Wave online payment processing very slow

NevilleC

Hi all,

I'm a fan of Wave but with one exception: their payment processing is VERY slow. Example:

• I invoiced a client on Nov 2 using Wave. Client paid using Wave online payments and the funds were in my account same day. Great.

• I invoiced the same client on Nov 5 using Wave. Client paid using Wave online payments - and today, Nov 13, the funds are still not in my account. We checked - the funds left his account on Nov 5, but nothing my side. Not so great.

• Customer support (online chat) eventually found that "the transaction is being processed right now and will hit your account in the next 2 hours". So my funds were "stuck" in Wave for 8 days, or 5 business days if you count the holiday on Nov 11.

The only explanation was that "it takes 5-7 business days for payments". Why? And frustrating I'm sure when you're waiting for a big payment and times are tough.

Love the other parts of Wave but this sucks.

JulianP

Hey there @NevilleC !

I completely understand your frustration and concern since your funds are important to both you and your business. With that being said, I want to breakdown our payment processing timelines for a bit more context.

• 1) AMEX and Credit card payment: This process takes 1-2 business days to process.

• 2) ACH Bank payment: This process takes 2-7 business days to process.

To provide some more context into the timeline of ACH payments I will try and explain the different layers to bank payments with Wave. Please excuse the long response but I wanted to provide you with detailed insight into how these work.

When making bank payments with Wave there are currently two ways in which this can happen from your customers perspective.

1) The customer pays the invoice using the automated login portal by searching for the name of their bank in the search bar.

What this does is it allows our payments processor to instantly verify the available funds in the customers bank and get started with processing the payment through the ACH network. This process can take anywhere between 2-7 business days (Normally around 4) for the funds to be deposited in to the receiving account.

2) The customer pays the invoice by manually entering their routing and account numbers - This can happen in two situations a) If the bank is not supported through the search bar by our provider or b) The customer is not comfortable using the automated login portal

In this situation in order to start processing the payment, messages are sent across the ACH network from Wave to our processor, to the bank, and then back to our processor to confirm that there are funds available. This alone takes around 3 business days. Once the funds are confirmed the payment processing will 'begin' at which time there are 3-4 business day remaining until the funds are deposited into your account.

Some payments are "lightsped" across our payment rails which deposit funds into your account within 2 business days. "lightsped" payments occur occasionally if a) The automated login portal is used to make the payment and b) The business owner and customer have shown consistent and safe payment relations.

In lay terms, in the case of a lightsped payment, Wave parses invoices and payment information through a system that identifies whether or not the payment itself meets a set of requirements. If they do, the payment is "lightsped" and Wave essentially "advances you the funds" from their own bank which makes the process so quick. We then wait to receive the funds through the ACH network and collect what we are owed.

As you can see there are a few variables to the processing timelines. Unfortunately, these are out of the immediate control of the business owner and Wave. It is for this reason that we quote a 2-7 business day timeline to account for these variables.

I hope this helps!

JohnS

Thank you for the question and the answer. I was getting frustrated waiting for funds.