• Commercial invoices were traditionally settled by cash or cheque, but businesses now have many more payment options.

4.1 Cash

• Cash can settle business invoices and provides speedy receipt.
• It is becoming increasingly rare for commercial payments.
• Reasons include the time and effort required to count and bank cash, bank charges for handling cash, and concerns that significant cash transactions can raise money-laundering questions.

4.2 Cheque

• Cheque use is declining quickly.
• Debit cards and credit transfers are generally quicker, cheaper to process and regarded as more secure alternatives.

4.3 Debit and credit cards

• Businesses can receive payment instantly using debit or credit cards.
• Electronic terminals allow transactions to be checked and authorised by the card-processing bank.
• The business is credited with the processed amount on the following day according to the training material.
• The bank charges a percentage of the sale/invoice value as commission.
• Credit-card transaction commission tends to be higher than debit-card commission.

4.4 Mobile payments

• Businesses can make and receive payments using mobile devices.
• Methods described include:
• Near Field Communication (NFC) through contactless card machines
• Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST), similar to NFC
• Mobile wallets storing payment information in an app
• Quick Response (QR) code payments through advertising or product labels

4.5 Internet payments

• Payments can be made through an internet browser or within apps where a suitable network connection is available.
• Examples include:
• Entering card details on a website
• Automatically charging a bank card linked to a mobile app
• Using PayPal
• Using a link to a digital invoice sent by email