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How to accept invoice payments online

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The GoCardless content team comprises a group of subject-matter experts in multiple fields from across GoCardless. The authors and reviewers work in the sales, marketing, legal, and finance departments. All have in-depth knowledge and experience in various aspects of payment scheme technology and the operating rules applicable to each. The team holds expertise in the well-established payment schemes such as UK Direct Debit, the European SEPA scheme, and the US ACH scheme, as well as in schemes operating in Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand. See full bio

Last editedFeb 20232 min read

The best ecommerce businesses offer a variety of payment methods to their customers, and most accept invoice payments online due to their rising popularity.

Providing secure online payment options to your customers is increasingly important for business growth, and there are plenty of additional benefits. In this guide we explain the advantages and disadvantages of accepting online payments, as well as looking at how surprisingly easy it is to get started.

Advantages of online payments

There are multiple advantages when you accept invoice payments online. An online invoice payment system enables customers to pay from anywhere in the world, leading to a significant increase in sales and profit for online businesses. There are several immediate benefits to an online invoice payment system as well, including:

faster payments
lower fees per transaction
automatic invoice reconciliation
payment security

Let’s look at these online payment advantages in more detail.

Faster payments

Offering an online payments option allows your customers to pay instantly, so you receive their money faster. They can also make their purchases whenever is convenient for them, meaning you continue to receive money outside of business hours.

Lower fees per transaction

Bank transfers are slow and incur significantly larger fees than those associated with online payments. This is especially true for cross-border payments, so an online payment system becomes even more important as your business grows and goes global. When you accept invoice payments online, cross-border payments are processed immediately and incur much smaller transaction fees. Automated online payments also reduce manual labour, further reducing the costs involved.

Automatic invoice reconciliation

Benefit from automatic invoice reconciliation by integrating your online payment system with your invoicing software. An integrated system matches payments with the appropriate invoice document, eliminating the need for manual reconciliation and saving you time.

Payment security

Modern online payments have excellent security and are well regulated by the authorities. When you accept invoice payments online, they are instantly verified by both the acquirer’s and the customer’s own banks. Online invoicing and payments are also protected by strong customer authentication, encrypted data and the Direct Debit Guarantee offered by GoCardless.

Disadvantages of online payments

There are always potential disadvantages to any technology and system. Online payments have just a couple to consider:

Fraud

Despite the serious security measures in place, fraud is still a potential issue. Fraudulent transactions and chargebacks can still happen, although modern online payments security has greatly reduced the possibility.

Technical issues

Even the most reliable technology can occasionally glitch and need some downtime to repair. It happens infrequently, but we all know it can happen at some point. A worst-case scenario could affect sales, so look for a provider that offers solid customer support to solve any issues as quickly as possible.

Why to accept invoice payments online

The importance of accepting invoice payments online can be seen in the comparison between the advantages and disadvantages. In this modern age of quickly advancing technology, it is vital to appeal to those customers who embrace new innovations.

More and more people are adopting cashless and cardless payment technology, so offering online payments is the key to appealing to this growing number of modern, tech-savvy customers.

How to start accepting online payments

With GoCardless, customers enter their details securely online, authorising your business to accept invoice payments online by Direct Debit. You can also add a customisable payment page directly to your website or send a secure link. Then simply schedule the payments and start getting paid automatically.

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.