Get Paid Faster With Advanced Payments, a Better Virtual Terminal

If you’re out meeting clients, sourcing materials, or hunting down leads, you’re likely not at your desk all day. For some business owners, you might not even have a desk. But that means you need a payment option that can keep up with your always-on-the-go pace.

Let’s say, for example, you’re out at a consulting session for one client, and another client calls to pay for some work you did last week. Instead of having to rely on in person payments, all you need is your laptop, an internet connection, and FreshBooks’ virtual terminal to get paid.

And with the Advanced Payments add-on from FreshBooks, you can save and charge credit cards through FreshBooks Payments, set up subscription-based billing, and most importantly, set up recurring payments with the virtual terminal feature.

What Is Advanced Payments (and Virtual Terminal)?

Advanced Payments is a FreshBooks add-on featuring a virtual terminal that securely stores credit card information and processes payments on the spot. That means you can charge clients instantly over the phone, in-person, or on the go.

It also takes the hassle out of credit card processing, by allowing you to save your clients credit card information for future transactions. And by being able to set it and forget it with Advanced Payments, it’s faster than a lot of other payment processors – and helps you keep on top of all the money you’re owed.

How Do I Use Advanced Payments?

Once you’ve enabled FreshBooks Payments and added Advanced Payments, just follow these steps:

1. On an Invoice, click Charge Card.
2. Enter your client’s information in the Virtual Terminal and click Charge.
3. Click Done and you’re done! Your client will automatically get a receipt emailed to them.

Here’s what it looks like in-app:

How Can Using Advanced Payments Help Me?

Advanced Payments helps you:

• Process payments on the spot with virtual terminal
• Streamline subscription billing and recurring payments
• Save client credit card information for future use
• Regulate cash flow and plan for growth
• Provide a seamless payment gateway for your clients
• Avoid the need for in person payments
• Get paid without the need for extra merchant services

Who Can Use Advanced Payments?

Advanced Payments is available to all FreshBooks users, on any plan. You can add it to your account for a monthly fee of $20 (plus 3.5% + $0.3 in transaction fees).

How Do Virtual Terminals Work on FreshBooks?

Virtual terminal is just one part of the Advanced Payments add-on in FreshBooks. And essentially it turns your computer into a payments terminal. This allows it to act as a virtual payment processor that can accept credit cards. It’s a great option for businesses who prefer remote billing and allows you to take credit card payments over the phone (as opposed to in person transactions which require a POS system).

Do I Need a POS System to Use Virtual Terminal?

No! That is the beauty of Advanced Payments on FreshBooks. All you need is an internet connection and your computer to process credit card transactions – from anywhere. And because you can save your client’s credit cards – the virtual terminal feature is a great option for recurring payments.

Can I Charge a Card That My Client Has Entered and Saved Themselves?

You can only use virtual terminal to save credit cards that you have been provided by a client and entered yourself. Any credit cards that have been entered in by your client on their end will not be accessible to you.

Need Help With Advanced Payments and Virtual Terminal?

If you have any questions about using Advanced Payments (like: Are there transaction fees or a monthly subscription fee? How does it help with recurring payments? Or how is it better than other virtual terminal providers?) – feel free to reach out to our excellent customer support team here.

This post was updated in August 2022.