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Tracking, managing, and paying a number of different distributors can be overwhelming and time-consuming for bottle shop owners and managers, and anyone who distributes to wine and spirit retailers. That’s where Melio comes in.
Founded by an ex-division leader at PayPal responsible for peer-to-peer transactions, Melio’s accounts payable—and receivable—platform is designed to help all small business owners streamline their accounting and payment processes and gain more control over their company’s cash flow. By centralizing payment processes, Melio enables its users to pay bills and get paid by other businesses quickly and securely from one simple dashboard.
The platform also offers innovative payment flexibility. Users can pay bills with a debit card or bank transfer for free, and even pay with a credit card to defer payment (with a 2.5 percent fee usually offset by card rewards). For the vendors and distributors receiving these payments, it’s business as usual. They don’t have to join Melio; they can just receive the payment as a direct bank deposit or even as a paper check in the mail—completely free. And Melio integrates with QuickBooks Online for seamless back-office syncing to eliminate double data entry.
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Another way Melio adds efficiency to bill paying is by offering users the option of scheduling payments so they arrive on the last day before they’re due. This way, payers never miss a due date—and don’t have to worry about payments being withdrawn from their account at an inopportune time. All of this makes it easy for small-business owners and managers to see which funds are coming out of their account—and when.
Melio was built for both mobile and desktop to support businesses at the office or when you’re on the go—so you’re never more than a few clicks away from knowing exactly what’s going on with all your business’s payments.
Getting Started with Melio
It takes only about two minutes to enter some basic business information and sign up to Melio. Once signed up, users can link a payment method and then input vendors and suppliers (or sync all that information from QuickBooks). To make a payment, users can enter the invoice manually, upload a file, or take a photo of the invoice and upload it. Since Melio works with all the distributors in New York’s tri-state area, you can just select a distributor’s name and enter an invoice’s details to pay the distributor right away. To receive payments, vendors can set up a Melio.me payment page with a custom URL and share it with their customers to get paid faster for free.
Benefits for Buyers
With Melio, buyers can organize, log, schedule, and transfer payments to all vendors and distributors from one simple dashboard . They can pay bills with debit cards and bank transfers completely free, as well as pay bills by charging a credit card to defer payment for up to 45 days (a 2.5 percent fee applies) . Vendors don’t need to sign up to collect payment either. They receive the payment as a bank transfer or paper check in the mail. Buyers can also use Melio to schedule payments for all upcoming bills at once and stay updated with notifications and payment reminders.
What Melio Offers Distributors
Distributors can request and receive all business payments online through a custom payment page. They can also send invoice-specific payment requests to buyers, enabling faster payment—and receive all payments to their business’s bank account completely free (regardless of how buyers choose to pay). Melio enables distributors to track each payment request’s status in real time and spend less time with collection efforts and more time on sales and growing their business.
Pricing
Melio is free, so there’s no monthly subscription or setup fee. Users can pay bills with a debit card or ACH bank transfer for free. While a 2.5 percent fee is charged if users pay with a credit card, that fee can easily be offset by the credit card’s cash-back, points, miles, and other rewards. Receiving any and all payments through Melio is completely free.