The first stage is to create your free user account.
This account is not your listing, this is purely the starting block that gains access to the website system. Look at it as a basic profile page for you, yourself - not your property. The content you add to this page eg a photo and some descriptive text is not about your property, it's about you and is not immediately viewable on the website. Once you have a listing up and running there is a tab displayed in the listing for visitors to see your profile as the owner or agent of the property.
To add a listing you must first decide on a listing option, displayed as a series of check boxes on your account welcome page (the page you see when you first log in, accessed via the Control Panel link in the main (blue) side menu).
Having chosen a suitable option, you must then purchase the option by using the Add Money link.
You will see a small box in which you can type the amount you want to add to your account - please note funds are deducted from your account monthly (more on which later) so unless you are sure you want to add sufficient funds to cover several months just enter the figure for one or two months. Generally, refunds will not be issued on overpayment, there are several stages before payment is final offering the opportunity to spot an error.
Having entered the amount, click on the Submit button below the box.
You will then be directed to a secure PayPal page. You do not need a PayPal account, payments using credit or debit cards can also be made via the secure server.
Either sign in (if you have a paypal account) or choose the pay by card option in the box below the login area. It'll say something like "Don't have a PayPal account?" and below it will be a link to pay by credit or debit card.
PayPal uses a secure server and all of your information you enter is encrypted for security. LetsRentPropertyInFrance.com at no time has access to your PayPal or card details.
After you have completed the payment stages on PayPal you will be shown a success message and re-directed back to LetsRentPropertyInFrance.com where you will again see a Success Message.
As the system is still very new (at time of writing 18/04/12) user accounts have to be credited manually by me upon receipt of a PayPal Payment Received Notification. This is not ideal but please, rest assured that if you have received a payment made email from PayPal, I will have also received a copy and will add the funds to your account. Depending on the time of day or night this might be a few minutes or a few hours.
It is still much faster than the old system but my aim is to have the credits appear in your account immediately the payment process is completed successfully.
PAYMENTS BY CHEQUE
If you do not have access to PayPal or a debit card or you prefer to use a cheque it is possible for me to add the funds directly to your user account however it is very slow and will incur a small handling charge.
To pay by cheque, please contact me for payment address details.
Your Account Balance, Automatic Monthly Deductions.
If you select the Automatic Deduct Monthly (check box below the listing package list - see the picture at the bottom of this article) option to continue your listing each month automatically then the value of your chosen package will be taken from your account balance each month.
NOTE This does not mean your credit card or PayPal account will be deducted, it means your user account must hold sifficient funds to ensure monthly payments can be made. If the account balance is lower than the package fee you will receive an automated email informing you and asking you to top up your account. Should the time period pass without payment will listing will no longer be shown on the website. Your listing will not be deleted from your account and will re-activate when you add the required funds to your account.
As ever, if you have any questions, please just contact me.
Steve.
Screenshot of the top area of the User Control Panel
