Best solution for accepting deposits

[sfw520]

I am looking for advice on the best payment solution to allow users of my site to make deposits. I have been looking at eChecks to see if there is a solution. I am not quite sure why you would need a third-party solution for generating eChecks beyond a way to detect bad checks before the deposit is made (preventing a charge). But I am sure there are other security reasons. Does anyone know of a cheap solution to having people deposit (like an escrow account) through the website? Most solutions I have come across are geared toward an actual sale of a service/good at the time of the transaction. Thank you for your time.

[roban]

Quickbooks Billing Solutions works for me. But you said 'cheap' and that ain't cheap. If you have a good accounting head, why not just use Pay Pal and send an invoice and statements through Quicken.

[sfw520]

Doesn't paypal charge the same for echecks than it would for credit cards - the percentage + transaction fee? I am not doing any invoicing/billing. I didn't want to have to pass along the merchant fee for people making deposits who may or may not actually use the money they deposited. I guess I'm not clear on why it is necessary to have a third party solution for echecks. Beyond having some sort of reporting capabilities, is there even a reason why you can't have the fields in your site to collect the necessary check information, print this out and take it to a bank - or work out a way to transfer to your bank account? Being new to this type of payment solution, I just didn't know if there were perhaps security reasons, or digital signature issues or what. But at the same time, having someone else make the deposit to my account versus myself just seems like an unnecessary middleman.