Digital bill payment solution B2Bpay is a smart and secure way for SMEs to pay bills using credit cards - and earn Qantas Points in the process!
Kevin Butler, the general manager of payments for Zenith Payments (parent company of B2Bpay), sat down to tell us how businesses can benefit from using the portal, such as improving cash flow, saving time and earning Qantas Points for their Qantas Business Rewards account.
What is B2Bpay?
"In a nutshell, it's a secure online portal for SMEs to allow them to pay all their bills in the one place by credit card. SMEs can pay any biller as we essentially turn their card payments into an EFT (electronic funds transfer) or BPAY payment to the biller."
What are the benefits of paying bills by credit card?
"In the business-to-business space, a lot of suppliers don't accept credit cards at all and if they do, they can make it difficult to pay this way. So traditionally, SMEs have had to pay by EFT. This means they're missing out on the points and rewards offered when paying by credit card.
"The whole B2Bpay concept allows SMEs to pay all bills by credit card regardless of whether the supplier they're paying accepts cards or not. Which means they can now earn full credit card points from the card issuer plus additional Qantas Points on all bills. So SMEs can finally generate value from paying bills."
What about paying government agencies?
"When you pay government billers such as the ATO and utility companies, many credit card issuers reduce the number of points you earn from that transaction – you might only earn half or even none of the normal points. With B2Bpay, you earn full card points. This has been a really popular aspect of the offering, especially for businesses paying regular BAS statements. It means paying the ATO is less painful!"
Are there any costs?
"There is no setup cost or minimum transaction fees. The only cost is a card-processing fee and that's from 1.2 per cent, excluding GST. This fee is tax deductible so it reduces the cost down further."
"The fee is more than outweighed by the Qantas Points, cash flow and other benefits."
How many Qantas Points can I earn?
"In addition to earning standard credit card points from the card issuer, through B2Bpay you also earn additional Qantas Points for every transaction. This ranges from one point per $100 right through to three points per $1.50.
"SMEs earn Qantas Points regardless of who they pay but then if they pay one of the B2Bpay Bonus Billers, they can earn up to three points per $1.50. Bonus Billers range across various industries. They're essentially billers who want to incentivise SMEs to start paying with them or consolidate all their payments through them."
"SMEs can earn enough points for business class flights every year just by changing how they pay bills."
How can B2Bpay help with my company's cash flow?
"For many SMEs, one of the biggest challenges is not necessarily profitability, but cash flow: having cash to pay suppliers, fund wages, fund growth, whatever it may be.
"Imagine you're a small business and you have a $20,000 bill to pay – if you choose to pay that through traditional payment methods, which are usually bank funded through EFT, then you lose access to that cash straight away. If you pay it by card you hold on to that $20,000 for up to 55 days, which is the credit card interest-free days. It comes back to the old mantra that cash is king and this allows businesses to hold their cash for longer.
"Deloitte published a white paper on how SMEs can generate value on transitioning to digital and making card-based payments, moving away from traditional ways to pay. One of the things they found was systems like B2Bpay can be a profitable way to pay. Even taking into account the cost, once you add up the card points plus the Qantas Points, saving time and the cash flow benefits, the value you generate means you end up with a profitable return.
"It's a profitable way to pay. Rather than just paying your bills and not generating any value you can actually generate additional value for your business."
Can I make bulk payments?
"You can choose whether you want to make a one-off payment, future date a payment, or have payments go through automatically if you have a bill that's the same each month. We also give you the ability to upload a standard ABA file, which can trigger multiple payments in one go. A lot of SMEs use these files to process bulk payments by EFT – it's the exact same file format that you upload to us to make the payment by card."
Can anyone use it?
"All you need is an ABN to register. We've had sole traders register, from tradies through to doctors, dentists, lawyers, travel agencies, marketing agencies through to larger businesses… we've had a full range. It's very popular among owner-managed businesses as they can really see the benefits to their business."
Is it easy to use?
"We've had thousands of registrations and millions of dollars worth of payments. We thought we'd have more queries but a lot of people have just been getting online, setting up and paying themselves, which is testament to their confidence in the system and the Qantas Points offering and also shows that B2Bpay is extremely user friendly."
Can I use it on the go?
"The B2Bpay system is completely device optimised so you can use it on your laptop or desktop computer, phone or tablet."
Is it secure?
"The system is PCI compliant, which is the international card security compliancy system. We use tokenisation, which means that the card number is never seen or stored in full so neither ourselves, the customer or the biller can see the full card number. We use encryption as well so it's completely secure.
"The system also allows you to store multiple credit cards so you don't need to pull out a card and input the details every single time you pay a bill. You can select which suppliers you want to pay with which card. A lot of people don't like entering card numbers multiple times from an efficiency, and also security, standpoint. With B2Bpay, you enter it once, it's securely tokenised and off you go."
What about getting people to pay me?
"B2Bpay works on both sides, because obviously those people who are making payments also need to receive payments. SMEs have always struggled receiving payments by credit card – they've struggled because they don't really understand how it works, or they see there's going to be merchant fees, processing fees, gateway fees… Then they realise they may have to build an online payment page.
"What we do is give SMEs a no-cost and branded online payment page. We help them integrate payment links on their invoices and website so customers can pay them quicker. This way, they're encouraging customers to pay faster because they can pay using their card, rather than relying solely on bank account funds.
"On top of that, if you're a billers who wants to provide an incentive for customers to choose you, then you can use Qantas Points and become a Bonus Biller. So you can go out to your customers and say, ‘If you choose me versus the competition, you'll earn additional Qantas Points with me,' which is a valuable incentive."
Important Information
A business must be a Qantas Business Rewards Member to earn Qantas Points for business. A one-off join fee of $89.50 including GST normally applies. Fees are inclusive of any applicable GST and may be varied by Qantas from time to time, without notice, in its absolute discretion. Membership of Qantas Business Rewards and the earning of Qantas Points as a business are subject to the Qantas Business Rewards Terms and Conditions.
Qantas Points for business are offered under the B2Bpay Customer Terms and Conditions. Members will earn 1 Qantas Point for every $100 paid and up to 3 Qantas Points per $1.50 paid to B2Bpay Bonus Billers. See B2Bpay website for a list of current B2Bpay Bonus Billers. Qantas Points will be credited to the Members' Business Rewards account within 90 days of the eligible spend. Any claims in relation to Qantas Points under this offer must be made directly to B2Bpay by emailing info@b2bpay.com.au. Businesses must ensure the ABN registered with Qantas Business Rewards is saved in the B2Bpay customer profile or entered online when paying in order to earn Qantas Points. Qantas Points earned using B2Bpay will be automatically credited to your linked Qantas Business Rewards account within 90 days of your eligible spend as outlined in the B2Bpay Customer Terms and Conditions.
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