While this means that you’re exposed as a SAAS or web product supplier for up to a month it does mean that because you’ve already delivered the service the question of chargebacks is highly unlikely and relatively undefendable.

That said if you buy anything on CC or buy direct debit my understanding is that you can have the entire amount that any company has charged you going back quite a long time without too much difficulty..

That, and from my experience in offering both options – 90% to 95% pick normal credit cards and not PayPal; so there is clear customer preference for not using PayPal (this is a B2B business).

(They do now offer this as a partner with BoS but that’s just regular BoS, not Protx).

In the industry I work in (travel) its pretty difficult for travel companies to even get a merchant account when starting up. When I say difficult I mean damm near impossible. This forces them to PayPal / Moneybookers etc who have their own risk procedures that cause fun and games.

The discussion therefore shouldn’t be around immediate payment vs 45 days – but around the rules and regulations you have to comply with to get a merchant account in the first place.

I know cashflow is important (and yeah, I know that, really) but being paid 45 days vs being paid in a few days…. really…. if you have steady growth – that isn’t much of a problem. If your business is so unstable that this is life or death… well – there are other problems not made by Barclaycard.

Besides, 45 days is negotiatable after a good trading period. Just seems they are running a sensible business to me.

Firstly, this issue is with Barclays Merchant Services, not Barclays business banking. Barclays business banking tries hard to attract and encourage start-ups; they regularly sponsor/send out-of-touch fogies to start-up events and successfully bore the shit out of everyone there. (Bless them.) It’s doubtful they’d do this if they “hate tech startups”.

Regarding Barclays Merchant Services, yes, they’ll make you wait for your money, but I found that all the banks were pretty similar. Tech startups doing SaaS are in fact a huge risk, because what happens if the start-up goes out of business when 5,000 customers have paid for a year subscription by credit card in advance?

So, before singling out one company, are any stats available on the other payment processing companies?

Bricks and mortar banks don’t offer the best online payment processing deals and service. Worldpay used to be good and I’ve heard good things about Protx recently. Always negotiate their fees.

Surely this is illegal? There is a reason why bank transfers have been reduced from 3 days, as the government decided that banks were sitting on money much longer than they had to!

Its an absolute disgrace.

How can startups build the country out of a recession with policies like this.

It becomes a real pain in the ass when the other banks follow suit, here’s hoping they dont.

Credit to publishing this Mike.