Square launches easy invoicing platform in Australia

This week, Square announced the availability of Square Invoices in Australia, adding to its already powerful Register platform.

Giving business owners more ways than ever to get paid from one app, Square Invoices allows vendors and retailers to create, customise and issue invoices directly from the Square Register app on a smartphone or tablet, or desktop, helping SMEs to efficiently track payments and organise their paperwork.

“Optimising cash flow is critical to the survival and growth of any business and, unfortunately, Australian small businesses experience some of the slowest invoice payment speeds in the world. Research shows us that over $19 billion is locked away in outstanding invoices owed to businesses, and with 90% of small business failures a result of poor cash flow, we’re proud to bring tools to Australian sellers to ensure they’ve got every way to get paid.” commented Ben Pfisterer, manager of Square Australia.

Invoices are emailed directly to customers, who can then select to pay online securely with Visa, MasterCard or American Express credit or debit cards.

“Square is continuing to help make business simpler for Australian sellers. From accepting card payments with Square Reader to now accepting payments online with Square Invoices, we’re empowering businesses with every tool they need to get paid fast and spend less time on time-consuming operational tasks like generating manual invoices and chasing payments,” added Pfisterer.

Andrew McKinnar, the owner of Pipes Plumbing, said that managing cash flow is massive and that as a small business he is focused on making sure he is being paid on time.

“You’ve got plenty outgoings, but you don’t always have a lot of incomings, so making sure that you’re on top of your paperwork and your invoices is critical. Before I had Square, I basically relied on either cash or cheques or direct debit from people. Cash is king, obviously in the plumbing game, people don’t want to carry around that kind of money,” said McKinnar.

“Once I completed a job, I’d go home, start up an invoice, either email it or post it to the person, and then you’d wait for their response and you’d sometimes get payments straight away, the next day. Sometimes you could wait a couple of weeks and then you’d have to follow up and have those uncomfortable conversations about just reminding people their payment, which a lot of the times, it’s people have just forgotten,” he explained.

Adopting Square Invoices has helped his business to collect payments quickly and instantaneously from people and freed up time from chasing up late payments so that Pipe Plumbing can grow as a business.

“As soon as a job’s completed, I can invoice straight away or collect the payment even when I’m still at their house. Job’s done and payment’s already gone through.”

“It’s allowed me to spend more time focusing on growing the business. Not having to come home every day and spending hours invoicing people and then following up on those invoices. I’m spending more time quoting for work, going into peoples’ homes, getting more jobs and getting my business out there.”

“Having Square part of the business has just made everything easier. Means that your cash flow’s better, having the payment in your account within 24 hours. You can invoice on the spot—it takes the stresses out of running your business and it’s simple and easy to use.”

With the simplest and most accessible pricing in market, sellers can send unlimited invoices and access all of the features of the Square platform for free, and are only charged 2.5% when an invoice is paid online with Square, giving visibility and confidence to business owners knowing that they can track their expenses and forecast costs in advance.

Sellers can track all sales and outstanding invoices from their Square Dashboard, combined with any sales processed through Square Reader—giving a full picture of business performance in one location with powerful reporting and payment tracking features.

MyFlowerMan is a Sydney based florist owned and operated by Kieran Birchall that has been using Square Invoices since launching his bricks and mortar shop.

“Before opening our physical store all sales were processed via our online payment gateway system. However since we launched the physical store this year we needed a POS payment system and Square was the obvious choice because of its iPad integration, flexibility and modern approach. The invoicing capabilities also allow flexibility based on each customer’s needs,” explained Birchall.

“Square is super simple to use – My customers love how and they can receive a receipt on the spot via text or email, I always get asked more and many are really interested and engaged with the technology. Being paperless is also great.”

MyFlowerMan has always tried to create simple ordering and to be as quick and easy as possible while still allowing the brand and service to feel premium. “I feel Square is a like-minded, fresh, innovating brand and makes the whole payment process easy, clean and quick – which reinforces our business’s modern and forward thinking approach. It’s fitting into our business easily and allowing us to grow and adapt as we go,” added Birchall.

Square Invoices has a straightforward feature set designed for a variety of business types, from trades through to consultants, professional services and more:

• Send invoices directly from your smartphone or tablet wherever you’re doing business, reducing time typically spent manually issuing invoices and chasing payments after hours.
• Allow customers to pay conveniently and securely online through Square, with payments deposited directly into your bank account. Customers are never charged a transaction fee to pay online.
• Pay no recurring monthly subscription fees, hidden charges or long-term contracts—send unlimited invoices and access the powerful Square Dashboard reporting and tracking system free. Sellers are only charged when an invoice is paid online through Square.
• Access powerful features designed to simplify invoice issuing and tracking, such as scheduling, customisable invoices and print on demand, giving you time back to focus on business growth.