Card vs ACH vs Check: Invoice Payment Costs for Liquor Stores
Most of your sales clear at the register, but house accounts, corporate gift orders, and wedding or event invoices get paid by card, ACH, or a check that sits in the drawer. This page shows liquor store owners how to use the calculator on that invoiced slice of the business so you can see what each payment method costs you in fees, staff time, and waiting for cash.
What getting paid costs you
Side by side, per month
| Per month | Card | ACH | Check | Total |
|---|
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
Scenario: move part of your check volume
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
Your payment-mix report
Four scenarios run on your numbers
| Scenario | Direct cost | Carrying cost | Total / month | Cash tied up | Days to cash | vs. current mix |
|---|
ACH-first moves 50% of your check share to ACH. Paperless moves all of it to ACH. Card for speed moves 25% to card and 50% to ACH. Card-heavy moves all of it to card. The highlighted row has the lowest estimated total monthly cost; ties go to the option with less cash tied up.
Illustrative interchange-plus card estimate
Invoice wording templates
Customers pay the way your invoice makes easiest. Put the electronic option first and the mailing address last. Replace everything in brackets.
Version 1: full invoice footer
Amount due: $[amount] by [due date] Pay online by ACH/eCheck or card in about a minute: [secure payment link] Paying by bank transfer? Use the ACH remittance details on file and include invoice #[number] in the payment reference. We will never change our bank details by email alone; call [phone] to confirm any change. Paying by check? Make it payable to [legal business name] and mail to [remit-to address]. Write invoice #[number] on the check.
Version 2: one line for the invoice email
Invoice #[number] for $[amount] is due [date]. Pay by ACH or card here: [secure payment link]. Checks are still accepted at [remit-to address].
Version 3: for customers with an AP department
Payment options (in order of preference): 1. ACH / eCheck (preferred): [secure payment link], or ACH to the account on file. Email remittance advice to [ar@yourcompany.com]. 2. Card (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express): [secure payment link]. [If you apply any card fee, describe it here exactly as your card program and state rules require.] 3. Check: payable to [legal business name], mailed to [remit-to address]. Please reference invoice #[number] with every payment.
Setup checklist: ACH/eCheck and a virtual terminal
- Decide the order you will list payment options on invoices, with ACH/eCheck first if lower cost and faster cash is the goal.
- Confirm the deposit account and who at your company can see and change payment settings.
- Set up ACH/eCheck acceptance with your bank or processor. If you will pull funds from customer accounts (ACH debits), get each customer's authorization and keep a record; ask your provider which authorization format they require.
- Set up a virtual terminal for card and eCheck payments taken by phone, with a separate login for each staff member.
- Create a secure payment link or hosted payment page and add it to your invoice template and invoice emails.
- Require the invoice number in the payment reference field so payments match to invoices without manual lookups.
- Connect deposits to your accounting system and set a daily or weekly reconciliation routine.
- Write a call-back rule for any request to change bank details, using a phone number you already have on file.
- Never write down or email full card numbers. Key them directly into the virtual terminal.
- Email your customers' AP contacts with the new options and the date they start.
- Track the share of payments by method each month and rerun this comparison with the new mix.
Questions to ask any processor about pricing
- How do you quote card pricing: interchange-plus, tiered, or flat rate? Can I see a sample monthly statement?
- What fees apply beyond the rate: per-transaction, monthly, gateway, PCI, batch, or statement fees?
- What does each ACH/eCheck payment cost, and is it a flat fee, a percentage, or a percentage with a cap?
- How many business days until card and ACH funds reach my bank account?
- How are refunds, returns, and chargebacks charged?
- Which interchange categories will my business, corporate, and purchasing card payments fall into, and how does that change by card type?
- Do you support passing Level 2 and Level 3 data (tax amount, customer code, line-item detail)? From which entry points: virtual terminal, gateway, payment links, invoices?
- Is Level 2 and Level 3 data filled in automatically, or does my staff have to type it for each payment?
- Do large single payments trigger extra review, holds, or reserves, and how are those handled?
- Will my quote show interchange separately from your markup so I can see what changes on large tickets?
Passing card costs to customers
Some sellers add a surcharge to card payments, run a cash discount or dual pricing program, build card costs into prices, or offer early-pay terms for ACH. The rules for surcharges and cash discounts vary by card brand and by state, can include notice, disclosure, registration, and cap requirements, and may treat debit cards differently from credit cards. Confirm the current rules with the card brands and your state before changing how you price card payments. This report does not determine whether any practice is allowed for your business.
A lower-friction first step is to make ACH the easiest option on the invoice, using the templates above, rather than adding a fee to card payments.
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
Bring these numbers to the conversation. A specialist can walk through ACH, virtual terminal, and card options for your invoices. Nothing on this page is a quote.
Which liquor store sales belong in this calculator
Leave your counter sales out. Tapped and dipped card payments at the register are a different cost problem. This tool is for money you bill first and collect later: house charge accounts, corporate holiday gift orders, wedding and party orders, caterers and event planners, and sales to restaurant or bar accounts where your state permits them. Enter only that invoiced revenue as your monthly invoiced revenue.
The card rate matters more than it seems. Invoiced orders are usually paid over the phone, through a payment link, or keyed into a virtual terminal. Those are card-not-present payments, and they often price differently from the tapped transactions that make up most of your counter volume. If your statement lets you separate keyed or online transactions, enter that effective rate. If you leave the rate blank, the tool uses a placeholder assumption: 2.55% for Retail or 2.8% for B2B. These are industry-average assumptions, not your actual rate.
Choose Retail as your business type if invoicing is a side channel for the store. Choose B2B if on-account and trade sales make up most of what you invoice. The choice only changes the default card rate and the illustrative interchange-plus estimate in the full report.
A worked liquor store example (hypothetical numbers)
Picture a store that invoices $40,000 a month across about 50 event and gift orders, an average of $800 each. Customers pay 30% by card, 20% by ACH, and 50% by check. The owner assumes a 2.55% card rate, $0.50 per ACH payment, $3 out-of-pocket per check (deposit trips, bank item fees), $25 an hour for staff time, 10 minutes per check, 3 minutes per ACH payment, 2 minutes per card payment, 5 days to cash for card, 10 for ACH, 35 for check, and a 10% annual cost of cash.
At that baseline the tool estimates about $515 a month in direct costs plus about $233 in carrying cost, for roughly $749 total, or about 1.9% of invoiced revenue. About $28,000 is tied up in collection at any time, and the weighted wait for cash is 21 days. Checks are half the volume, but they account for about $374 of that monthly cost and most of the cash still waiting to come in.
Now move half the check volume to ACH with the scenario slider. Total monthly cost drops to about $611, a saving of roughly $137 a month. About $8,300 of cash is freed up, and weighted days to cash fall to about 15. Move all check volume to card instead and the picture flips. You free about $20,000 and get paid in about 6 days, but total cost rises to about $934, an additional cost of roughly $185 a month. The tool shows that trade-off directly, so you can decide whether faster cash is worth the fee.
Estimates are based on published industry averages and are not a quote. Actual rates depend on card mix, ticket size, industry, and underwriting.
Liquor store realities that change your numbers
Seasonality. Corporate gifting tends to pile up from Thanksgiving through New Year's, and wedding and graduation orders cluster in late spring and summer. Run the calculator once for a normal month and once for your busiest invoicing month. Fees and staff minutes scale with invoice count, so a slow-paying check customer costs far more in December than in February.
Deposits and returns. Many stores take a deposit on large event orders and invoice the balance after the event, sometimes net of unopened bottles that come back. Each refund or credit is another touch for your staff. A check overpayment means cutting a refund check. A card payment can often be partially refunded in a few clicks. Count those extra minutes in your per-method staff time.
Large tickets. If your average invoice is $1,000 or more, the tool flags it. The full report then covers questions to ask about large-ticket card pricing, including whether corporate purchasing cards on your gift orders could qualify for lower interchange when you pass Level 2 or Level 3 data. If checks are 30% or more of your mix, the report puts extra weight on setting up ACH/eCheck and a virtual terminal, so account customers have an easy alternative to mailing a check.
What a good result looks like for a liquor store, and fees to check
A good result is not zero cost. It is a mix where checks are the exception, cash arrives before your next distributor payment is due, and card fees are paid by customers who value convenience, not absorbed on every large order without a second look. If your weighted days to cash runs 30 or more, or checks take 45 days or longer, the report links to the Merchant Funding Payback Estimator (https://touchsuite.com/tools/merchant-funding-payback-estimator), so you can compare the cost of waiting against the cost of working capital ahead of the holidays.
Before you trust your current card rate, look for fees that inflate it: PCI non-compliance fees, monthly statement or minimum fees, batch and annual fees, and extra charges on keyed or non-qualified transactions. On the bank side, check per-item deposit fees, remote deposit capture fees, returned-check fees, and ACH return fees. Put those in your out-of-pocket cost per check and fee per ACH payment so the comparison is fair across all three methods.
Frequently asked questions
My statement shows one blended rate for the whole store. Should I use that for invoiced orders?
Only if you can't separate them. Your blended rate is mostly tapped counter sales. Invoiced orders paid by phone or link are card-not-present and often cost more. If your statement breaks out keyed or online transactions, use that rate. If not, run the tool with your blended rate and again with a higher rate to see how much the answer changes.
Can I add a surcharge or cash discount to invoices that customers pay by card?
Rules on surcharging and cash discount programs vary, and alcohol sales can carry their own pricing restrictions. Confirm with the card brands, your state, and your state alcohol regulator before changing how you price card payments. Until then, the calculator lets you see what card acceptance costs you on invoiced orders so you can make that decision with real numbers.
Our restaurant and bar accounts insist on paying by check. Can I push them to ACH or card?
Some states regulate how and when licensed retailers can be paid for alcohol sold to other licensees, including credit terms and accepted payment methods. Check with your state alcohol regulator first. Where you have flexibility, use the scenario slider to see what moving those check payments to ACH would save. Customers are often more open to switching when you offer a simple ACH or eCheck option.
We do a few big corporate gift orders a year. Why does the tool care about invoices over $1,000?
On large tickets, a percentage card fee adds up quickly, and corporate buyers often pay with business or purchasing cards. The full report lists questions to ask about large-ticket pricing, including whether sending Level 2 or Level 3 data on those transactions could lower your interchange. It's a conversation to have with your processor, not a guaranteed saving.
Which month should I enter if December looks nothing like the rest of the year?
Run it twice. Enter a typical month to see your everyday cost, then your peak gifting month. The peak run usually shows how much cash slow check payments tie up right when you are restocking for the holidays. That is the number to weigh against faster payment options or working capital.