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rstran
Level 3

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

Isn't this really all about QBO being able to Charge $10 per transaction to expedite the process?

Adrian_A
Moderator

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

Hello there, rstran.

 

Yes, QuickBooks will charge from $1 to $10 every transaction using QuickBooks Payment. The amount will be debited from your bank account the same day your money is deposited into your account.

 

This helps your bank to process the payment faster.

 

You can check this article to know more about QuickBooks Payment: Get paid faster with next-day deposits.

 

If you have other concerns with this type of process, just leave a reply below. Thank you.

CustomerWasAlwaysRightButNotNow
Level 1

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

This is very disappointing that it takes so long. There is no reason for this, and it should be noted in advance that it will be a long waiting period. Obviously Quickbooks are investing this money and making interest on my money. We already pay higher than usual transaction fees to Quickbooks for the privilege. I have other facilities which assure next day deposits and will be making use of these instead.

 

RFL
Level 1

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

I was ready to sign up for this service to have our clients pay is via ACH.  After reading this thread,  this option isn't for us.  I'll look for another service that can deposit our money due to us quicker than 7-10 days.  That's actually a disservice to small businesses. 

MacInTheMiddle
Level 2

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

Adrian,

 

This statement is not accurate according to banks I work with.

 

"This helps your bank to process the payment faster."

 

It is fine for QB to set whatever fees they want to charge, but most of us know enough by now that we do not believe it is to change the banks processing time as stated here and in other QB blogs. Several of our banks have on multiple occasions stated that it not true.

 

It is just a fee to create revenue for Intuit if they are not able to have free use of the ACH transaction funds for themselves for that 1-2 weeks of ACH "delay".

 

The NACHA rules that most financial institutions follow for ACH transactions are pretty clear about transaction delays and they are not at all as described by the moderators on the QB community.

 

Please stop blaming the "banks" or "the system" or "the network" or.... Intuit/QB should just own up to the fees they want to charge and move on. They are low or at least competitive for the most part and when they have you, the moderators, mislead/mis-characterize/spin/twist the story into something else it makes us not able to trust you anymore either.

 

For a financial institution, what could be more damaging than throwing away the trust with your customers over some fees you are going to charge anyway one way or another anyway?

 

If you were honest about the fees just being a way to make money for the convenience of the transaction or because you were not going to charge for the ACH transaction if we let you float the funds, I could understand that approach. Not being upfront about it though and dishonestly blaming others is the part that is very troubling to me when you want us to do business together.

 

If Intuit/QB will not be honest about things that are this clear and obvious with just a bit of homework, what else are they not honest about where it is harder to ferret out the truth?
Thank you.

 

 

Rit3
Level 1

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

Seven to ten days is preposterous this day in age! Especially when most other platforms take 1-3, tops. You guys are even trying to be competitive but that's greed for you.  We have contractors to pay but can't because you guys are holding on to our funds. I am pissed...and moving on. 

stefsterNYC
Level 2

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

They charge a $10 fee and there are no fees involved for either them or the banks. It's horrible what these companies do. Robbing us all blind. There should be some senate investigation into this. I can't believe it takes 10 days to send an ACH thru to our banks when a CC takes only a day or two.

YvetteVelarde
Moderator

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

@stefsterNYC Thank you for reaching out with your concern over ACH funding time. 

 

If this is your first time to process or receive a payment, it would normally take 5 business days to deposit your funds since we're still setting up your merchant account.

 

After the first batch deposit, your payments will be deposited faster. It can take 1-2 business days for credit card payments to deposit and 2-7 days for ACH payments to hit your bank account. 

 

There are times that deposits may delay. To find out why, you can check this article: Why are my funds on hold?.

 

Moreover, banks also have their own rules for processing payments in which their deposit schedule is controlled by them.

For additional information, visit these helpful resources: 

I hope this helps answer your question.

atomiclotus
Level 2

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

Spot-on. It's funny that the QB moderators blame "the banks" but for a fee they can miraculously convince the banks to process the transfers faster. It's also funny that PayPal can do the exact same thing in 24 hours FOR FREE. Like you said, charging a fee is fine. Businesses exist to make a profit and I'm cool with that. I'm not cool with the disingenuous explanations. If I deposit a check via my mobile banking or at the branch, it most often posts the same day if I make it before 2PM or if it is a very large sum of money. Otherwise, on almost every other platform transfers happen anywhere from same day to next day. 48 hours tops, even with a hold because of the amount. PayPal can process transfers within a few minutes. But QB keeps telling us that it's not their fault it's "the banks". 

 

Like I've said before, I don't blame the moderators. They are doing their job and saying what they are told to say. But QB should update its messaging to be consistent with the 21st century technology and what pretty much every online banking customer already knows to be true : ACH transfers can happen almost instantaneously - for a fee.

MacInTheMiddle
Level 2

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

Dear 

 

If you will search through other "Official" responses to this question and the same question in other threads, you will find ranges of 2-5, 2-7, 3-5, 5-10, 7-10 for the delays...  No consistency and yes I understand about the first payment 5 day delay. (Which is also not really needed. QB has many, many. many staff that could reduce that delay to something more reasonable.  If it is always 5 days due to the workload, then clearly it can be caught up and maintained at a much shorter interval were the desire there since the exact requirements are already known based on the existing and historic workload.)

 

I have had difference verbal responses for the delays when calling support just like from moderators here.  

 

I have also noticed, now that you mention it, that I have never seen any user comment that their deposit was anything less than 5 days at any point.  With all of these discussions, no user with experience has volunteered that it was anything else.  Surely if that was common, we would hear something from someone.  Statistically I would think we would hear more than one or two comments in these threads that our delays were something unusual, but that is not what happens. 

 

When the official line differs from our experiences, then what else should we do?

 

As an additional note, I did not find any reference to the ACH payments in the links you have provided.  There were several other transaction delay discussions, but no mention of ACH specifically or how it would be related to any delays.

 

I also called and confirmed just now with another large regional, multi-state bank I have dealt with for decades that there is no such thing as them receiving a "fee" to speed up the their process for ACH payments.  ACH is governed is such a way by the NACHA rules that they do not "speed up anything" because we send QB an extra fee.  1-2 days for the transactions.  

 

(Not to say there cannot be the occasional unique situation as an exception.  Stuff happens. )

 

However if there really is such a thing as a "NACHA speed up the banks processing fee" that changes the actual banks behavior instead of just speeding up QB as we seem to observe, please provide that to us so we can examine it.

 

My banks say QB is incorrect.

AmyBivin
Moderator

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

Hi everyone,

 

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback here.  This community thread dates back to early 2018 and many things have changed since then.  In the interest of ensuring that we are setting the proper expectations and addressing everyone’s concerns, we felt it was important to provide an updated response that reflects the current state of our payments processing options.

 

New QuickBooks Payments Customers?

Please note, if you are new to QuickBooks Payments, your initial batch (all the payments you process in a day get batched together) will be delayed up to 5 business days.  Please refer to our article Find out when QuickBooks Payments deposits your money for more information on the payments process.

 

Current payments funding plans

If you are a current Intuit Payments customer, your funding times will fall under one of the following combinations, based on the product you are using:

 

Credit Card Funding (in Business Days*)

&

ACH Funding (in Business Days)

1 (aka Next Business Day)

&

1 (aka Next Business Day)

1 (aka Next Business Day)

&

2 (in Two Business Days)

1 (aka Next Business Day)

&

5 (in Five Business Days)

2 (in Two Business Days)

&

2 (in Two Business Days)

2 (in Two Business Days)

&

5 (in Five Business Days)

*Business Days do not include Weekends or Federal Banking Holidays.  For a list of U.S. Federal Banking holidays, visit the U.S. Federal Reserve site.  

 

Note that QuickBooks Online with payments is currently the only product offering Faster Funding.  QuickBooks Desktop with payments typically have 2 day funding for ACH and credit cards.

 

Banking impact on payments

There have been a lot of comments on banks and how they play into the funding times.  All banks vary and we cannot guarantee that funding will be exactly the same for each.  We are by no means blaming banks for the delays.

 

I’d like to share a personal experience to illustrate.  I’ve worked for two companies over the past 15 years. When I started working for the first company, I had set up direct deposit for my paychecks with a major American bank.  My husband and I had several bad experiences with them and decided to switch to a local credit union. Following that transition, my paycheck deposited a day and a half faster than it had before.  At the second company, I had moved to a new state, but still chose to set up my direct deposited paycheck with the same credit union and part of my check was deposited into a pre-paid Visa account.  My paycheck deposits to the credit union only a day faster now and a day and a half faster to the pre-paid Visa account. My point here is that the speed of payment varies as your combination of transmitting bank to receiving bank changes.  There really is no way to control who your customers are banking with, so this is going to vary.  

 

 

Current payments processing pricing

There have also been many questions regarding pricing.  Below is a table that explains our current pricing structure.  Please note, these are subject to change and the QuickBooks Payments pricing (https://quickbooks.intuit.com/payments/pricing/) page is the best place to check for the most current rates.

 

 

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Desktop

Pay as you go plan

QuickBooks Desktop

Pay monthly plan

ACH bank transfers

1% (max $10)

$3.00

$3.00

Card - Swiped

2.4% + 25¢

2.4% + 30¢

1.6% + 30¢

Card - Invoiced

2.9% + 25¢

3.5% + 30¢

3.3% + 30¢

Card - Keyed

3.4% + 25¢

3.5% + 30¢

3.3% + 30¢


How our rates compare

There have been several comments regarding price comparisons.  Below is a table that highlights how our QuickBooks Online Payments pricing compares with two of our competitors.

 

 

QuickBooks Online

Square*

PayPal*

ACH bank transfers

1% (max $10)

Not offered

2.9% + 30¢

Card - Swiped

2.4% + 25¢

2.6% + 10¢

2.7%

Card - Invoiced

2.9% + 25¢

2.9% + 30¢

2.9% + 30¢

Card - Keyed

3.4% + 25¢

3.5% + 15¢

3.5% + 15¢

*Rates are accurate as of September 24, 2019.  Fee comparison excludes PayPal ACH for sending money to family and friends.


Next Business Day Funding eligibility

It is important to note that we have been on a very long journey, rolling out Next Business Day funding to our eligible customers in phases.  Unfortunately, not everyone is eligible for this. I know this may be frustrating, but please know that we take this very seriously. We consider many factors before making this determination. Please also note that Next Business Day funding is currently offered only to QuickBooks Online with payments.

 

Where are the ACH funds which are paid, but not yet deposited

It is important to remember that payments processing creates a certain level of risk. Those are risks that impact both you, the merchant, and QuickBooks. Unfortunately, a combination of consumers who submit incorrect bank information and individuals who are trying to commit fraud make it critical to build in processes that will mitigate that risk. Holding funds in a Reserve Account was one of those processes. Therefore, in the past, you may have noticed that while our ACH processing took longer than most other organizations, it was free and other organizations charged a fee. Both of these options are designed to mitigate or cover the risk. 

 

We recognize, as a small business owner, that cash flow is crucial to your success. It is one of our top priorities to get you paid faster, and something that we are continuously working on. However, there is still the challenge of managing risk while delivering payments faster.  This is part of how we arrived at the current Faster Funding model and fees.

 

Other delay factors

There are other things that could create delays in funding ACH payments.  These include, but are not limited to: 1. The customer submitting incorrect ACH information, 2.  The customer disputes/stops an ACH payment 3. The merchant makes changes to their bank account without notifying QuickBooks.  4. Credit card payments with issues that are part of the same batch as ACH payments.

 

When you are concerned about a payment delay, we recommend checking your payment status in the Merchant Service Center .  Here you will find the current status of your payments according to the information which has been provided to QuickBooks. 

 

Is Intuit making money/interest off of my held funds?

No. Intuit is not earning money off of these funds.  As clearly stated in Section 13 of the merchant agreement, "unless expressly agreed in writing, the Reserve Account will not bear interest."  Intuit did not and does not gain money by holding funds. Rather, this timing helped to mitigate risk. It’s important to note that we are held to the same banking standards as other financial institutions. We have a vested interest in following the law. Further, that is not who we are as a company.

 

Is QuickBooks Payments the best option for your business?

Given all the factors mentioned above, it really depends.  I can offer a little guidance with regard to fees for QuickBooks Online with payments.  (Desktop with payments ACH fees are a flat $3, regardless of transaction amount. See table above.)

 

If you are going to be processing ACH payments over $1000, here is a table that shows what that looks like with 3 payments processors:

 

ACH bank transfers over $1000

Payment Amount

QBO Fee

Square Fee

PayPal Fee

$1,000.00

$   10.00

Not Offered 

$   29.30

$1,100.00

$   10.00

Not Offered 

$   32.20

$1,200.00

$   10.00

Not Offered 

$   35.10

$1,300.00

$   10.00

Not Offered 

$   38.00

$1,400.00

$   10.00

Not Offered 

$   40.90

$1,500.00

$   10.00

Not Offered 

$   43.80


If you are going to be processing ACH payments for under $100, here is a table that shows what that looks like with 3 payments processors:

 

ACH bank transfers under $100

Payment Amount

QBO Fee

Square Fee

PayPal Fee

$                  10.00

$ 0.10

Not Offered 

$   0.59

$                  20.00

$ 0.20

Not Offered 

$   0.88

$                  30.00

$ 0.30

Not Offered 

$   1.17

$                  40.00

$ 0.40

Not Offered 

$   1.46

$                  50.00

$ 0.50

Not Offered 

$   1.75

$                  60.00

$ 0.60

Not Offered 

$   2.04

$                  70.00

$ 0.70

Not Offered 

$   2.33

$                  80.00

$ 0.80

Not Offered 

$   2.62

$                  90.00

$ 0.90

Not Offered 

$   2.91

$                100.00

$ 1.00

Not Offered 

$   3.20


Thank you for your contributions and your time on this thread.  We hope that you are able to find the best payments solution for your business and we value your feedback.

atomiclotus
Level 2

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

In the spirit of helping each other, I would encourage you (if you are comfortable doing so) to add a comment to this thread and share which banking institution you are using and what your funding experience has been with QuickBooks payments. Perhaps, there are some best practices we can learn from each other.

Thank you for the update, but asking people to post their bank is a very bad idea, IMO. This is information that could potentially be used for spear fishing (google it). Having someone's username and bank is enough to do a fairly convincing spear fishing attack. Please don't ask people to post personal information on a semi-public forum.

AmyBivin
Moderator

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

Thank you, @atomiclotus.  

 

That is why I stated if folks are comfortable doing so. Many users on this forum have chosen an alias, rather than their real business or personal name, so they might feel ok with sharing. 

 

I agree that no one should post personal information on this forum that could potentially harm them.

 

Thank you for pointing that out!

SimplyDan
Level 3

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

My experience has been 7-10 business days as well. I am looking for other solutions and have recommended that friends not use QBO if they haven’t already started. 

I used to recommend the product. I no longer do. 

irsmun
Level 2

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

Add to the fact that in the last 2 years they went from .50 per ACH to $1 to now $3.  They are adding cost without adding any value.  Our company is in the process of moving away from Intuit's merchant account.  We use mostly ACH.  At $3 per transaction, they do not want to be competitive.  Its greed.  Bill.com is at .49 per.  They have a monthly fee and it is still cheaper for us.

LucasMicromatis
Moderator

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

Good morning, @SimplyDan,

 

Thanks for contributing to this thread. Your experience seems unusual. Have you checked the exact funding dates in the Merchant Service Center for those ACH transactions and do they match the dates your bank is showing the deposit?

 

In the Merchant Service Center, you can see the date of the transaction and the date we sent the funds to your bank.  I would be interested to find out if the date we sent the funds to your bank is different from the date your bank deposited it.

 

Merchant Service Center

 

Please let me know!

SimplyDan
Level 3

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

Long time QuickBooks customer getting tired of moderators trying to pretend this isn’t a problem. 

My most recent ACH  payment is still pending after five full business days. 

Payment made by client on a Saturday morning. No movement during next five business days.  It is now Monday of the following week. If history is any guide, I expect finds will appear at my bank by the end of this week after 6-10 business days. 

My bank is able to send and receive payments from other banks in 1-3 days. Your service in this regard is consistent and unsatisfactory. And it has not changed since 2018. 

YvetteVelarde
Moderator

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

@SimplyDan Welcome to this thread.

 

I can help you find where this payment is.

 

If your customer paid an invoice via ACH on a Saturday and you do not see funds deposited to your bank account by Monday, I would advise to first check the Merchant Service Center to confirm when the payment was made, and make sure your expected deposit date is correct. 

 

If it has been longer than 5 business days since the payment processed, check your emails to see if an alert may have been sent in regards to the payment. 

 

If the payment went under review, there could be further action to take to get the funds deposited. 

 

If you don't see anything that would cause a delay, contact payments support.  An agent can help locate the payment and give you more information. This link will take you to the QuickBooks support page, where you can select your service and the proper contact channel: Contact Support

 

Let me know if you have additional questions.

SimplyDan
Level 3

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

It has happened with every payment made through QuickBooks, and zero transfers through any other means. 

I’m at six business days now. It’s not my bank's fault. I don’t expect you to do anything, other than leave the impression that it is someone’s fault other than QuickBooks. 

I’m posting this for the good of the community to demonstrate that 7-10 days is not unusual. 

 

[edited: spelling]

SimplyDan
Level 3

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

After six full business days after the payment was made by a client, I received an email from Quickbooks saying, "Deposits should be in your account in 1-2 business days, depending on your bank."

 

Payment was made by my client on a Saturday of week one.  After 7:00 PM Eastern Time on Monday of week three, I was told the funds would be in my account in 1-2 days.  

 

It's the six days you held the funds that is unsatisfactory.  If it was just 1-2 days, I don't think any of your paying Quick Books customers would object.  

 

 

YvetteVelarde
Moderator

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

@SimplyDan It's unusual to be waiting so long for a deposit (unless there is a review in progress) and I'd like to look into this for you.

 

Can you send me a private message to confirm which email address you use for your Merchant Account?

stefsterNYC
Level 2

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

I spoke to my cousin at the FBI. Companies like QB and banks have these delays in place so that they can catch laundering schemes. If they went any faster criminals would take advantage of the system. So, honest, hard working people like us have to pay the price. 

 

It sucks for all of us. There just has to be a better way. Especially now in these unprecedented times. Money need to be in our hands literally the next day. Especially for businesses that have been on QB or with a bank for so long. 

StuckWithQ Books
Level 2

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

This is bizzare and false info. 

Intuit/Stripe is not holding our money for a week because of a law enforcement mandate, they are voluntarily holding it because it increases their profit margin to do so, whether by overnight investing, or just so they can charge us a fee to release the funds at the normal pace of all other banks.

 

The only small justice at the moment (though it doesn't help us small business owners) is that the overnight rate is basically zero so they are going through these acrobatics with OUR money and not really earning anything on it.

stefsterNYC
Level 2

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

Think what you like, but it is true. Pretty much all banking transactions go thru a review process to catch money laundering schemes. It's not like I have anything better to do with my time than to throw around false information. This is one of  those things that banks and QB don't like to mention, but happens.

StuckWithQ Books
Level 2

Why does it take so long to receive payments through merchant services?

Because of the relative size of individual purchases at our business (a few large orders every month) we encourage ACH payments from our customers and about 50% of them pay that way.   With each ACH through QBO, it is always the same:  4-6 business days after the client pays (typically a calendar week), I get an email saying "money on the way" stating that "depending on your financial institution you will have the money in 1-2 days"   My financial institution is a legit bank that is not playing games with me so I always have the money the day after that notice from intuit.

 

It is kind of surreal that every few weeks an intuit rep comes on this thread here and says "let me help you with this" and then gives some boilerplate description of the process that, by all available info, appears to be a bit dishonest, and also disregards all prior dialogue on this thread.  I'm thinking it might be automated, like a bot, given the non-sequitur nature of their ongoing responses. 

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