• QR codes and pay-by-link payments may reduce your business’s accounts receivable timeline, fraud risks, and administrative work.
  • Digital payment options may better align with customer preferences than checks, potentially supporting more consistent and timely payments.
  • Businesses may consider adding QR codes and pay-by-link options to delivery paperwork, labels, invoices, and customer emails or texts.

Wholesale and delivery teams may use QR codes and pay-by-link to accept mobile payments wherever deliveries are made — potentially reducing an over-reliance on checks, improving payment processing times and cash flow, and cutting manual work.

Here’s how QR codes and pay-by-link may turn paper invoices into fast electronic funds, and how to consider the best payment methods for each invoice.

Why Move Away from Checks at Delivery?

Accepting checks at delivery may slow your business’s payment processing, introduce risks such as fraud and bounced checks, and may require extra trips to the bank for deposits. They also expose your clients to risks like identity theft or misuse of their bank account information.

But the biggest reason to move away from checks may be that your customers prefer not to pay with them. Nine in 10 consumers report preferring other bill payment methods to check.[1] Your customers may be happier to use other, more convenient and secure payment methods. This potentially increases your overall bill payment rates and number of on-time payments.

Picking the Right Payment Method for the Bill

The best payment method for your invoice may vary depending on your industry, bill amount, processing fees, and fraud risks. Here’s a general starting point to consider when tailoring your payment methods to the invoice amount.

Up to $500

QR codes and pay-by-link methods may be the fastest and most convenient ways to accept on-site payments for smaller amounts.

$500 to $2,000

Payments made with QR codes or pay-by-links may still be a secure, convenient option. However, ACH may be preferred for regular customers because of lower processing fees.

Credit card or wallet payments via mobile card readers or smartphones with contactless payment features may also be a convenient alternative.

$2,000+ and recurring clients

ACH or pay-by-link with ACH may be the default payment option. Credit cards may remain a fallback for speed-critical deliveries, though businesses may want to request additional identity verification, such as a driver's license.

Setting Up QR and Pay-by-Link Payment Options

You likely need to enable QR code acceptance through your payment provider or POS system. Your POS dashboard is also where you may generate secure payment links to send to customers by text, email, or invoice.

You may make QR codes and pay-by-link payments static (the same for all customers, such as when routing to a payment portal) or dynamic (tied to a specific order or invoice).

Verifying Payment Systems Are Working

You may want to test the end-to-end flow to make sure payments are processed as expected. Some key moments in the payment processing chain to check include:

  • Tapping card, opening link, or scanning QR code
  • Payment page
  • Authorization of payment
  • Payment receipt
  • Funding
  • Payment descriptors on bank transaction list that match the invoice

Ways to Incorporate QR and Pay-by-Link Payments in Your Business

You may incorporate digital payment methods in several places in your business. Some suggestions to consider are:

  • Merchant accounts: Create branded links or QR codes from your merchant portal. You may want to include the customer name, invoice number, and total amount.
  • Customer touchpoints: Add scan-to-pay or click-to-pay options to delivery paperwork, case labels, packing slips, and email or text confirmations.

Customers may be more used to scanning QR codes themselves, but you may also have them present a QR code from their banking or wallet app for your employee to scan. The customer would then confirm payment on their phone.

Streamlining Payment Collection at Delivery

Mobile payment options such as QR codes and pay-by-link give wholesale and delivery teams greater flexibility in how and where they collect payments, potentially shortening payment cycles.

PNC Merchant Services include pay-by-link online and phone payments, mobile wallet acceptance, and contactless payments. Schedule with a PNC banker to learn more about PNC's payment processing solutions.