Using ACH processing directly via the Internet instead of paying by paper check promises to speed online payments between businesses in much the way electronic catalogs have made ordering goods easy.
Online payments seem to be catching on more quickly in Europe, according to banks there.
In the U.S., banks are trying to stake out a position in Internet-based ACH processing, but admit there's little momentum yet. FleetBoston, for instance, six months ago partnered with start-up Equidity to provide a hosted Web service that online marketplaces can use to process ACH buyer payments. According to FleetBoston senior vice president Timothy Burt, Equidity's payment-processing hosted service has found takers with a few online marketplaces, such as BuildNet. But he says there's little momentum around the service, even though it only costs a few dollars per transaction. The cheaper option ACH payments are far less expensive than credit card processing, which carries percentage-based fees for the sellers.