Product Update: May 2024

This month’s feature updates help you approve more buyers for terms, build trust and credit with existing buyers, streamline the payout process to your vendors and more. 

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• Net Terms Expansion: Grow your customer base by accepting more SMBs for Net Terms.

• A/R Automation Updates: Build buyer credit over time through a collection process that’s receptive to buyer behavior.

• Daily Batch Payouts and Debits: Improve vendor satisfaction with same-day payouts. 

• Personalized Merchant Notifications: Ensure your teams get notified immediately with relevant updates.

• Dispute Flow Update: Gain visibility into the timeline of a disputed payment and get automatically updated when there’s a status change. 

Let’s dive in.

Net Terms Expansion: Approve Sole Proprietors for Net Terms 

A sole proprietorship is a type of business in which there’s no legal distinction between the owner and business entity. 

We’re excited to announce that sole proprietors may now be approved for our Net Terms in supported states! With this addition, you’ll be able to expand your customer base by providing more SMBs with terms. 

Get started: This capability has automatically been activated– you can encourage eligible buyers to reapply for terms today!

How it works: After selecting ‘sole proprietor’ on the business details form of Terms application, buyers must accept a legal clause in order to continue. Afterward, they may proceed to fill out business and bank details as directed. 

Important Note! Sole proprietors from the following unsupported states will be declined for terms: North Carolina, California, Nevada, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont.

Account Receivable Automation 

These improvements enhance the effectiveness of collections and offer your buyers the chance to increase their credit limits.

1. Smart Debiting 

We’ve updated the retry mechanism and changed suspension rules to reduce failure instances and increase likelihood that buyers maintain good credit standing. 

• Retry Mechanism: A new schedule has been established for recharging the failed payment method and charging the backup payment method.

• Suspension Rules: Buyers now have a grace period to pay outstanding invoices before account suspension.

2. Payment Efficiency (Buyer-Facing)

Our new auto collection email sequence better explains to buyers what they need to pay, when, and how. This increases transparency for buyers and improves their overall experience with Terms.

How it works: This feature is only applicable to Terms Transactions financed by Balance. For all such transactions, this sequence is enabled automatically. 

Vendor Daily Batch Payouts & Debits [New!]

The daily Batch streamlines the payout and debit process for vendors by providing them with a single, consolidated net payout or debit based on their daily balance at the end of each business day. 

Now, when payments are batched, vendors don’t need to wait 3 days for the debt to settle before receiving their payout– they get their net payout that same day. This new feature therefore is extremely beneficial to your vendors who can now get paid on the same business day when you use Batch Payouts & Debits.

How it works: Here’s how one day’s worth of payouts and debits for a specific vendor might look.  

1. Create a payout with a note - Invoice #1, for $75

   

2. Create a debit with a note, for refunding invoice #2 for $20

   

3. At the end of the day, the net balance for this vendor is $55, and a single payout is created for the net total of $55. The invoice & refund notes from each transaction can be seen on the merchant dashboard.

   

4. In the monthly reconciliation report for your vendor, the vendor will see the details for each net daily batch, indicating which transactions and/or refunds are covered by each daily batch payout or debit. You can see an example of this in the first line of the table below. 

Get Started: Contact your account manager if you would like to activate Daily Batch Payouts & Debits. 

Learn more in our docs.

Personalized Merchant Notifications

Merchant notification emails can now be managed directly and easily in the Dashboard settings. Give your team members the flexibility to choose to be notified only on topics that directly impact them.

Get Started: All Dashboards have been updated automatically to support this feature. To get started, open your Balance Dashboard, go to Settings > Notifications and turn on notifications relevant to your role. As a default, notifications are turned off except for dispute notifications, so be sure to visit and enable those relevant to you! 

Gain Visibility on Disputed Charges 

You can now manage disputes conveniently through your dashboard and receive important updates via email notifications. We will inform you about any new dispute creations and provide any updates to the dispute status, be it a win or loss.

1. See Charge Timeline in Dashboard View

To see the progress of a disputed charge from your Balance dashboard, go to Transactions Tab and filter by Status. Select the Payment Timeline to see dispute history and any important deadlines that may be associated with the ongoing dispute.

2. Get Updated Automatically in Your Email

Dispute notifications are turned on by default. You can see this under Settings > Notifications > Transaction Notifications > Disputes Management.