Over the years, Cloud8 Accounting & Taxation has helped many of our clients set up their online payment gateways within the XERO ecosystem.
We believe the recent Covid-19 has changed the ways customers shop and pay for products and services. Businesses nowadays need the most efficient online payment gateways to manage customers’ credit cards and direct debit payment.
Technology has made direct debit far simpler and more affordable for small businesses. Now you don’t have to wait for customers to approve and pay your invoice.
What is online instant invoice payment?
With Xero powerful invoices, you can get paid faster with online invoicing software.
‘Pay now’ options on your online invoices let your customers pay you instantly. They can pay straight from the invoice with a debit or credit card, or from their online payment gateway accounts.
What is direct debit?
When you set up a direct debit with a customer, you can collect payments straight from their bank. Of course, you have to notify them ahead of time what you’re taking and when, but the customer doesn’t have to do anything to make the payment happen.
Benefits of direct debit/online payment for small business
While it takes 30 days or more for a customer to pay an invoice, online payment and direct debit are almost instant. Payment is triggered as soon as you send the bill.
It’s convenient, too. Customers don’t have to approve payments or remember to make payments, which simplifies their life. And you don’t have to spend as much time tracking invoices or chasing payments. Businesses that use direct debit to bill customers say they get back a day a week in admin time.
Direct debit is ideal for:
- subscriptions for things like gym memberships or software
- regular invoices such as monthly retainers (for fixed or variable amounts)
- accepting installments to help customers spread out their costs
- collecting rent from tenants
How does direct debit work?
Your customer fills out a direct debit form (also known as a mandate) authorizing you to take payments from their bank. When a payment is coming up, you send the customer a notice saying how much will be taken, and when. The customer doesn’t need to take any other action. When the due date comes, the payment is made automatically.
Cloud8’s Solution
We recommend clients to choose an online payment system that syncs with XERO, so you can reconcile payments in XERO instantly with a touch of a button.
While a lot of companies offer online payment services like a credit card, debit card, and automated clearing house (ACH), there aren’t as many doing direct debit for a small business just yet.
That is changing, however, and below are well-trusted options that we have used and implemented for our clients:
Strip
A fully integrated suite of payment products that work well for online stores and online invoice payment with XERO.
Pinch
We love pinch payments. It is a great all arounder that accept direct debit with credit cards, debit cards. It is super easy to set up and works with XERO brilliantly.
GoCardless
GoCardless makes it easy to collect Direct Debit payments from customers worldwide. Their software works smoothly, maybe one of the best user experience.
Practice Ignition
https://www.practiceignition.com
We love Practice Ignition and we use it in our practice. It is a complete solution for client proposal and payment.
Eliminate the friction by sending your clients a single smart proposal they can read, sign, and pay in one place.
It saved our practice cost of hiring at least a part-time office administrator.
Want to improve cash flow for your business? Need to chat about your payment solutions?
We offer an obligation-free 30-minutes consultation to new clients.