Despite the fact that we all now use online payment systems to buy things, pay for services, and make plenty of other transactions, there are situations where online payments may not be available, for example, in certain countries or regions, or due to the special nature of your business. This is where our Offline Payments plugin can be of use. Developed as an alternative to online payments, it provides users all over the world, who don’t have access to online payment systems or can’t use those for certain reasons, with a possibility to make payments for all kinds of goods and services offered on your classified ads site.
The Offline Payments plugin is easy to install and set up. And as soon as you are done with the installation and configuration procedures, users on your website will be able to buy whatever you or sellers on your site offer. As an Administrator you can sell listing packages, membership plans, and any other services that your users may need. Sellers on your website can sell their goods using the Shopping Cart and Bidding plugin and collect payments either through online payment gateways or the Offline Payments add-on.
Money and Bank Transfers
The Plugin offers two ways for collecting offline payments:
- A money transfer, that allows users to send their payments via international money transfer services, such as Western Union, Money Gram, or any local money transfer service,
- A bank transfer, that allows users to send their funds to your (or seller’s) bank account.
If a user decides to send a money transfer, he will need the recipient’s name and country. In case it is more convenient for him to enable a bank transfer, he will need the recipient’s name and bank details. You can provide all the information required for making money or bank transfers in the Plugin settings, from where users will be able to copy and use it to make payments.
You can use either one of these ways or both of them to receive offline payments on your classified ads site.
How Your Users Can Make Offline Payments
The procedure of making an offline payment is quite easy. A user selects a product or service on your site. In the checkout step, he selects the Offline Payments option among the other payment gateways, if available, and sends a request for payment.
The system creates an incomplete transaction for the selected item and sends an email to the user encouraging him to make a payment and send proof of payment from the Payment History section in his Account Area.
After the user makes the payment, he needs to upload a file that confirms the payment: it may be a bank receipt or a tracking number in case the user used a money transfer service. As soon as the proof of payment is received, the Administrator or seller from whom a product or service is bought will get a corresponding notification.
The incomplete transaction in the Transactions section will get two buttons: one with the download icon, which is actually a link to the file uploaded by the user, and a small green button that allows the Administrator or the seller to mark the transaction as paid and enable the product or the service for the user.
Compatibility with Other Plugins
The Offline Payments plugin can be the only payment gateway available on your website or come along with a few others that work online. And while most of your users will probably prefer online payment gateways, the Offline Payments can be the only option available for others.
The Plugin also works well in combination with the Shopping Cart & Bidding plugin allowing users to buy products via the shopping cart and then pay for them using the Offline Payments option.
The Pay-As-You-Go Credits plugin combined with the Offline Payments add-on allows users to buy credit packages and use those to pay for banner space, listings, plans, and other services offered on your site.
If for some reason, you or your users may not use online payment gateways, there is no need to give up as our Offline Payments plugin can be a great solution to this problem. It allows your users to make and you to receive payments without connecting to online payment services. Simple and easy to use, it provides users with a possibility to buy products and services on your websites even if they don’t have access to online payment gateways. Try the new Plugin and tell us what you think about it!