Ask HN: Is it still a thing to receive payment via direct bank transfer in SaaS? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is it still a thing to receive payment via direct bank transfer in SaaS?

6 pointssawirricardo18 comments

WordPress WooCommerce still provide this way to enable store owners receive payments like this. Is it still a thing?

With QR code and modern banking system, this is more convenient for customers than ever. Customers can make order online, choose QR code direct bank transfer as the payment method, the store then display a QR code (containing the amount, charge ID and relevant bank account info) and the customer just uses their mobile banking app to scan the QR code and authorizes the payment. 5 seconds later, the online store gets a webhook notification from their bank/processor showing the payment has been received, along with the charge ID to finalize the order. The QR code payment system has been very successful in other countries but not in the US yet.

In the EU definitely. Most our SaaS clients here need an invoice and pay it by bank.

I work for a European SaaS and many of our larger enterprise customers from the EU pay with a bank transfer. Our US customers primarily use a credit card.

As a contractor, I also get paid via a bank transfer (through Wise, which handles the international part). It seems weird to me as an American, but I guess it's just normal in the EU.

In Europe, yes. Avoiding US-based middlemen like PayPal becomes trendy.

Oh, so payments are handled offline mostly?

Online banking still exists. That is, you log into your bank and specify the recipient's bank, account number (or IBAN), the amount, and the purpose of the transfer.

Not exactly, but sometimes. Speaking as a Brit living in Austria, I generally see three payment options available with a lot of online retail:

- normal credit/debit card, which can go through all sorts of different "middlemen", US or European based depending on the site

- "immediate" bank transfer, which is still integrated into the payment flow and provides confirmation straight away, and is usually handled by the Swedish/German middleman Sofort/Klarna

- suprisingly still very common, at least here in Austria, is the "send me an invoice" option, even for physical goods that are being shipped, then the customer makes a manual bank transfer after the goods have been received

Why offline? You go to your bank web page, login, enter the recipients account information (EBAN) and press transmit. Or you have that automated from SAP or a number of other software products.

Asynchronous is a better characterization than offline.

SEPA is a thing and has basically 100% EU coverage. It’s cheap and well supported, and you don’t add any additional middlemen (you only have the banks that you’re using anyways)

Less middlemen means fewer fees to pay.

Some payment providers in some regions even offer this as a payment option, e.g. Payfast in South Africa.

Sometimes it's also about what systems customers are used to, or fees with each method.

If bank transfer is the only option, it's usually for businesses that payment providers won't touch (even if not illegal).

in Brazil it’s becoming the biggest thing with Pix, zero fee transfer

In my case of selling software licenses - yes, still a thing. A lot of companies are only willing to pay with bank transfers, even if it is 100 USD.

In places outside the US where cheques are pretty much extinct, this is how all B2B payments are done.

Yes. The majority of my larger customers are billed yearly via bank transfer using Stripe. Some smaller customers too.

Yes especially in the B2B space. Not that uncommon especially for European/Asian customers.

Large customers that require a purchase order would still do bank transfer.

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