Credit Policy for Online B2B Sales

Why online B2B is different

In traditional B2B sales, a person sits between the order and the despatch — checking the customer, confirming the limit, applying judgement. Sell to businesses through a website or self-service portal and that gatekeeper disappears. Orders can be placed, and credit effectively extended, at any hour with no human review. If your credit controls are not built into the system, you have, in effect, no controls at all.

The opportunity is real: online B2B is efficient and scalable. But the risk is that automation cheerfully grants credit to customers a person would have questioned. The task is to encode your credit policy into the platform so that the discipline you would apply manually happens automatically — verifying who the customer is, enforcing limits, and gating risky orders for review.

Verifying business customers online

You cannot rely on a self-declared 'business' tickbox. Build verification into account creation:

• capture and validate the ABN and legal entity at sign-up;
• require the same identity and contact details as a paper application;
• incorporate references or checks before a credit account is approved;
• distinguish prepaid accounts from approved credit accounts.

A practical pattern is to let anyone buy on prepayment immediately, but require an application and approval before any credit terms are unlocked — see the credit application form for what to collect.

Automating limits and approvals

Encode your limits so the system enforces them without anyone intervening. The platform should track each customer's outstanding balance, block or hold orders that would breach the credit limit, and route exceptions to a person rather than auto-approving them. Over-limit orders, unusually large orders, or orders from accounts in arrears should be flagged for review, not waved through.

This is your credit policy expressed in software. The same triggers you would use manually — limit breaches, overdue accounts, stop-supply conditions — become automated rules. Done well, customers get a fast, self-service experience while you keep the same control you would exercise in person. This is general information, not financial advice.

Keeping online terms enforceable

An order placed by a click still needs to be backed by agreed terms. Ensure customers accept your terms of trade as part of registration or checkout — recorded clearly, so it is evident they agreed before ordering on credit. Capture the legal entity correctly, just as you would on paper, so any debt is recoverable against the right party.

Tools like invoices.merion.com.au help keep online B2B invoicing, reminders, and overdue flags organised. And if an online customer fails to pay, the same recovery options apply — Merion pursues overdue commercial debts on a commission-only basis with no upfront fee — see refer a debt. This is general information, not legal advice.