Quick answer: Card fees of 2.5 to 3.5 percent add up quickly on large B2B invoices. Dual pricing can reduce that cost by showing customers a lower price for ACH or cash alongside a card price that includes the processing fee. ACH is also much less expensive because it moves money from bank to bank for a small flat fee rather than a percentage of the invoice. A dedicated payments provider can handle both options while still syncing transactions to your accounting software.
Wholesale companies, professional services firms, manufacturers, agencies, and SaaS businesses with enterprise contracts often send large invoices. When a customer pays one of those invoices by card, 2.5 to 3.5 percent may go to the processor. That can be as much as 700 dollars on a 20,000 dollar invoice. Dual pricing and ACH can bring that cost down, and you do not have to give up the accounting software you already use.
Why do card fees hurt B2B more than B2C?
Because card fees are based on a percentage of the sale, they increase with the size of the invoice. A coffee shop pays only a few cents to process a 6 dollar sale, while a B2B company pays the same percentage on an invoice of 10,000 to 100,000 dollars. For recurring invoices, the business pays that cost every month.
Processing fees can therefore become a substantial expense for a high-ticket B2B company. Because many B2B customers make regular, planned payments, it is usually practical to offer them a less expensive payment method such as ACH.
What is dual pricing, and how is it different from surcharging?
People sometimes use cash discount, dual pricing, and surcharging to mean the same thing, but each works differently.
- Cash discount. You post one higher price and give a discount to customers who pay by cash or ACH.
- Dual pricing. You show two prices, one for card and one for ACH or cash. The buyer sees both and picks. The card price already includes the processing cost.
- Surcharging. You add a fee on top of the card price at checkout. This one is the most regulated. Card networks cap it, it needs advance disclosure and registration, and some states restrict or ban it.
Dual pricing is usually straightforward for the customer because both prices appear up front. Before offering it, check the current card-network rules and the laws in your state. When it is set up correctly, customers who pay by card cover the processing cost, while customers who use ACH receive the lower price.
Why does ACH work well for B2B payments?
ACH can make a large difference to the cost of accepting B2B payments.
- It costs a flat, low fee. ACH is usually a small flat fee, often under a dollar. A 50,000 dollar ACH payment costs about the same to process as a 500 dollar one.
- It is built for recurring invoices. Once a buyer authorizes ACH, net-terms and recurring invoices settle on their own.
- Buyers already use it. B2B buyers are used to paying vendors by bank transfer.
When ACH and dual pricing are offered together, customers have a reason to choose the less expensive option. Customers who prefer to use a card can still do so.
Why separate payments from your accounting software?
Many B2B businesses start with the payment service included in their accounting software, which is often QuickBooks Payments. This can be convenient at first, but it may become limiting as the business grows.
- Bundled tools still use the payfac model. These services are aggregators, so merchants may still encounter frozen payouts, surprise reviews, and reserves.
- Support may be general rather than specialized. A payment problem may go to the accounting software’s main support queue rather than to a payments specialist.
- Blended pricing can be hard to understand. It may be difficult to see the underlying processing cost or reconcile individual fees.
- Switching can become difficult. Keeping payment data inside an accounting suite can make it harder to move providers or negotiate pricing.
A dedicated payments company handles processing separately while continuing to send transaction data to your accounting software. It can provide interchange-plus pricing, invoicing, dual pricing, and ACH in one dashboard, without tying the payment service to the accounting ledger.
QuickBooks Payments vs. a dedicated processor
| Factor | Bundled (QuickBooks Payments) | Dedicated processor (Bias) |
|---|---|---|
| Core focus | Accounting software with payments | Dedicated payment processing |
| Pricing | Blended pricing | Interchange-plus |
| Dual pricing and ACH | Limited | Built in |
| Payout stability | Payfac model, freezes possible | Your own account, predictable |
| Support | General software queue | Payments specialists |
| Accounting sync | Native but locked in | Connects to QuickBooks and others, no lock-in |
| Reconciliation | Several clunky screens | One clean dashboard |
How to roll out dual pricing and ACH
- Turn on ACH as an option on every invoice.
- Show the ACH or cash price next to the card price.
- Nudge net-terms and recurring customers toward ACH. It is cheaper for you and easy for them.
- Keep your books in sync by connecting to QuickBooks, Xero, or NetSuite.
- Check current card-network rules and your state’s laws before launch.
How Bias helps B2B merchants
Bias provides payment processing for high-ticket B2B companies, with invoicing that includes dual pricing and ACH. Customers can see the cost of paying by card and decide whether to use the lower-priced option. Each business gets its own merchant account and interchange-plus pricing without surprise statement fees or risk surcharges. Bias also connects to accounting software, including QuickBooks, so payment records stay in sync with the ledger, and payments specialists handle support.
See how Bias invoicing works · Get a clear quote