There are multiple ways to take payment from out of home clients.  Here’s a review of the different forms of payment, ranging from least costly to most costly together with a discussion of the pros and cons of each form of payment.

Checks (no quickbooks fee plus $0.20-0.30 bank charge)

• Checks are preferred by many large clients and most ad agencies.  The paper trail is used for accounting and recordkeeping.
• Quickbooks charges no fee when a client pays via check.
• Banks usually charge a fixed cost of 15 to 20  cents per check for check deposits.
• Checks can get lost in the mail or can be stolen.
• Checks take longer to process.  There’s mailing time and then the time you take to deposit the check and then the fact that a bank has to submit a check through the federal clearing house for settlement which takes a day or two more.
• Checks used to have to be presented manually at the bank but can now be deposited electronically through most banking apps.

ACH Bank payments (1% fee plus $0.13 bank fee)

• An ACH bank payment is a transfer from the client’s bank account to you to  without a paper check.  ACH payments costs 1% per transaction within quickbooks.  Your bank will charge you an additional 10-15 cents to accept the ACH.
• ACH payments clear overnight.
• ACH payments operate similarly to credit card payments.  A client enters bank account information within quickbooks and directs quickbooks to pay your bill via ACH.

Credit Card Payments (2.99% quickbooks charge plus a $0.13 bank charge)

• Credit cards are the most costly form of payment.  Quickbooks charges 2.99% for most transactions increasing to 3.5% for manually keyed in transactions. Stripe charges 2.9%.  Square chages 3.3%.  You bank will charge you an additional 10 to 15 cents to accept the deposit.  If you accept credit card payments you should consider charging clients a processing fee.
• Credit card payments are used by smaller clients who like simplicity.  Out of home managers tell Billboard Insider that clients say, “I want to set up the bill on autopayment and then forget about it.”
• Credit card payments clear overnight.
• Credit card payments can be reversed later if a client challenges a transaction.

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