Every payment your business takes rides one of two rails: the card networks, or the bank-to-bank ACH network. They feel the same to you — money shows up — but they cost very different amounts, and the businesses that route payments deliberately keep meaningfully more revenue.
The cost gap
Card acceptance costs a percentage of every sale — interchange, network fees, processor margin. ACH pricing is typically a small flat or near-flat cost per transaction. On a $3,000 invoice, that difference isn't rounding error; it's real money, every month, forever.
When ACH wins
- Big invoices: B2B, contractors, professional services — percentage fees scale with the ticket; ACH doesn't
- Recurring plans: bank accounts don't expire or get reissued, so ACH subscriptions fail far less
- Retainers & rent-like billing: predictable monthly pulls are what ACH was built for
When cards still win
- Speed at the counter: tap-to-pay is instant; ACH settles in days
- Impulse and small tickets: nobody types a routing number for a $14 sale
- Rewards-motivated customers: some will always choose points
Let the customer choose — with dual pricing
The elegant answer is offering both on every invoice. With Next2Pay dual pricing, the pay page shows two options: pay by bank with no fee, or pay by card with the card price. Most customers with a big invoice pick the bank — and either way, you keep the full amount.
More on fee programs on Zero Fee Programs, and how invoicing with bank payment works on Next2Pay.