Blank QR invoices: This can be expensive
Until now, a widespread practice was for billers to obtain neutral payment slips from the banks, which contained their own address and account number, but no information on the person liable to pay. They then added this information and the invoice amount themselves at their own printer. This procedure is no longer possible with the QR invoice, because the Swiss QR Code cannot be changed. It is therefore important that billers generate complete QR invoices right from the start.
The QR invoice, or more precisely the receipt called the QR payment part, consists of the Swiss QR code and a visual part that shows the invoice details as plain text. These two elements must match when it reaches the person liable for payment. This means that neutral receipts in which the payer's address and the invoice amount are missing cannot be reprinted by the biller himself. In this case, the expense is shifted to the payer. In the case of payments via digital channels, such as e- or mobile banking, this is usually not a problem because his address data is automatically enriched after logging into the banking application.
Blank QR invoices mean costly additional effort
The situation is somewhat different when paying via classic channels, especially at the post office counter. Before the payer can pay such a QR invoice at the post office counter, he must add his address and the invoice amount by hand. What does not sound like much effort for 1-2 invoices per month, quickly becomes tedious once he pays 10-20 invoices per month. In this case, he should ask the billers to send him a completely filled out QR payment section.
Complete QR payment parts are also in the interest of the biller
Incomplete QR payment parts are not only a nuisance for payers, but also disadvantageous for the biller himself. Swiss Post charges a fee of CHF 0.84 per payment for the manual re-entry of address and amount - in addition to the usual counter deposit fees. With 100 invoices per month, this results in additional costs of CHF 84 per month or over CHF 1,000 per year. These expenses are completely unnecessary and the CHF 9 per month incurred for the use of QR Module is a piece of cake compared to this.
The most convenient option: pdf invoices by e-mail
For payers who like to use digital channels, a media break-free process would be the most efficient anyway. In this case, they would receive QR invoices in pdf format via e-mail. Many banks in Switzerland already offer the option of uploading such pdf invoices into the eBanking application or dragging and dropping them in, where the Swiss QR Code is then automatically read. After that, the payer only checks the payment data and releases the payment if everything is ok. This process is even faster and easier than paying an eBill, because he can view the invoice details in the pdf invoice and does not have to log in to a third party website first for this. In addition, the invoice can be quickly archived on the user's own device or the email system can be used as an archive. QR Module offers the option to send QR invoices directly from the application via e-mail. This not only optimally serves the payers, but also the billers, who thus minimize their billing effort.
Source: www.qrmodul.ch
