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Retailer guide to Afterpay
Take advantage of Afterpay to grow your business and convert customers who might be on the fence about your products.
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You might have seen Afterpay spring into every retailer out there seemingly overnight. If you’re trying to decide if it will be right for your business, this guide will take you through what you need to know.
How does Afterpay work for retailers?
As a retailer, the Afterpay sign-up process is quick and relatively simple. When you fill out the enquiry form, an Afterpay customer service representative will contact you in order to discuss your needs. Afterpay works both online and in-store, so you can choose how it suits you best.
If a customer buys something online using Afterpay, they simply select Afterpay at the checkout, and once the customer has received their item, Afterpay will settle with you and assume any credit or fraud risk. The instalments that the customer pays go to Afterpay instead of you since Afterpay will have already paid you for the merchandise.
How does Afterpay integrate with my point of sale?
Afterpay integrates with a variety of point-of-sale platforms as well as ecommerce platforms. Some platforms that Afterpay instantly integrates with include the following:
- Commerce Vision
- Futura
- Infinity
- Pacific Island
- Neto
- Shopify
- Magento
What benefits does Afterpay offer my business?
Some of the Afterpay features that can benefit your business include the following:
- Set instalments for customers. Afterpay informs potential customers about the instalment amounts and the frequency of payments to make it easier for them to decide if they want an item.
- New customers. Afterpay gives you the opportunity to benefit from more sales and the possibility of an increased customer base.
- Rise in repeat purchases. The likelihood of repeat customers to purchase from your business increases plus they will be more inclined to spend more per transaction.
- Payment upfront. As soon as the customer receives their item, Afterpay settles with the merchant quickly and automatically. There are no complicated processes or lengthy wait times associated with payment.
- Name recognition. Afterpay is currently used by over 1,400 retailers across the country. You can benefit from this name recognition if you incorporate Afterpay into your business.
- Zero fraud or credit risk. Although it might seem like Afterpay could be a high risk, Afterpay assumes all end-customer non-payment risk for every transaction. This takes you and your business off the hook and you no longer have to chase up defaulting customers.
How much will Afterpay cost my business?
The fees that you can be charged depend on your business's agreement with Afterpay. However, the fees below are a general guide as to what businesses can expect with an Afterpay agreement.
- A $0.30 fee per transaction.
- A commission rate fee per transaction. This can range from 4-6% based on your agreement.
Although $0.30 per transaction doesn’t seem like a lot when you’re selling your products for much more than that, it’s important to factor in the commission rate fee as well.
What interest-free plans does Afterpay offer shoppers?
Afterpay offers a credit line to your customers. They use it to buy items from your store (online or in a physical shop) and pay the money back later.
Customers make 4 payments over 6 weeks, with the first payment taken at the initial purchase of the item. If they do not adhere to the payment schedule, they are charged late fees until they have paid off their instalment.
The 6 weeks are interest-free, so the customer owes the instalments that are reflected on the website.
How do I start offering Afterpay at my store?
In order to start offering Afterpay at your store, you just need to fill out the online form that is available on Afterpay's website. Some of the details that you need include the following:
- Your ABN
- Your point-of-sale (POS) provider
- Your average order value
- Your total annual sales
- The payment platform you use
- Personal details, such as your name and address
- Your industry
- The type of business you have
- What sales channels you use and whether they’re online, in-store or both
Once you provide all of this information and more, a representative will get back to you within the next 24-48 hours.
Frequently asked questions about Afterpay
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Ask an Expert
What customer info does the retailer get from a customer who wishes to pay using Afterpay?
Hi Joshua,
Thank you for getting in touch with Finder.
The customer who is paying with Afterpay in the store will have a barcode which will be used to process the payment. The merchant/retailer only gets the order details like the amount, the order date, time, month and year as well as the Afterpay order number but not the customer’s personal info.
I hope this helps.
Thank you and have a wonderful day!
Cheers,
Jeni
I own a retail store in the bathroom and Flooring industry is there a minimum or maximum spend we can offer our customers ?
Hey Wayne,
Thanks for reaching out!
The minimum spend or purchase amount for an Afterpay payment is $35. Retailers on the Afterpay platform provide a limit per transaction, which
at its maximum is $1,500. The maximum outstanding limit is $2,000, which is reserved only for customers who have previously demonstrated strong repayment capability behaviour over time with Afterpay.
According to Afterpay, Average orders using Afterpay are around $150 which is really aimed at providing customers with a budgeting tool to spread out payments over time. First-time Afterpay users always need to pay the first instalment upfront
Hope this helps! For any further questions, feel free to reach out to us again, we’re here to help.
Best,
Nikki
Hi,
I would like to offer Afterpay as a payment option to customers in my party plan business. This is a reputable business associated with the direct selling in Australia. This payment option would increase sales dramatically. Is it possible?
Hi Karen,
Thank you for getting in touch with Finder.
Please note that Afterpay is a ‘buy-now-pay-later’ platform that allows customers to pay for their purchases over four, fortnightly installments. I’m afraid that they only offer their payment methods to merchants and not to service providers. You may contact their support directly to discuss your possibility of using their payment method on your party plan business.
I hope this helps.
Thank you and have a wonderful day!
Cheers,
Jeni
Hi all!
I have a physical store and an online store. If I have Afterpay registered for my online store, how can I also apply it to my physical stores?
Hi Mario,
Thanks for getting in touch with finder. I hope all is well with you. :)
You would need to directly get in touch with Afterpay. The same process applies. You would still fill out the online enquiry form that is available on their website. When filling out the form, you can indicate that you are running both an online and in-store shop. After about 24-48 hours, someone from Afterpay should be getting in touch with you.
I hope this helps. Should you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to reach us out again.
Have a wonderful day!
Cheers,
Joshua
If you are an online business like us, you need to use a shopping cart service which is has integration with afterpay. It can’t be just any shopping cart, and from reading many forums they don’t do one off integrations (it is only with major shopping carts).
The 6% (ex GST) fee is steep so you need to be comfortable you will get new sales from it.