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[Q=mnop] I do my best to make the guest comfortable with paying me. However, I rent 98% of all my units as follows: - Guest makes payment using a credit card - I provide confirmation information. - I state our e-mails and in 70% of the cases Paypal invoice are sufficient to address our agreement. After all, how do you enforce a signed contract gone bad? It will cost more to enforce the contract than the lodging cost. A very small number of guests want a contract, so: - I e-mail a digitally signed contract - they sign and fax back and pay by credit card. - I provide their conf info Here's my opinion: - 80% of my potential guests will not reserve thru me when I require a deposit. - Deposits are a pain in the neck. Some people rent two weeks in advance, OK easy. But remembering to refund for a reservation made 5 months or a year in advance is too much, given than I rent a lot of timeshares. - Contracts are not enforceable. OK they are legally enforceable but would you fly to another state to sue someone in small claims for $1,500, then pay a collection agency or use other fee based services to attach liens or other actions? You will loose more than $1,500 in time and expense to collect $1,500. - I don't like giving up rental income by paying credit card fees. But thru the use of rick controls and always sticking to my rules, I have never been defrauded. Could be luck, I feel it's proper use of rules and risk controls. - I rent a lot of units less than two weeks in advance. It is nearly impossible to receive a check and know it's valid before the guest's vacation is over. There are systems which will validate checks, but that costs as much as accepting credit cards ... - OK, I accept a few risks. In the event someone ruins a unit, it might come out of my pocket. But first look at your safeguards. 1) Your guest must provide a credit card when they checkin. The first line of defense is the resort charging the cost of damage to the guest. This eliminates almost all the risk. 2) OK, there is no 2! But I've rented hundreds of units and aside from one missing bike which I didn't have to pay for, there have been no issues to be concerned about![/Q] How do you use credit card payments? You must be in business and set up an account to do this. Don't you? What does an average person renting two or theree units a year do?