

I use iZettle with a youth group - mainly for ticket sales but also for club t shirts. Works well. We don’t always email receipts if it’s very busy - but once a card has been used the system remembers the email. We have never done printed receipts.

I think the risk of the money being redirected to another account is the same as trust for taking cash. You could in theory change the bank, but we only have the app installed on selected, trusted peoples devices. When people are taking payments, the door people never have time to alter the app (and most wouldn’t know how to) and the owners are trusted not too.

We like the reports of type of taking.

If you want multiple selling points, I guess you have a cash only bar and another that can take card payments. People can cope with this in supermarkets so think it would also work in other situations.

It does rely on an internet connection - but I have used my phone as a hotspot before and it’s fine.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

@Mumski45 the Barclays community ( charity account) allows on line payment authorised by a single person ( cheques still need two). We use this for a charity I run.

[lljkk]

I'm rebooting a Zombie because I have similar issues.... and wondering if anyone has found better solutions. In my case -- Treasurer will NOT be present at the cash-taking point. In other words, I don't think a Paypal or iZettle solution will work unless random junior volunteers who turn up on the day are given access to the payment confirmation solution.

also keen to get a system which is 100% fee, no processing fees to pay.

I wondered about a payment app that generated a QR code and then some kind of consistent looking payment confirmation system, a message that could be displayed on phone.

I'm probably asking too much, but worth asking again?
iZettle might be ok but I gather it's illegal for us to add 1.75% to the charges, and why should we accept lower payments from cards than we get by using cash?

[lljkk]

ah come on, all those MNers who never use cash any more. You must have solved this problem.... right? Cost free-digital payments that can be verified by someone with no financial responsibility.

[Mumski45]

@lljkk I am no longer treasurer of this PTA but am aware that they have recently started to use sumup to take payments at events and in the school shop. This has no subscription charge and only a small se yup few although I think there must be a % charge on each transaction.

[TeenPlusTwenties]

I'm no longer treasurer either but I don't think the PTA has run any events since the start of the pandemic.
I would be surprised if you could find any system that runs entirely for free (why would they?). We viewed the losing small commission a better option to losing the whole sale.

I think that if the treasurer isn't present then you at least need another senior/experienced committee member there? Otherwise who is 'running' the activity?

[lljkk]

I gather 1.69% is SumUp charge.

Volunteers = parents & partners of the participants --and actually I participated this time, too, as well as volunteering at the payment/sign-in point. We've been doing this same event for years & the more senior people do pop up briefly to see how we get on.

Actually I do another regular event where we have a different elec-payment system, but that's small event, more manageable. I'm not treasurer on that either, the Treasurer has enough to do (!)

I will relay the suggestions back to committee (I'm not on committee) but looks like my make-shift solutions (a few of them) is as good as it gets. It may or may not be a hassle for me, better if I know what to expect in advance. Committee can decide if they want some other system, I guess. It's funny because DH was main organiser, and he uses electronic payment as much as possible, but thought it was unreasonable that on-the-day entries wanted to pay electronically (not cash). Advance entries are electronic payment, so this was just us accommodating late entries (which made sense in these covid -uncertain times).

[lljkk]

ps: thanks for replies