Our Trade Customers Want to Pay by Bank App at the Counter and Our Tills Can Only Refund a Card
Earlier this year several of our larger trade customers asked whether they could pay at the counter by approving a payment in their banking app instead of using a card. For some, their card limits were lower than a big order. Others simply preferred it, because the money left the business account directly and their bookkeeping was simpler. We ran a pilot at four branches through our payment…
Our trade customers are requesting a new payment method that allows them to make purchases at the counter using their banking app. This new method is particularly appealing to those with lower card limits and those who prefer the direct transfer of funds from their business account. A pilot program was conducted at four branches through a payment provider, resulting in 1,180 successful payments over three months with lower fees than card payments.
However, the introduction of this new payment method has posed challenges when it comes to refunds. Customers who received goods and subsequently requested a refund now face a cumbersome process. The till can only refund through the original payment method, either by card or in cash. Refunds to the original card are not feasible, as the till lacks the capability to issue refunds back to the paying account.
Cash refunds further deplete the till float, while refunds processed through finance are time-consuming, often taking up to five days. This process involves locating the original payment, finding the corresponding account, and arranging a manual transfer, all of which require a second person to approve.
Moreover, the reconciliation process has been affected by this new payment method. Bank payments are settled in a separate report from the provider, and the branch's end-of-day totals do not include them. As a result, finance staff must manually match the bank payments every morning, creating reconciliation gaps.
The payment provider can accommodate bank payments for refunds, but the issue lies within our own systems. The current setup assumes that money will arrive via card or cash, and this assumption is deeply ingrained in various aspects of our payment processes. To address this problem, we have decided to pause the rollout of the new payment method until refunds can be directed back to the paying account from the till, and bank payments are properly reflected in the branch totals.
The provider can handle the first requirement, while the second will require adjustments on our part.
As customers continue to adopt new payment methods in the coming years, it is crucial to ensure that both the front-end and back-end processes are designed to accommodate these changes seamlessly. In this case, the refund and reconciliation procedures must be addressed before expanding the payment method to the counter.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
