Cash payments could cost small businesses

28 Aug 2014

Online financial service PayPal has released data from a poll on 500 cash-taking businesses, revealing the cost of working on a cash basis.

The poll shows that on average a cash-taking business will spend a total of 12 days per year counting cash, including travel to the bank to make deposits where they are also liable to banking charges.

PayPal estimates the time and financial impact could amount to as much as £942 a year for each business. Figures indicate that 1 in 10 British businesses operate exclusively on a cash or cheque basis.

Director of Mobile Merchant Services at PayPal UK, Narik Patel, said: ‘Many small businesses only allow customers to pay with cash because they think it’s a cheap way to get paid. But our research reveals that the hidden costs of cash really add up. And that’s before you consider the sales you lose through turning away customers who want to pay by card’.

Based upon the figures collected, PayPal estimates the total cost to small businesses using cash could be £2.5 billion per year.