What are MarginEdge Electronic Payments (MEEPs)?
MarginEdge Electronic Payments (MEEPs) make payments faster, more secure, and more reliable than traditional paper checks. Depending on the vendor, MEEPs can take the form of a bank-to-bank (ACH) or a one-time-use virtual credit card (VCC) payment.
How do I set this up?
If you already use MarginEdge to mail checks to your vendors, then you all set to start making electronic payments (you might have already done it)! If you aren't using our Bill Pay feature at all yet, you'll need to set this up to get started. Full instructions can be found here: How Do I Setup Bill Pay?
Once you have Bill Pay enabled, MarginEdge automatically determines how your vendor gets paid. When you pay a vendor that accepts ACH or VCC, then we will pay the vendor according to their preference. If the vendor accepts neither; we will default to mailing a check.
How do MEEPs work?
When you approve a payment that will utilize a MEEP, there's an automatic ACH debit from your bank account. The funds are then aged for 2 business days, to ensure that there’s no issue with the initial debit, after which we deliver those funds to the vendor.
For vendors accepting ACH, we send funds directly to their bank account. Funds are typically posted in 1-2 business days following the date we send payment, so please anticipate approximately 5 business days between the day you approve the payment and the date the vendor receives payment. When your vendor has been successfully paid, the status of your payment in Bill Pay > Payments will be “Paid: MEEP”.
For vendors accepting VCC, we send funds to our card-issuing partner, and a one-time-use virtual credit card is generated and delivered to the vendor. This is commonly done via email, though some vendors receive card payments from us over the phone or through an online portal. Once a VCC has been created and sent to a vendor, the status in BillPay > Payments will be “Delivered: MEEP”. Once the Vendor has processed the payment from the VCC, the status will change to “Paid: MEEP”.
How do I know which vendors are set to electronic payment?
You can see the default payment for your vendors by going to Bill Pay > Setup, and clicking Manage Bill Pay Vendors; the vendor table will show "Electronic" in the Payment Type column.
How do I set up vendors to be paid electronically?
No action is needed from you. We automatically update your vendor’s payment type to Electronic if they accept ACH or VCC. On an ongoing basis, we reach out to vendors currently being paid by paper check to ask if they will accept virtual cards. If there are vendors you would like us to reach out to quickly, please make this request to help@ marginedge.com and provide the contact details. Vendors decide whether they prefer to be paid electronically or via paper check - but in either case, they agree to accept payment without charging fees to you, the restaurant.
If you are charged a vendor fee for paying with a virtual card, please contact us immediately to rectify this with the vendor.
Does my vendor have to pay a fee to receive electronic payments?
MarginEdge doesn’t charge vendors to receive any MEEP payments. To accept card payments, vendors usually pay fees to their merchant card processor, and those fees can vary. Most vendors choose to accept card payments because it ensures they get paid faster and more reliably.
Troubleshooting
My MEEP payment hasn’t been accepted by the vendor yet. What should I do?
MarginEdge works actively to make sure virtual card payments are accepted quickly. About 90% of virtual cards are processed and posted to your account within 5 days of receipt, although some vendors take longer. To accelerate the process, automated reminder emails are sent 3, 7 and 10 days after receipt. Additionally, after 10 days our team reaches out to vendors through email and phone regularly until the card is processed. If your vendor hasn’t processed the payment after 30 days, we will cancel the virtual card, refund your bank account, issue a paper check, and notify you by email.
What if my vendor doesn’t accept virtual credit cards, or charges a fee to do so?
Sometimes, despite confirming that a vendor accepts virtual cards without charging fees, this just isn’t the case. The vendor may change their treatment of electronic payments and say, “we don’t accept virtual cards” or, “we accept virtual cards but we’re going to charge a 3% fee.” In this situation, we quickly make a change in our system so all future payments to this vendor are via paper check. Additionally, we ask the vendor to process the outstanding virtual card payments without charging fees. If they are unwilling to process without charging fees, MarginEdge will cancel the card payment, advance a refund to you and send the vendor a paper check.