How to set up a WooCommerce payment gateway in South Africa
September 11, 2026Disclaimer:
This blog offers general guidance based on information available at the time of publication. For the most up-to-date details, please contact Netcash or other service providers directly.
June and July represent a natural halfway point for most South African businesses, making it the best time to check in on financial performance before entering the second half of the year.
In most cases, businesses like to focus on revenue targets during H2 planning but overlook their payment processes. Slow collections, payment failures, and inefficient payment methods often take a back seat during the planning process, despite their significant impact on cash flow.
In this detailed guide, you’ll find a practical mid-year payment audit and financial review. You’ll walk away with actionable steps to improve business cash flow in South Africa. Furthermore, the article will help you fix current cash-flow leaks and prepare for the July SARS deadlines.
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Why cash flow deserves a mid-year check-in
While related, profit and cash flow are different. It’s possible for your business to be generating revenue while still experiencing negative cash flow due to slow customer payments, rising operational costs, and seasonal sales fluctuations. That’s where a mid-year review comes in.
This is an opportunity to identify payment bottlenecks early, so you can improve H2 performance rather than react when cash flow becomes a problem. During the mid-year review, you should gather key documents, including the year-to-date profit and loss statement, balance sheet, bank statements, and accounts receivable and payable reports, to accurately identify bottlenecks and cash flow issues.
Once you know how money is coming in and going out, you can implement strategies to improve payment collection, reduce disputes, and streamline payouts to suppliers or staff.
Key Takeaway: Improving payment processes is often one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to increase available cash flow by focusing on collecting revenue already earned.
H2 business planning: Mid-year payment audit checklist
A mid-year audit is all about spotting weaknesses in your business’s collection and payout processes. Use the practical checklist below to weigh the effectiveness of your current system.
1. Review the payment methods you currently accept
First and foremost, it’s crucial to analyse how your business receives revenue. Review whether your current payment options align with customers’ preferred payment methods, as payment behaviour in South Africa continues to evolve. Customers want a frictionless payment process; complicated and single-method options are likely to lead to delays or complete abandonment.
How each payment method affects business cash flow
It’s important to note that each payment method has its own strengths and weaknesses. Audit each payment method’s effectiveness to optimise what works and address any shortcomings.
Here’s how popular payment methods can affect your collections and business cash flow:
- Bank transfers: Electronic Funds Transfers (EFTs) remain a trusted option, particularly for B2B transactions. However, manual EFTs rely on customers entering banking details correctly and remembering to pay. This can result in delayed payments, incorrect references, and extra reconciliation work. Relying on EFTs alone can slow cash flow.
- Card payments: A secure way to pay online and in person. By reducing the number of steps required to complete a transaction, such as allowing card payment details to auto-fill at checkout, you can improve conversion rates and receive payments faster.
- Debit orders: Ideal for recurring payments, debit orders provide a predictable cash flow by automatically collecting funds on agreed dates. Mid-year is a good time to review mandates, unpaid collections, and dispute trends to improve collection success rates.
- Payment Request links: Send secure payment requests via email, SMS, WhatsApp, or QR code so customers can pay instantly. They’re ideal for one-off invoices, overdue accounts, deposits, and ad hoc payments, helping shorten the gap between invoicing and receiving payment while reducing the need for manual follow-ups.
- Instant payments (PayShap, Instant EFT, RTC, etc.): Faster settlement means quicker access to working capital or inventory when they are needed most, making instant payments ideal for urgent transactions, deposits, and time-sensitive collections.
- Digital wallets: Mobile-friendly payment options reduce checkout friction by allowing customers to complete transactions without repeatedly entering their card or banking details. This makes it easier for customers to complete purchases, leading to higher conversion rates and fewer abandoned carts, particularly among mobile-first customers.
- Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL): Services like Payflex allow customers to split purchases into smaller instalments while your business receives payment upfront (subject to your payment provider’s terms). This can increase affordability for customers without delaying your cash flow, making it particularly valuable for higher-value purchases.
- Recurring collections: Automating repeat payments reduces manual invoicing, creates more predictable monthly cash flow, and simplifies revenue forecasting, making it easier to plan future business expenses.
Netcash offers a range of payment methods that South African customers prefer. These options help improve conversions with fast, secure processing, resulting in a healthier cash flow.
2. Check your debit order dispute and unpaid ratios
Debit order disputes are a major challenge for South African businesses, as they can cause sudden cash flow gaps that require extra administrative work to resolve. In addition, high unpaid debit order ratios lead to failed transactions, bank charges, and, ultimately, the risk of non-compliance.
How debit order disputes affect business cash flow
A debit order dispute arises when your bank receives a formal request to reverse a fund deduction because it was unauthorised, processed for an incorrect amount, or collected on the wrong date, among other reasons. While industry rules like the 60-day rule change aim to protect businesses from unfair disputes, it’s important to implement robust measures to keep dispute levels low.
Investigate recurring causes of disputes, such as incorrect collection dates, outdated mandates, customer communication issues, or failed account updates. Use audit results to implement preventive measures, such as DebiCheck, maintaining clear records, and communicating with customers before collections take place.
Disputes are only one indicator of collection performance. Monitoring your unpaid ratios provides additional insight into the health of your debit order collections.
How high unpaid ratios affect business cash flow
Unpaid ratios differ by industry, but you can use industry benchmarks to determine whether your business is facing low or high levels. Acceptable unpaid and dispute ratios vary according to payment stream rules and sponsor bank requirements. Businesses should monitor these ratios closely and confirm applicable thresholds with their payments collection provider.
Exceeding these limits triggers mandatory audits, penalties, or suspension of the facility by sponsor banks. That’s why it’s crucial for businesses to review debit order dispute trends alongside their unpaid ratios to ensure their collection practices remain compliant.
Implementing measures such as using AVS to verify accounts during onboarding, sending pre-collection alerts, and aligning collection dates with paydays can help reduce unpaid ratios. Use post-failure tactics such as smart retry logic and payment links to facilitate fund recovery.
Netcash offers debit order collection services that stabilise cash flow, enabling timely, accurate, and compliant collections. This improves customer relations and boosts business trust.
3. Review your salary batch settings
Auditing outgoing payments is often overlooked by many businesses when planning for H2, as these transactions are generally easier to estimate than incoming ones. However, payroll accuracy directly affects employee trust, operational efficiency, and overall cash flow planning.
Verify that payment batches, employee banking details, payment dates, and approval workflows remain accurate before entering the second half of the year. Analyse your employee records to determine when same-day, scheduled, and RTC payment batches are most appropriate. This will help your business choose the right payment method for different payroll situations.
Review your current payroll processes for unnecessary manual steps that increase the risk of payment delays or human error. Netcash Salary Payments enables you to integrate fully with payroll software, streamlining payments and reducing manual data capture.
Netcash Salary Payments enables businesses to schedule employee salaries seamlessly with built-in approval workflows, account validation checks, and clear audit trails.
Reduce the time between sending an invoice and getting paid.
See how Netcash Payment Request links make it easier for customers to pay instantly.
Fixing cash flow leaks: closing the invoice-to-payment gap
Even if you invoice promptly, your cash flow will suffer significantly if customers take weeks or months to pay. Reducing the time between sending an invoice and receiving payment is one of the quickest ways to improve working capital. A mid-year review grants you the perfect opportunity to identify where payments are slowing down and make practical improvements.
Here are some practical ways to close the gap:
- Invoice immediately once work is completed to avoid unnecessary delays.
- Set clear payment terms by including due dates, payment instructions, and accepted payment methods on every invoice.
- Offer faster payment options, such as card payments, instant payments, debit orders, or digital wallets, rather than relying solely on manual EFTs.
- Use Payment Request links so customers can pay instantly via SMS, email, WhatsApp, or QR code.
- Automate payment reminders to encourage on-time payments without manual follow-ups.
- Review late-paying customers and consider moving them to more suitable collection methods, such as debit orders or upfront deposits.
- Track payment turnaround times regularly to identify bottlenecks and measure whether your improvements are reducing the collection cycle.
Is mid-year a good time to switch collection methods?
July is often a good time to assess whether your current collection methods still support your business’s cash flow goals. Whether that means adopting debit orders, Payment Request links, instant payments, or moving to a third-party payments provider that offers all of these, mid-year gives you enough time to introduce new collection methods before peak trading periods.
However, it shouldn’t be a haphazard decision based on non-functional factors, such as the cost of using one payment provider over another. Rather, evaluate whether your current provider still adequately supports your business’s operational and financial needs.
Review factors such as payment speed, reconciliation capabilities, reporting, customer payment experience, integration with accounting software, automation, and customer support. Switching collection methods should solve existing problems rather than introduce unnecessary disruption.
If you are planning a migration, set yourself up for success by testing systems and training staff.
Preparing for key SARS mid-year filing obligations
July is a busy month for many South African businesses, with payroll, supplier payments, and SARS filing deadlines often happening at the same time. Taking a few practical steps now can help you stay organised and avoid last-minute issues.
- Verify payroll records to ensure employee details, banking information, and salary payments are accurate.
- Reconcile your accounts by matching incoming and outgoing payments to identify any missing or failed transactions before filing.
- Review your cash flow forecast to ensure you have sufficient funds to meet payroll, supplier payments, and tax obligations.
- Clear outstanding invoices by following up on overdue accounts and, where appropriate, using faster payment methods to improve cash flow.
- Confirm key SARS filing dates on the SARS website, as deadlines may change from year to year.
Note: This information is intended as general guidance and should not be considered tax advice. Consult your accountant or SARS for advice specific to your business.
Whether you’re reviewing or upgrading your payment processes,
reach out to Netcash for flexible solutions that grow with your business.
FAQs about how to improve cash flow in South Africa mid-year
Setting up H2 for success with Netcash
A successful second half of the year starts with payment processes that are efficient, reliable, and built to support growth. Whether you're looking to collect payments faster, automate recurring collections, streamline payroll, or simplify reconciliation, Netcash provides a single platform to help you manage it all.
From secure Payment Request links and multiple digital payment methods to automated debit orders, salary payments, and real-time reporting, Netcash helps businesses reduce payment friction and improve cash flow throughout H2.
As you prepare for upcoming payroll runs and year-end planning, it’s also worth reviewing your payroll processes early to avoid unnecessary delays and admin pressure later in the year.
Read Next: Year-End Payroll in South Africa: Checklist for December & January Runs
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Author:
Kaylin Sampson
Payment Advisor
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Kaylin is a dedicated Payments Advisor at Netcash, South Africa’s premier payment solutions provider. With a deep understanding of Netcash’s services, he expertly guides customers on Debit Orders, Salary and Creditor payments, Pay Now, eCommerce, and Risk Reports. Brent plays a vital role in helping businesses and organisations streamline their payments, providing cost-effective solutions that have a meaningful impact on our clients’ financial operations.
