What is Small Ticket Factoring?
Factoring (whether factoring large invoices or small ticket invoices, referred to as micro factoring) is the business finance process of selling a receivable to a factoring company. This could be a customer invoice, monthly billed retainer, or some kind of earnings statement (e.g., ecommerce vendors, app developers, Amazon sellers, Zulily vendors, commerce vendors selling through companies like Costco or Walmart, government contractors, and so on).
The main goal of factoring is to speed up small business cash flow–invoices can be factored the same day they are generated. Instead of waiting a few weeks – or even longer – for a customer to pay, you can factor the invoice and get anywhere from 90-98% of its face value as an advance in a matter of hours.
Though speeding up cash flow or creating a more consistent flow of capital in the organization is the reason most small businesses decide to factor invoices, some of the other common benefits of factoring receivables cited by our clients include:
- To unlock capital for growth initiatives
- For payroll financing in the form of a payroll loan (or payroll factoring)
- To negotiate better quick-pay terms with suppliers
- For competitive advantages, such as extending generous customer payment terms of 30-60 days
- To take on larger accounts or big orders
- To offset the downsides of slow-paying customers
- Improved ability to meet operating expenses
- To cover costs for equipment purchases, repairs, renovation or expansion
Traditionally, US factoring companies have not been particularly small business-friendly except for small companies that generated large invoices, typically $20-$40K and up. However, now there are invoice factoring companies that cater to small businesses, making small business invoice factoring available for enterprises of all sizes with micro factoring, spot factoring, and small ticket invoice factoring.