How do other businesses pay online?

xha1r

Hey there,

I've got an idea, it's a business to business thing and has nothing to do with the public. Basically, how would another business pay me for this service I'm offering? Would any business pay online (do they use credit cards, Paypal for example?) or would it just be a bank transfer kind of thing.

I need to get as much info as possible for this and decide which is the best way to get the money from them.

Many thanks.

fintan

Are you asking how will i charge my business customer to use "new business idea" ?

All depends on what size of business customers and how much you are charging.

The smaller the amount and the smaller the business it will be credit card / cheque.

The larger the customer and the amount, it will generally be
1) Send quote
2) Receive Purchase Order
3) Send Invoice
4) Receive Cheque

But without knowing any more details, Im afraid I cant hep anymore.

onedmc

Fintan has it more or less on the nail.

Most domestic payments are done via cheques, Mainly for cash flow purposes (its in the post, and has been for the last 2 months)

International payments are mostly?/all done by electronic transfer (SWIFT, BACS) this may or not be online. Many smaller companies just send a fax to the bank.

Credit Cards are assigned to individuals (though the account may be owned by the company) and are increasngly being used. In particular, international travel.

xha1r

Apologies for my poor wording of the question. What I mean is, say for example I am selling paper for businesses; how do I bill them and how do they pay for it?

One thing I've taken from this thread is that businesses generally pay by cheque; is that correct?

I'm thinking of setting up a credit card payment service on my site but I'm wondering if this will be used?

Now, invoicing...

How do I invoice them? What software do I need and is it my legal responsibility to send out an invoice, and receipt once payment is received?

Thanks,
xh.

fintan

Ok to take your example

Advertise paper on your website
Have credit card facilities for one off irregular purchases also allow customers to set up an account

Get them to fill in application form and run it through a credit checking facility, assign them a credit limit.

The customer will then pay the invoice 30 days after they receive it.

BUT

personally if it were me, I would say cash up front

1) Will help your liquidity (especially for start-up)
2) Will save you time in money on paper work and chasing people for cheques

However it all depends on what your competitors are doing.

There are millions of invoicing / accounts software packages

If it is low volume and excel spreadsheet and a word invoice template could do the same thing.
Yes you have to issue an invoice, depending on the turn-over on your business will depend if you need to be VAT registered.

I think you need to go talk to an accountant, you also need to visit www.basis.ie

xha1r

Many thanks Fintan, you've been a great help.