How to pre-charge customers?

[elizabeth]

Suppose you are in the business of shopping for clients. You buy and they reimburse you upon delivery.

Obviously, when a client wants something that is both non-refundable and rather expensive, you'd want your client to pre-pay. Firstly, because you don't have enough cash flow to pay for it yourself and second, because you can't refund it if you client changes their mind.

In that case, how can you get your customer to pre-pay? I can't figure out a solution.

The only thing I can think of is driving to their homes, getting them to pay and then go shopping, then deliver. But that involves an extra trip, extra expenses and seems illogical. Another way would be to set up a website but how would that website even look? And what about the elderly who aren't computer savvy but still want to use my services?

I guess they can also call-in with their credit card information? But what use would that do for me? I can't use credit money to shop and I'd need them to enter their pin.

Anyone see an easy solution?

THank you!

[generallawlessness]

Sounds like you have an idea for a business, but not sure of how to implement it.

Having a website with relevant shopping cart system sounds the way to go. If you want computer illiterate folks to be your clients you could get their payments over the phone and process the transaction yourself on your own site.

I would browse sites that sell services where clients can pay using the eCommerce shopping cart on the site. You need to have at least one or two sites to use as examples of what you want, so that you can ask a freelance programmer to build it for you.

freelance sites:

Elance.com
Freellancer.com
odesk.com
etc

BUT FIRST: it sounds like you need to discuss your needs with a business advisor, otherwise you can throw all your money away on a totally implausible business model.

Find a business forum and ask an expert. Or look locally for free business advice. Most towns in the UK offer free services that include:

How to write a business plan (which you need both for your own organization and if you need a bank loan).

How to market your business

and lots of other resources.

I'm sure you will have something similar where you live. Check out Google for your town, the yellow pages or your local library (remember those lol!)

Also look up "internet marketing" including paid ads (Google, Facebook, Bing) banner ads, and free stuff you can do: basic SEO skills, social media marketing, etc, as you will need to know the basics to get more people to find your site.

Good luck!