Technology has made it easier than ever to minimise your financial administration for your business. Remember going to markets, and not having enough cash on you to buy that item you really wanted? There were no ‘’cashless’’ purchases. Now, you don’t need to be a huge retail store to have a card machine at your disposal. So, what are the most convenient vendor payment options available to you for your business?

Yoco: Your portable card machine
Yoco has revolutionised payments for business in South Africa. For as little as R500, you can carry a card machine around with you wherever you go. Yoco has two options of card machines: one, a simple machine which connects to your smartphone, used with the Yoco app. It uses Bluetooth to connect, so as long as your phone and your Yoco are charged, you are good to go.

The second option is the Yoco Neo. This machine functions without a smartphone, and has double the battery life of a Yoco Go. It uses a sim card to access 3G on its own, and displays your transaction history on screen. Essentially, it’s a basic phone which can conduct card payments on its own.

What’s the catch? Yoco doesn’t charge a monthly fee, but rather takes 2.95% of your transaction cost as a starter, for monthly turnover between R0 and R20 000. The more your monthly turnover, the less your transaction fee. The minimum taken is 2.6% for a turnover of more R80 000 to R100 000, and after this, a custom rate is reached.

You can purchase a Yoco online via their website, or at these four stores: Takealot, Incredible Connection, Cellcucity, and Hi Store.

You can also use the Yoco App and Business Portal to create payment links for your customers, sell gift vouchers to them for your business, and set up online payments on your website.

SnapScan
SnapScan has been around for a while, and has developed a comprehensive and convenient system. You can apply to be a SnapScan vendor online, and there are various options tailored to your needs whether as a market vendor, restaurant, service based business, NGO and more. The idea is that you are given a unique QR paying code connected to your account. Customers then download ScapScan on their phone, connect their banking details, and scan your QR code on their SnapScan app to make your payment. Payment becomes contactless and easy, although, the difference between this and Yoco, is that customers must have SnapScan on their phone and connected, while with Yoco, all they need is their card.

EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer)
There are always the traditional bank transfers which you can make use of. All you need is your bank details and your banking app on your phone – though this is not essential. Things to keep in mind if you are using EFT as your payment method: remember to provide your customers with a reference so that you can keep track of who is paying what amount. Second to remember, is that if the EFT is not being made by the same bank which your account is held with, usually the payment would take a day or two to come through. You should therefore always ask your customers to email or send you proof of payment once they make an eft, as well as to keep this for your own records.

Cash and CashSend
Cash payments may give you additional administration to carry out if you do not plan to use the cash immediately and want to save it. You may want to have a cash limit on your cash payments – that an amount over RX must be done by card. However, some prefer having cash on hand and may be happy to receive cash payments anytime.

CashSend is not conventionally used for business, but it can also be a useful method which is often underutilized. CashSend allows a customer to send you money which you can then withdraw at an ATM once a code is sent to your phone. It can be useful as a back-up option for small businesses. You would need to advise the customer that it needs to be done on their banking app, and wait until you receive an SMS confirming the code and amount ready for you to receive.