Introducing PayValet
By: The LaunchPad Lab Team / March 23, 2015
How it started.
Shortly after we started LaunchPad Lab, we lost a check from a client. From that point on, we started exploring all sorts of ways to accept payments for our business, looking for something better. We’ve accepted money via Credit Cards, PayPal, QuickPay, Billpay, Dwolla, by wire, and every other possible method of payment.
Each one had their pros and cons, but none of them were the answer.
What we found.
- We hated services that forced money into a new account that we needed to pay attention to. Plus, those services left us waiting up to a week for our money. Why couldn’t it just go right into our bank account?
- Our clients don’t all have accounts for any one payment system. We couldn’t ask them to sign up for something they weren’t already using.
- Furthermore, most businesses we work with didn’t want to open any new accounts.
- The existing payment systems confused our clients, and they would call asking questions about how they worked.
- These payment systems were delaying our payments, so it was nearly impossible to know when the money would actually show up in our account.
- Paper checks were more difficult (and expensive) than we ever thought. We had to wait for the check to arrive in the mail, sometimes having to make embarrassing phone calls to see if the client had mailed the check yet. Then walk to the bank, and wait for the funds to clear. It took up a lot of our time which, as a result, cost us money.
- Many systems were just too expensive. From high credit card fees to the large amount of time spent on each check collected, the overall cost was just unreasonable.
So what did we do?
After testing out all of the existing payment options, we knew what we were looking for – and since it didn’t exist yet, we decided to build it ourselves. We leveraged our backgrounds in banking and finance, and ultimately set out to build something that would help our business run more efficiently. We thought of it as a “valet service” for collecting money from our customers, so we aptly named it PayValet.
So how does it work?
- Immediately upon signing up, each PayValet client gets their own unique PayValet payment page. You send the link to this page out to anyone who needs to pay you.
- You can choose whether to collect money via eCheck, Credit Card or both.
- Your customers don’t need to create any kind of account.
- When paying by eCheck, they add in their checking account routing and account number.
- Once they hit “Pay Now” the money is pulled out of their account; once it clears, it goes right into your bank account.
- Both you and your client receive an email receipt to confirm that the payment has been processed.
- You can login to PayValet to easily see the payment’s details and view records of all of your transactions.
We initially built this for ourselves, but when many of our friends and clients asked us about it, we decided to let others use it too.
Results
During our private beta, we were lucky to have customers raving about PayValet. We’ve had a wide range of people using it – big names like the Chicago Bulls, marketing firms like 1st Labs, and freelancers like Liz Sarb. The results have been outstanding. Some of our clients are reporting their accounts receivable decreasing by over 70% because of PayValet! That alone makes it worth all the work we put into it.
So after a year of private beta, it’s time to unleash this to all of you.
Welcome to PayValet. We hope it helps your business as much as it has helped ours.
What’s stopping you? Sign up for free today! payvalet.io
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