About "Automatic" — and why we haven't switched it on yet.

In your dashboard, Settings section 6 offers two ways to collect the payments your customers approve. One works today. One says "coming." This page is the honest explanation of the second.

I upload a file to my bank
  • Your own bank collects the money
  • Nobody else touches it
  • No per-payment fee from anyone
  • One minute a day: download, upload, press "sent"
Automatic (coming)
  • A payment service sends each debit for you
  • Nothing to download or upload
  • A per-payment fee, set by the service
  • The service can hold or delay your money

What "automatic" really means

For a payment to move on its own, some company with a direct line into the banking network has to send it for you. That company runs identity checks on your business before it lets you in, and — like every payment company — it keeps the right to hold funds, delay a payout, or pause your account if something looks unusual to it. Not because you did anything wrong. Because that is how payment companies protect themselves.

For a small business, a held payout is not a footnote. It is payroll, materials, rent. We built ACHplug so that the money goes from your customer's bank to your bank and no one else's hands, and the file method keeps it that way. That is the safe choice, and it is the one we recommend.

Where we are

We are talking with services that can send payments automatically. We are not naming any until terms are agreed. What we are asking for is plain: fast payout to your own account, clear rules on when they may hold funds, and a per-payment price low enough to be worth it.

When it is ready, Automatic will be an upgrade with a per-payment charge — the service's fee passed through with a small amount for ACHplug — so it pays for itself and never costs us money to offer. You will see the exact price before you switch, and you can switch back to the file at any time.

Our recommendation: start with the file. Learn the one-minute routine. If, after a month, the upload is the part of your day you want gone, Automatic will be there, priced, with the hold rules in writing.