Last editedMar 20232 min read
You put great time and effort into all aspects of your business to produce the best customer experience. Does that care extend to taking payments? One of the easiest ways for businesses to collect payment online is directly from a customer’s bank account – also known as direct payment or direct debit. Here’s a closer look at the best direct payment solutions in Australia, so that you can find the best option for your business.
What are direct payments?
Direct payments are also called direct debit payments. In Australia, the BECS network is used to facilitate these electronic funds transfers from one bank account to another. Because no other party is involved, they’re considered direct transfers of funds. Direct payments are most used to pay for subscription services, regular bills, or memberships. The customer only needs to set up their direct debit once, after which time payments are collected automatically on the designated date.
How do you set up direct payments in Australia?
To set up a direct payment in Australia, you’ll need to arrange what’s known as a direct debit authority. This can be as simple as a single online form sent to the customer to request his or her banking details. With an authority in place, your business can then withdraw money directly from the customer’s account – making this a pull-based payment method.
Direct payments can be fixed or variable, taken at regular intervals such as every week, fortnight, or month. They can also be pulled at set dates, such as the first of every month.
How to collect payments with GoCardless
1.
Create your free GoCardless account, access your user-friendly payments dashboard & connect your accounting software (if you use one).
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Easily set up & schedule one-off or recurring payments via payment pages on your website checkout or secure payment links.
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From now on you'll get paid on time, every time, as GoCardless automatically collects payment on the scheduled date. Simple.
Top three direct payment solutions in Australia
Now that we’ve covered how a direct debit works, what are some direct payment solutions in Australia? These automate the payment collection process, sending notifications to customers and initiating transactions on the prespecified intervals or dates.
1. GoCardless
Naturally, we’ll start this list with GoCardless, one of the world’s largest payment providers. GoCardless specialises in direct debit services, offering solutions for small businesses and larger enterprises alike. It integrates with hundreds of third-party partners, including popular accounting software like Xero to give you full control over your finances.
In addition to enabling direct debit payments using the Australian BECS network, GoCardless also allows you to collect payment from over 30 countries at transparent, low fees. It’s quick and easy to get started, with GoCardless doing all the heavy lifting in terms of making payment requests and sending notifications to your customers. Our Success+ intelligent retries tool uses data points to analyse the best possible time to retry payments that fail the first time around, improving your cash flow.
2. Ezidebit
The second option on our list is Ezidebit, an established direct payment solution in Australia. Based in Queensland, Ezidebit is now part of the Global Payment group. You can customise your service with a developer-friendly API, and there’s also an online portal to add on third-party integrations. You won’t need to set up a merchant account to start accepting direct debit payments, which means you can get started straight away. Additional features include cross-border payments, automatic failure notifications, and data analysis tools.
3. Debit Success
Debit Success is a bit more specific in its range of services. It’s best suited to the wellness and education industries, enabling direct payments for gyms and schools. The platform’s dashboards are designed with these industries in mind, including user portals to make recurring payments. For example, it offers a gym management tool that includes data entry and member management features as well as payment collection. If your business operates outside of these sectors, you’ll probably want to choose one of the other solutions on this list.
The future of direct payment solutions in Australia
While direct debit payments offer plentiful benefits, they still take some time to settle into your account. Australia’s New Payments Platform is transforming the system with its PayTo feature, a mandated way for merchants to initiate payments from customer bank accounts in real time. This means you can take payments at any time of day or night for real-time, immediate settlement. GoCardless is ahead of the curve, working on a PayTo solution to use in tandem with its regular recurring payments services. Take faster, smarter payments, all from a seamless platform.
We can help
GoCardless is a global payments solution that helps you automate payment collection, cutting down on the amount of financial admin your team needs to deal with. Find out how GoCardless can help you with one-off or recurring payments.