PayPal’s New Download format – Big Red Consulting to the rescue!

If you are importing PayPal transactions (from your Zen Cart!) to Quickbooks using PayPal to QB Link from Big Red Consulting, you need the new version of this software to deal with Paypal’s new download format!  PayPal finally did away with their legacy downloader (and its associated format), and now all users must use the new download interface.  This is a new change; as recently as Oct 1, 2018, I was able to use the Legacy downloader.

Grab the updated PayPal to QB Link (sometimes just called PayPal Link) here: http://bigredconsulting.com/latest-version-info/

You will need to re-import your QB lists and modify the download format within PayPal, but the documentation will lead you through all of this.  BIG UPS to Big Red Consulting for being 100% prepared for this PayPal change!

Getting creative with payment processing

A while back, Braintree was offering a special – process $50K worth of payments for free.  You bet I signed up!  And at a standard 2.9% rate, this represented a $2500 savings over the lifetime of the offer.  But all good things must come to an end, and I noticed that last week, I started paying fees on Braintree transactions. Ouch!

So what’s an entrepreneur to do?  My suggestion would be to get creative with your best customers, and ask them to use fee-free bank-to-bank payment options rather than a credit card.  Here are a few you can check out:

  • Venmo – Venmo has been around for a while and was acquired by Paypal in the Braintree acquisition of 2014.  Venmo is heavily tilted towards mobile/Facebook, so it makes sense if that’s your demographic.
  • Zelle – Zelle is pretty new and supported by a wide swath of big banks.  I think it might take off and become a Venmo-killer.
  • Google Wallet – You didn’t really think I wasn’t going to talk about Google, did you? 🙂  Google Wallet is interesting because they offer more fraud protection than many vendors do – if this is a concern for you, take a look.

These payment methods are really more designed for individuals rather than businesses, so don’t hold your breath for an integration with your favorite shopping cart, but you might want to offer these methods for settlement with your best customers, and split the fees with them.  Who wouldn’t want to save 1.5%?  – on $2,000, that’s $30!

2 series Mastercards and your Zen Cart

You may have already heard that Mastercard is rolling out cards that start with a “2” instead of the traditional “5.”  You’ll want to check your version of Zen Cart to be sure you can handle this.  Versions 1.5.5b and above have built in logic for the native payment methods (such as Authorize.net); if you are running a lower version, you will need to merge in the changes from the latest copy of includes/classes/cc_validation.php.  If you are using an extension to manage credit card payments, be sure to test with Mastercard 2223000048400011.  Then you can have confidence that your cart properly processes “2” series Mastercard cards.