Besides “POS”, is PayPal Good for Your Small Business?

Most business owners know PayPal for Business — the most well-known electronic payment system for small businesses (“SMBs”) and professionals. But it’s 2014 and there is literally a laundry list of e-payment processors from which to choose.

But besides point-of-sale (“POS”) technology, what value do these companies provide for the small business owner who holds each client payment as sacred?

When a business owner agrees to perform a job for a client, problems arise around payment that traditional POS systems don’t solve…

• Payment Guarantee: When a job or service is performed, the business expects (and deserves) to get paid, but there’s unfortunately no guarantee. Non-paying clients and even no-shows are exempt from POS software “value-add”. The PayPals and Squares of the world can process the payment, but they can’t guarantee it upfront.
• Unpaid Bills: The number of jobs and clients a business can see in a week can be in the dozens. Thus, the amount of money the business is owed increases accordingly. POS tracks the payers, but the non-payers can slip through the cracks, and it can cost the SMB or freelancer tens of millions of dollars. This necessitates more software to keep track of unpaid bills and outstanding invoices.
• Immediate Cash: When a customer pays a business in cash, the service professional can spend that income immediately. But when a business receives a payment electronically, it can take from 3 to 30 days to either receive or withdraw that hard-earned money. Is that the best businesses can get?

As payment technologies continue to innovate, more full-offering software is starting to develop. E-payments need to be synonymous with security, tracking and urgency.