Online payment gateway, PayFast has launched a new merchant-financing service in partnership with local fintech lender, Retail Capital, called Easy Advance. The service is designed to help merchants leverage short-term working capital to grow their business, without compromising their cash flow.
“Small businesses are generally more agile and quick to adopt creative strategies. Throughout 2020, many found new ways to earn revenue, promote their offerings and acquire new customers – despite the pandemic. We want to encourage our merchants to continue growing their businesses, without the limitations of traditional financing,” says Jonathan Smit, Managing Director and Founder of PayFast.
Taking daily online transactions into account, Easy Advance offers flexible, pre-approved funding to merchants based on their real-time trading data on the PayFast engine. The amount of the cash advance is determined against a percentage of future sales to ensure that merchants can still meet their monthly expenses, while growing their business.
“As more small businesses move online, we need to advance their access to funding through digital channels and collaborations like Easy Advance. By partnering with PayFast we can pre-authorise merchants based off their track record and trading data, not their collateral,” says Miguel da Silva, Managing Director of Retail Capital.
Merchants can access their funding within 24-hours following the acceptance of the initial finance offer. The advance can help businesses purchase equipment, add more stock, pay their suppliers up front or adjust their cash flow if necessary.
“Working together with Retail Capital, we can offer a solution to our merchants which is completely tailored to their online transactions. The application process takes around two minutes with little to no additional documentation required in order to access their funding,” says Smit.
Payment terms start from a three-month period and up to 12 months, depending on the merchant’s preference and a percentage deducted from transactions processed over the PayFast gateway over the set period. For more information visit https://www.payfast.co.za/features/easy-advance
