As businesses battle the challenges presented by the COVID-19 crisis, more are advertising PayID as a payment alternative to cash, but with the same benefits.
This is particularly the case for businesses who rely on cash on demand, and have had to ‘pivot’ quickly to keep operating, such as cafes, mobile dog washing services or hairdressers.
PayID enables real-time payments into a bank account using a simple identifier, like a phone number or email address, instead of the account’s BSB and account number. There are now more than 4.6 million PayIDs registered in Australia, and this number has grown by 20% since the beginning of the year.
When the Mandarin Palace in Burnie Tasmania was forced to change overnight from an eat-in restaurant to takeaway and delivery orders only, owner Rita Wong had to find a fast and simple way to enable cashless payments.
“We don’t have any online capability, so I created a PayID for our business account. When people ring with an order, or send one via Facebook Messenger, I give them our PayID and they make the payment using their mobile banking app. When I get a notification from my banking app that the money has gone into my account, I’m 100% confident we can deliver the order,” Ms Wong said.
Melanie Cox is the owner of a boutique furniture shop Beach Boheme in Coffs Harbour NSW. She has used PayID for her business for nearly six months but says it has been particularly helpful during the current COVID-19 crisis.
“It’s good because I don’t have to wait to get access to funds in my account and I don’t have to pay fees. As a small business owner, it’s important that I can access cash in my account quickly so I can reinvest in more stock.
“I’m also getting more customers who prefer to avoid handling money at the moment. Just giving them the PayID option makes them feel more comfortable,” she said.
PayID also helps small businesses reduce their exposure to mistaken payments or scams. When a customer pays a PayID they are shown the name chosen to be associated with that PayID before they hit send on the payment, providing added reassurance.
There are 90 financial institutions that offer PayID and real-time payments via the New Payments Platform. To see who click here.
—
How to receive instant contactless payments with PayID – a quick guide for small businesses:
- Create a PayID with your financial institution (most offer PayID registration via their internet or mobile banking apps)
- Give your customers that PayID at the point of sale (you can download a PayID logo to include in your marketing materials at https://payid.com.au/payid-for-business/ )
- Your customer logs into their internet or mobile banking and transfers the agreed amount by selecting the PayID option instead of BSB and account number
- Your customer will be shown the name associated with your PayID and asked to confirm they would like the payment to proceed
- Once your customer confirms the payment it should arrive in your account in just under a minute
- Hit refresh to see the amount enter your account instantly – some banking apps will also notify a payment has been made