How to accept hassle free Direct Debit and card payments

HowTo, Payments, , , , , , ,

For us, it is really frustrating to see businesses who are still operating but unable to take card payments or direct debit payments for recurring or subscription based products.

We are going to introduce a couple of solutions on this post.

We are not affiliated with either business and only writing this post to help other like minded small businesses and hope you find the information useful.

  1. Go Cardless. If your business offers regular and recurring invoices for services or products that are charged weekly, monthly, or annually then this service will probably be a good fit for you.

We use this service as it’s integrated with our accounting platform Quickfile.  You can set it up easily to receive payments from customers on your invoices. It gives us the opportunity to set up the payment via Direct Debit.

For more information and to see an overview click here

 

 

2.  SumUp. If you want to take card payments with no subscription or line rental, wherever you are (great for stationary stores or for mobile sellers, market stalls, pop up shops and more) then this solution is great.

Albeit, the majority of payments we take are still by cheque (or PayPal), we do have and use the app provided by SumUp occasionally. It ties in well with our accounting software, see above, and allows you to take card payments with no hassle whatsoever.

There are some restrictions, such as countries you can use the product, but for the UK, there is no problem at all.

When we first signed up, there was no requirement for the card reader, and I believe we still have the original product, so have to check if that still works… will update the blog when I have checked!

Ultimately, there is no reason at all, why any business has to limit itself by not accepting direct debit or card payments! Both the above provide mobile apps for Apple and Android and therefore catering for just about anyone.

Why you shouldn’t pay for PC security

Macintosh, Security, Software, , , , ,

We are firm believers that you shouldn’t have to pay for antivirus security for your PC or Mac.

If the manufacturers of the operating system have left it vulnerable in any way then they should be the ones that pay or there should be free alternatives. So, without further a do, here is some great free software you can use to keep your computer secure.

With Mac, viruses aren’t so much the issue as is malware, this is generally due to the way the OS is developed (and based on Unix).

PC:

For a little while now Microsoft have provided free software in the form of Microsoft Security Essentials, and now Windows Defender, which is built in and updates when Windows updates. So cancel your annual Anti-virus subs and download this instead!

Link: http://go.frantik.it/mse

Note; this is for Windows 7. If you have 8 or newer it’s built in and you don’t need to worry.

Mac: We have provided links to a couple of great AV packages for Mac previously! See the following: Free Antivirus For Mac

On checking these are probably still on top. Don’t hang around and test either today!

Alternatives:

We always recommend using Malwarebytes Free too to use in addition to the above and this can be used once a week or month just to make sure your computer is protected.

Link:  http://go.frantik.it/mbam

 

How to create a Twitter bot using Bot Libre

Social Networking, Twitter, , ,


We have recently been involved with creating some Twitter bots to help us save time by automatically tweeting at set times. Although there are services that allow you to do this they do charge for full functionality whereas this service is free.

To create the bot you can use the steps given on the following page here: Bot Libre Twitter bot

We have so far created 3 and it saves a lot of time, we only use the feature of automatically tweeting but there is an endless feature set.

Let us know what you use yours for?

Remain vigilant about Malware!

IT, Malware, Security, , , , ,

malware

Many people get so used to being warned about suspicious files they may receive via email that they become bored with it. I know that we almost get too curious about certain things sent to us, or links that crop up on social media.

It is important to remember though, that if you don’t recognise the sender, or web site you are about to visit, it’s probably best not to click on such links. This is in the same way you’d do with junk mail sent through your letterbox in that you’d probably bin it straight away… you have to do the same thing with digital media. Take a step back before clicking or opening anything and think twice beforehand.

Unfortunately, Windows systems are still more frequently targeted compared with Mac or Linux but that doesn’t mean we should be any less vigilant!

Get yourself protected by downloading antivirus protection; see the following page for more info!

And if in doubt trash it, don’t open the attachment, or click on the link. If it’s really important the sender will contact you again.