Starting a small business can be incredibly fun, but also incredibly challenging. There is a lot to organize and arrange, and many small business owners pay too much attention to stock and staffing and leave payment collection until the last minute.
Consumers today expect a number of payment options, like paying by credit card or check, or even by cash. This can sometimes be expensive for a small business, as banks that offer businesses card payment facilities can often charge them a percentage of card sales for the privilege. Larger businesses like supermarkets and main street stores can avoid these charges as they have a number of points of sale, often across multiple sites, offering the banks more public exposure for their brand and a higher volume of transactions to process.
Fortunately, there are a number of options now available to small businesses to process card and cheque payments at a lower cost. In this quick guide, we are going to discuss some of these options and the benefits they offer to the small business owner.
Handheld Electronic Chip and Pin Machines
Many consumers today prefer to pay for goods using their credit or banking card. This is obviously safer than carrying around cash or visiting an ATM machine, but it is also convenient and quick.
Machines that can take these payments can sometimes be prohibitively expensive for a small business and will often come with continuing charges to process payments. Fortunately, there are a number of new companies that are providing small businesses cheaper alternatives than the machines big banking and credit card companies offer, with reduced charges and simpler technology.
Remote Deposit Capture Services for Cheques
Taking checks and processing them at your bank can be time-consuming, and a delay in getting to the bank to deposit a check can cost time and money that a small business can’t afford to waste. Thankfully, there are now remote deposit capture services that let you deposit checks into your company account without having to visit the bank, saving you time and money.
Using PayPal, Stripe and Other Online Services
Services like PayPal and Stripe have been taking payments from businesses on the internet for decades and have become very popular with consumers and businesses alike.
Now these services are available in stores by using their apps on a smartphone. This lets consumers who use these services buy goods and pay for services out in the real world, and payments are processed instantly meaning the money is in your business account straight away, so you can buy more stock and make your payroll.
When starting a new business there are plenty of challenges to surmount. From stocking your products to advertising and hiring workers; there is plenty to keep you busy before you open your doors on the first day.
Taking payments for your goods or services is one of the most important parts of running a business, though it often gets overlooked until the last minute. Thankfully there are services like the ones listed above that can help any business take payments and process them quickly, without paying exorbitant charges to major banks or payment processing services.
However, it goes without saying that ACH (Automated Clearing House) is one of the most overlooked banking tools. Why? Because while people are more invested in other trendy payment methods, they forget that ACH could make the process of accepting payments a lot easier. Streamlined operations, lower costs, greater flexibility, and convenience – these are just some of the ways ACH electronic payments can help any business. Furthermore, if you operate a subscription-based business, have recurring billing customers, accept a lot of paper checks or process B2B transactions, ACH real time payments could just be the thing for you.
Hopefully, this guide has given you the information you need to collect payments from your customers quickly and easily.