Blog Post
As a small business owner, as of yesterday, I have now been affected by the changes. No longer able to send out invoices. I started the verification process, but was feeling very uncomfortable at having to provide such sensitive information such as Drivers licence/Passport details. Just prior to submitting all my information, I read through the fine print at the end, and noted that all this sensitive information will be passed on to third party entities. Could MYOB tell me how many entities this private information would be passed on to?
I am also not happy having to pay, or pass on the costs of 1.8% per invoice. I do not need this feature, so would be disabling it. As I, and many others, would not opt to use this feature, would it not make sense to offer it as Opt in instead of forcing it upon us? Instead, I am being coerced to provide private information so as to continue to be able to send out simple invoices. Not what I signed up for when choosing MYOB as an accounting package.
Hi Mel_75 , as part of protecting the privacy of our customers and ensuring the correct handling of these identification documents, the uploading and verification process is managed via a 3rd party software that specialises in secure documentation handling.
We will also treat any information in line without privacy policy you can see here
We understand that the secure payments feature may not benefit all businesses. You absolutely have the option to disable this, either per invoice or as a default.
I hear what you are saying about opt in versus opt out.
Due to the overall intiative being about security for businesses and consumers in Australia, utilising secure payment methods is the best option for an end-to-end secure invoicing workflow so it is best to enabled, but the flexibility to tailor the invoicing feature (including payments) to your business needs still exists to support you
Hi Mike,
Feedback for the developers, the functionality of being able to email out invoices directly from the software should not be dictated by whether an business opts in or out of using the offered "Pay Now" facilities. None of the other software providers force this on their subscribers [ie., you can still email invoices to customers directly from Xero even if you do not connect to "Secure Payments"]. The other software also do not require business owners to provide personal identification information such as license, passport, etc, in order to set up the Secure Payment methods. Why does MYOB or the Third Party need this information ? When will we be able to email payment receipts to our customers which is a feature that has been requested for nearly 20 years?
Hi,
I feel the personal information Myob are collating for no reason! Is this a breach of the Australian Privacy Act?
Hi Jo15 , MYOB is obtaining the information for verification and are not storing or keeping these documents. It is a one time situation where we will verify the documents and then they are securely erased.
As per my original post, you can also read about how MYOB treats private information through out privacy policy here
Hi Goodo1 ,
The ability to invoice is not dictated by opting in/out of the online payment facility.
MYOB is improving the security of our invoicing workflow, which includes ensuring that only verified businesses can use the MYOB platform to distribute invoices.
Allowing an unverified business to distribute invoices can create opportunity for illegitimate businesses to send invoices through a trusted platform (MYOB) in order to try and scam consumers.
Part of our secure invoicing workflow, also includes secure payments. This provides a great opportunity for many businesses who currently dont have the option to accept card payments and provides many other benefits.
Although they are linked together as a single secure invoicing ecosystem, the distribution of invoices is not dictated by opting in/out of paymentsHi Mike,
The issue we're facing is that MYOB is virtually blackmailing businesses to verify before being able to email invoices. Why can't we simply use MyGov or MyID for verification? I don’t believe the e-invoicing system introduced by the Government requires this level of verification.
The more personal information we’re asked to provide online, the higher the risk of identity theft. Additionally, fraudulent businesses would likely opt for cheaper MYOB products, such as Solo, rather than paying for higher-end subscriptions.
If this verification process is meant to prevent scam businesses from starting up & sending fake invoices, it should apply only to new subscribers. Long-time customers should not be subjected to this.
This approach is doing a disservice to loyal customers, many of whom have stayed with MYOB despite significant cost increases in the software over recent years.
Hi Mike,
As I understand, there is no legal requirement for MYOB to collect the verification information from subscribers.
For MYOB to reduce the functionality of the product because subscribers (all of whom have paid for the service) don't wish to provide the requested information is morally corrupt, and I suspect, illegal.
From a practical perspective, the business interruption costs is significant, for what purpose? The verification process is flawed - especially were the business structure is complicated. This makes the deadlines impractical.
We already have Business Banking Platforms in use (NAB Connect, CommBiz, ANZ Business Online Banking) all secure, and we are already paying for the services (and are verified). They are already providing the financial services and security that MYOB are coveting.
Why must every subscriber support MYOB to become a financial service provider?
I'm happy with the AccountRight product.
I'm also happy with my banks product and have no valid reason to even entertain the idea to either duplicate or move away from the platforms we are currently using.
Good morning IanBarnetson , you're correct, this is something I have mentioned previously, there is no legislated requirement behind MYOBs move to Secure Invoicing, this is a step that we are taking to help reduce invoice fraud in Australia, provide additional security to our customers and their consumers and continue to ensure that MYOB remains a trusted brand.
Having multiple software services is often referred to as 'digital disconnection' it requires additional steps to reconcile, manage, integrate etc and comes with higher costs for businesses as well. As you mentioned, you have multiple services with banks, and you are paying for them.
For many businesses (although perhaps not yourself) it would be welcome to no longer need the additional service at additional costs from the bank, but instead have an all-in-one service through MYOB with no application or monthly rental fees that you will often incur with a bank for a physical EFTPOS terminal or online payment processing facility. And on top of this, you are saving time with the automatic reconciliation of payments.
That being said, this change, as mentioned multiple times, is not solely about the payments facility. It is a Secure invoicing upgrade and platform, not a secure payments upgrade. The ability for our customers to utilise the Secure payments feature after upgrading is an additional benefit that is being appreciated and utilised by thousands of customers. If it is not something that suits your business, it can easily be disabled as well.
Thanks, MikeHi Mike
The issue is also you are forcing the granting of direct debit request authority to our business bank account. For security reasons, we refuse the granting of direct debit access to our bank account, as we do not wish to take online payments (secure payment) now or in the future and therefore believe there is no reason for MYOB to have direct debit access to our bank account.
I rang MYOB support last week and explain this to them, they said there is nothing they can do, and that we need to provide direct debit authority and finish the verification process, then we can disable the secure payment feature.
Our question to you is, if we are disabling this secure payment feature why do we need to give MYOB direct debit to our account?
It would make more sense to have the question asked first, if a business wishes to upgrade to secure payments, then you must provide direct debit authority, bank account details and security ID information.
I cannot understand why this was not done and have not been provided with a reasonable explanation from MYOB for this, thereby suggesting MYOB’s motive is to default users into the Secure Payment system, thereby generating substantial new revenue for MYOB, via the 1.8% + .25 transaction fees. This coupled with the fact that if a business does not provide this information, they will no longer be able to email invoices automatically from MYOB, shows that MYOB is forcing customers to undertake the verification process hoping they don’t disable the secure payment feature, allowing MYOB to earn a new source of substantial income.
We have subscribed to MYOB for an accounting software not for finance facilities.This needs to be fixed you should not force users to provide direct debit access to their bank account to retain invoice emailing function.
