ETD: 724 SPECIAL REPORT: Businesses Adopt Online Payments to
Improve Cash Flow and Save Time
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post@gapent.com
Sun, 21 Sep 2003 19:53:24 -0400
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0724 September 25, 2003
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem@gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] SPECIAL REPORT: Businesses Adopt Online Payments to Improve Cash
Flow and Save Time
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
Today we have a special report from Jules Kaplan, President,
EZPaymentservices.com of Scottsdale, Arizona. Jules is a guru in
alternate payment methods, something that many retailers (like Wal-Mart)
are now using.
Personally, we have been using online check paying for the past six years
and wouldn't go any other way. And for larger accounts electronic Funds
transfer (EFT) is the way to go. And we have been following Jules' advice
on invoicing. I can safely say that we have not mailed an invoice to a
client in the past 10 years. It's sent either by fax or e-mail. And when
we engage new clients, we tell them how we will bill. It save everybody
time and money.
I will return from London on Sunday, and will be back to our normal
E-Tailers Digest on Tuesday.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem@gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
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[2] Businesses Adopt Online Payments to Improve Cash Flow and Save Time
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By Jules Kaplan
President
EZPaymentservices.com
Scottsdale, Arizona
A substantial number of businesses are adopting online payment systems in
order to improve cash flow and save time by reducing paperwork. The process
typically begins when customers complete a check authorization form online
or fax a paper version of the form to the company. One of the two different
types of online payment systems available then generates a paper check that
can be taken to the bank for deposit. The other type of system transmits
the information to the Federal Reserve's network for processing. In either
case, this approach avoids problems with late payments and collection as
well as the paperwork associated with billing and accounts receivable. In
the second case, the funds go directly into the company's account, also
avoiding the time and expense associated with making bank deposits. "We are
receiving well over 50% of our payments from customers through electronic
checks," said Jose Lopez, Credit Director at Kinray, the largest
independent wholesaler of pharmaceutical and health and beauty products. .
"The advantage is that we get our money much faster, which improves our
cash flow, and we eliminate all of the paperwork associated with billing."
Conventional paper billing and collection methods are a major headache for
most businesses. Gartner, a top research organization, estimates that it
costs $2 to $5 to send a paper bill and $10 to process a paper check. Based
on a labor rate of $30 per hour, estimated costs of a single conventional
paper invoice include invoice include $2.10 for preparation of the invoice
data, $2.00 for printing and stuffing the envelope, $1.00 for mailing the
envelope, $0.37 for postage, $5.00 for a reminder call, $1.75 to record the
incoming check, $2.05 to deposit the check, and $0.10 for the deposit fee,
for a total of $14.37. Another problem is the delays and uncertainty
associated with conventional paper billing. Even when the check really is
in the mail, it can easily take 10 to 15 days for it to be delivered,
deposited, and for the funds to be collect and available for use. And, of
course, there's always the occasional customer that delays paying their
bills, which makes it necessary to spend additional time and effort in the
collection process and, in the most extreme cases, even makes it necessary
to write debts off as uncollectible.
Online payments will reduce your expenses and increase your bottom line
The emerging technology of online payment systems has the potential to
overcome all of these problems. It takes advantage of systems that have
been in place for many years and are currently used by most banks and
Fortune 500 companies to transfer funds between each other. The first step
is always to get the information from the customer needed to process the
payment. All that is required is typically the customer's name, bank
information, account number, check number and check amount. You have two
basic ways to process this information. One is to purchase software that
accepts the customer's check information, which can be entered either by
your employee or by the customer himself in an online form, then prints the
customer's check on blank stock so you can deposit it in your bank. The
other approach saves even more time by using a service that moves the
payment through the Federal Reserve Automated Clearing House (ACH)
electronic funds transfer (EFT) system, eliminating the need for depositing
the funds in the bank. Instead, the funds move directly from your
customer's bank into your account.
How does this approach compare to the alternative of accepting credit cards
from customers? The major advantage is that the fees are much smaller. The
discount rate charged to the company that accepts credit card payments is
typically 2% up to 4% for certain credit card transaction, which amounts
to a major hit. Another disadvantage of credit card payments is that
businesses and consumers are used to paying by check. The fees involved in
online payments are much smaller. Software that generates checks for bank
deposit is sold for a one-time price that is typically under $500 and the
only additional cost is the per-transaction cost of fifteen cents average
for the blank check stock and special toner cartridge needed to print
magnetic codes on the checks required by banks for processing. The second
more automated approach, where the payment is processed through the Federal
Reserve, requires only a minimal registration fee of several hundred
dollars and a small fixed per-transaction fee, that is generally only 34
cents instead of a percent of the sale like a credit card transaction. Thus
online payment provides a huge cost savings over credit card payments. But
it should be noted that if you have customers that prefer credit card
payments, they could easily be integrated with online payments, providing
the customer with a choice of which method to use. In this situation, it
often makes sense to charge the customer an extra fee to defray the credit
card discount rate.
Automating the entire accounts receivable process
Another advantage of online payment systems is the potential they provide
for offering further operating efficiencies by automating the entire
billing and collection process. This approach applies mainly to companies
that bill a significant number of customers each month. These companies
typically incur substantial expenses for printing and mailing invoices,
collection calls, providing replacement invoices, and depositing and
recording checks, that can be eliminated or substantially reduced with an
end-to-end online payment system. In this scenario, companies upload their
monthly billing to the online payment system. The customers are immediately
notified via email and view the invoices online. The customers can then pay
online using true 128-bit SSL encryption in seconds via electronic funds
transfer for processing through the United States Federal Reserve Bank.
Besides saving the cost of sending a paper bill and processing a manual
check, the time from when the customer makes the payment until the funds
are available for use is reduced by one to two weeks.
Companies that use this approach can send messages by email to a single
customer, all customers that meet certain criteria, or all of their
customers. This makes it easy to, for example, automatically send gentle
reminder messages to customers whose balances exceed 30 days and to send a
sterner notice to those over 60 days. Also you would have the ability to
send important notices to all your customers, example up coming sales or
special events. Companies can also review their customer transaction
history and payables balances at any time. Companies have the option to
charge their customers a small service fee for the convenience of making
online payments. By the same token, they can provide their customers with
the opportunity to save money by automating their own payment process.
Customers can automate the process of paying regular invoices. This
approach provides the opportunity to reduce their costs of billing and
collection by more than 90% by eliminating the time-consuming and costly
process of sending paper invoices to customers, sending reminder letters
and replacements for lost invoices, and recording and depositing checks.
How two companies use online payments
Kinray's revenues last year were above $2.5 billion and revenues are
expected to top $3 billion this year. "The problem with paper checks is
that it takes a lot of time and money to handle them," Lopez said. "So we
began encouraging our customers to use electronic checks a few years back
and found that they responded very well to the idea. They simply send us a
photocopy of their check or a fax or an email to confirm their intention to
make the payment. We bring up the online checking software, enter the
customer's account number and most other information is automatically
filled in such as their bank routing number and account number. We enter
the check number and amount and print a natural check that we can deposit
in our bank immediately. The customers like it because they still can take
advantage of the float and, unlike EFT transactions, they don't have to go
into their account. We have the security of having the check in our hand at
the time of the transaction and can deposit it immediately rather than
waiting for it to arrive in the mail. We have deposited $3 billion in 6
years using this method and it really works."
Tom Palermo is Program Administrator for Allen, Lewis & Associates,
Jacksonville, Florida, and the nation's largest collection agency
specializing in serving music stores that sell on the installment plan.
"When we call the customer who owes money for a music purchase and they say
they are ready to pay, we take their check information right over the
phone. In the past, we used to print out a check and deposit it in the bank
but now we have moved to an online system that moves the money right into
our account. This saves us the man-hours of printing the check, setting up
a deposit and taking it to the bank. We also save the special toner and
check paper. Best of all, the charge for a bad check is reduced from $5 to
$1.25 by going through the Federal Reserve System. Since we get an average
of 4,000 checks a month with about 500 of them returned for NSF, which
amounts to a major savings. These savings offset the cost of the EFT
Service and increase bottom line. Online check writing has streamlined our
entire cash receipts system and saved us a lot of money." All in all, it's
clear that online payment systems have the potential to improve
competitiveness by dramatically reducing the cost of billing and collections.
For more information, visit
www.ezpaymentservices.com
or email
info@ezpaymentservices.com
or call 800-220-0468. To sign up for the service, visit
www.ezpaymentservices.com/register2/register.html
For a free brochure go to:
http://www.ezpaymentservices.com/info_request.html
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