Paying small amounts by cheque

[Tapwaterbudget]

I give freelance music lessons and charge a nominal amount as am just starting out (think 13 eur an hour; am in Ireland).

One of my students always presents me with a cheque for this amount at the end of the lesson. He's a great student etc etc but aib to slightly resent the time it takes to go to bank (car drive away), deposit amount, wait to clear for 13 euro?!

i have strong hints as to why cash is preferable but all fallen on deaf ears it would seem

As a customer, I'd be concerned that if you asked me to pay you in cash, you'd be asking because you don't declare all your income for tax.

Explain your problem to the parents and ask them to pay termly, in advance if they'd like to continue paying by cheque, and give them a small discount as an incentive. That way, it's only one half hour trip to the bank every 12 weeks or so, and you have the money in your account before you've given the lesson.

NB - you can do bank transfers by phone.
NB2 - I can post cheques with paying in slip to my bank and they get paid in (First Direct)

but as PP said....if you don't want them then say so!

How is it taking the piss to pay you in a way you haven't said you dislike? Come on! People aren't mind readers!

As a customer, I'd be concerned that if you asked me to pay you in cash, you'd be asking because you don't declare all your income for tax.

Why would you think that?

Give them your bank details to transfer the money.

What mrsleighhalfpenny said. If you said gave a proper official receipt that might help, maybe he has to account for every penny. Communication is the key.

Some banks have a cheque scanning system so you pay cheques into your account by scanning them from your phone, Dh can do it through the Barclays app but I'm sure others must do it too.

As a customer, I'd be concerned that if you asked me to pay you in cash, you'd be asking because you don't declare all your income for tax.

Why would you think that?

Because that's what people do - cleaners, decorators, builders, gardners - they've all offered us discount for payment in cash at various times.

I'm a private tutor and accept cash, bank transfers, or cheques but charge a surcharge per check written. I also always write a receipt however I am paid, so there is a paper trail, which makes people feel more comfortable. These days most people pay by bank transfer, so I give the receipt at the next tutorial (whereas receipts for cash or cheque are given immediately).

Could they pay you with PayPal?

*cheque - sorry

Do you not have to make a small payment per cheque on most business bank accounts as well?

He probably pays by cheque because 13 is an inconvenient number - it requires you to have the right change etc: maybe put your lessons up to 15 EUR, and he might pay cash ;-)

Paypal do a small card machine type thing - I have no idea what the charges are for it, but it might be worth looking in it: I know people at craft fairs etc use them.

YANBU.

It's 2015. Live in the now. It's quicker anyway to do a bank transfer from your phone than it is to write out a cheque.

Some of us dont use phone/internet banking.

Well it's their choice not to use it BalletMum.

But for a person with internet skills and access, and a non-basic bank account, it's not the convenient choice.

You can even pay for and consent to school trips online these days. Why you wouldn't (assume you could) is anybody's guess.

Could you have a PayPal account specifically for your business

Lots of banks allow you to pay in cheques by post. I just pop them in an envelope and send them away.

Can you not bill monthly instead of taking payment each lesson if they're regular? Easier for you as well when you come to do your accounts.

Cash does have the implication that you're not declaring all your income for tax, at least subconsciously. Everyone knows a cash in hand job is cheaper for a reason...

And also having an uneven amount like €13 each week is annoying; I would have to make an effort to have the right change if I needed to pay that in cash every week. At least €10 or €20 you can take out at the cash point but not the extra 3.

builders, gardners - they've all offered us discount for payment in cash at various times

When I used to get paid by service users I offered a cash at the time discount, it was nothing to do with fiddling tax it just tended to mean actually got paid within 6 months. Every single penny was appropreatly declared

Agree with the awkward amount unless you have change on hand. Assume you're town based as where I used to live the nearest cash point that wasn't £££ to use was 8 miles away and I got caught by it being dead/empty a couple of times. Cheque book lived in flute case in case!

I'm sure not everyone who asks for payment in cash is on the fiddle, but some are.

I'm a private tutor, so similar profession. First and foremost, I'd say if you hold qualifications for what you do, you need to be charging the going rate (albeit maybe at the lower end, due to inexperience). In my experience, people value your service and treat you much more professionally if you yourself value your own skills and charge accordingly.

Then, ensure you have written T&Cs, outlining exactly how payment should be done. As a general rule (I make exceptions for odd occasions), I don't accept cheques because I've had numerous problems with them bouncing, being filled out incorrectly, wrong year put on, wrong payee given etc etc. So, I accept cash, bank transfer (monthly in advance, offering a discount to those who chose this option, because it's the most convenient for me), direct debit (using GoCardless) or PayPal. I can also take card payments using the PayPal Here option on my phone (no investment in a card machine needed), but PayPal do charge a 3.4% fee on this. I don't pass that charge on to the customer, because the benefit of getting an electronic payment outweighs the small loss in revenue.

Lots of different options you can explore. You can also use paym, if your back subscribes to it, which allows your customers to make direct bank transfer from their mobile phone to yours. All these (except cash) give a paper trail and are an awful lot more user friendly than cheques.

I pay by cheque for things like that because I like to have a record of paying.

Suggest he pays half a term at a time, which is what I do for music lessons.

Whatever you do, do NOT accept PayPal. A quick google will show you have vulnerable you would be as a 'seller'.

That's why it's only one option amongst others.

Another is Stripe, but you have to wait 7 working days for the money to appear in your account with them (but can work out cheaper than PayPal in some situations).

I think it's a case of trying out different options (whilst also giving customers a bit of a choice - but that is possibly more important as your business grows than when starting out, I think).