How to Take Payments Over the Phone
Taking payments over the phone can be convenient for both the seller and the buyer, but it comes with more risks than a face-to-face transaction. It is much harder to verify the identity of someone over the phone, but credit card companies and the banks that process their transactions offer their merchants customer service and tools to help them take advantage of the convenience of phone payments.
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Instructions
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Obtain a merchant account. Before you can take payments over the phone, you need either a credit card processing machine or an online processing system provided by a merchant.
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Collect the buyer's information: His name, address, the type of credit card, credit card number, credit card expiration date and credit card security code. Confirm the information with the buyer and confirm the amount to be charged.
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Input the credit card information into the credit card processing machine. The process to do this varies by machine type, but most require you to press the "Clear" key to make sure the machine is cleared first. Then press the "Sale" key and follow the on-screen prompts asking for the credit card number, expiration date, security code and sale amount.
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Wait for the machine to process the transaction. If the transaction is successful, two receipts will print, one for you and one for the buyer. However, since the buyer is not there to sign her copy, write "Phone Order" on the signature line, so if there is any dispute about the transaction in the future, it is documented as a phone payment.
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Tips & Warnings
Have the buyer provide you with his phone number so you can call him back if the transaction doesn't go through.
If you feel suspicious about a transaction or a person's identity, call your merchant's hotline; they can help you verify the provided information and ensure that the credit card the buyer is attempting to use was not recently reported as stolen.
