PAYPAL or MONEY ORDER?

[Leah Riley]

For those of us who do not have or use credit cards...how about alternative methods of payment for these books?

I do not have credit cards so I am unable to purchase books from IPIU online as far as I can tell.

What use is this membership discount for books if I can't use it? I did not see a way to pay by any other means than a credit card. :(

[Tricia Crews]

I do have a credit card but would prefer another payment option also, I have not been able to purchase items from IPIU that I would have, due to the limited payment option.

[Thomas W Tanner--]

Good morning Leah & Tricia,

Try calling the office at 406-534-0251, and ask if there's any other alternative.

Have a good one!

Tom...

[Tricia Crews]

Thanks Tom,
Turns out that you are able to do check by phone for registration, as well as money order by mailing, and the
processing of your registration takes about 3 weeks. Your suggestion really helped . :p


Tricia.... : ;)

[Thomas W Tanner--]

Thanks Tom,
Turns out that you are able to do check by phone for registration, and the
processing of your registration takes about 3 weeks. Your suggestion really helped . :p


Tricia.... : ;)

Glad I could help! :cool:

Tom...

[Leah Riley]

Ok, I got an email from "Brandon" from IPIU. It appears we can request an order form via email so that we can pay for books by check or money order. He also said they will be accepting paypal soon (which will be on their web site options to choose)

[Hugh Goodwyn]

Does anyone know how long can it take if we send them a money order or pay pal that we get the books.I like to do this because I can keep track of everything.

[Adam Nystrom]

Thought this might help people reagrding Paypal:

You don't actually have to own a credit card to set up a Paypal account.

The way I first set up my account there was to link it directly to my one of my free checking accounts

You can always add a credit card to your Paypal account later as another option, but again - you don't need one.

[Anne Friedland -]

IPIU now accepts:


All major credit cards and check cards
Money orders
Payment through a free account at www.paypal.com


If you HAVE a personal checking account, make sure your bank offers a FREE MONEY ORDER once or twice a month. Many banks do this instead of having to pay for a money order. You should also make sure you have FREE CHECKING and a FREE VISA check card too, with NO MINIMUM BALANCE.

If you cannot qualify for a VISA CREDIT CARD, then call a few banks and ask about their FREE VISA CHECK CARD which does not require a credit check. The VISA CHECK CARD comes out of your personal checking account, and you can use that to purchase over the internet or the phone without having to mail in a money order.

If you DO NOT HAVE A CHECKING ACCOUNT, then you are probably paying for money orders every month. Instead, go to WALMART or WALGREENS and purchase $20 VISA PREPAID CARD! The monthly fee can be around $4 (which is cheap), and you can pay cash into the card once a month at Walmart. They also have some other options to pay into the card too. But at least you won't have to pay money order fees, stamps, and have a waiting period to make purchases.

If you DO NOT HAVE A PAYPAL account, then sign up for one to:


Make online purchases via paypal, which can either charge your free checking account or charge your VISA PREPAID card or VISA CHECK CARD or VISA CREDIT CARD.


Receive your cash or money from your PI clients or PI Agencies who want to PAY YOU through a paypal account (fast and easy).


Your paypal account also ALLOWS YOUR PI CLIENTS TO USE THEIR CREDIT CARDS to PAY YOU when you agency does not accept credit cards. That's right. If you are a Private Investigator who does not have your own merchant account with your bank to accept credit cards, you can now accept credit cards from your clients by having them pay your fees through your free paypal account!

If you do not want to provide paypal with your current checking account, then set up an additional free personal or free business checking account at your bank. You can then transfer funds between them and use the second account ONLY for paypal to keep your books straight.

If you cannot get a free checking account, then your choice is limited to giving paypal a VISA card. But when you wish to withdraw funds you earned from paypal, they will have to mail you a check instead of transferring your money to one of your free checking accounts to use as you please.