Know who has paid: cards, e-transfers and cash

In Canada, many tiffin customers pay by Interac e-transfer. It is instant, free for the customer, and needs no card. If you don't take e-transfer, you can lose customers.

But for a meal plan business, it is hard to keep track of. It is often why month-end takes three hours.

Why matching e-transfers takes so long

A card payment comes with the customer's name on it. An e-transfer comes with whatever the bank sends. The email is an old Gmail, or the wife's or husband's. The name is the full legal name: your list says Sunny, the transfer says Sukhwinder. The amount is $300 for a $302 plan. The message says "food", or nothing.

Do that for sixty customers and you know the scene. The banking app open at 11pm, a notebook, and a feeling that someone hasn't paid since February.

How Tiffinware helps

E-transfers are matched to the right customer's meal plan. The first time money comes from an email you don't know, Tiffinware remembers that email for that customer. After that, payments from it match on their own.

So the hardest payments to match become the easy ones. There is more on this in collecting Interac e-transfers without losing track.

Cards

Customers can save a card and be charged on each renewal, through Stripe. You never have to match those payments.

You don't need to move everyone off e-transfer. Every customer on a card is one less payment to match at month-end. They also can't forget to send the money.

You choose whether the customer pays the card fee or you do.

Cash

Some customers still pay cash. Record it on the customer's page in one step, and it counts like any other payment: their plan shows as paid, and it appears in your money-in report next to cards and e-transfers.

Who owes you

Paid, due and late, on one screen, for cards, e-transfers and cash. The renewals report shows who is coming up for renewal. A reminder sent three days early can save a meal plan that would have ended without anyone noticing.

GST/HST

GST/HST collected is shown for any dates you choose, along with refunds and how people paid. You set your own tax rate and name. The tax you collect belongs to the CRA. It is not your income, so keep it separate.

Not sure if you should charge tax? GST/HST for tiffin businesses in Canada explains the $30,000 limit and why ready-made meals are taxed differently from groceries.

All of this is included for $99 a month, with 0% commission. Your bill stays the same as your orders grow. Open the demo to see the payments screen with sample data.