SimpleACH (ACH) FAQs

Updated December 02, 2025 14:31

General Information & Security

What is ACH?

ACH stands for Automated Clearing House, an electronic fund transfer made between banks and credit unions. ACH transfers enable various types of transactions, including direct deposit of payroll, payment of bills, business-to-business transactions, and person-to-person payments. Transactions processed through ACH are typically low-cost and efficient, offering an alternative to paper checks and wire transfers.

What is SimpleACH?

SimpleACH is an integrated ACH payment solution within SimpleConsign, designed to streamline transactions between stores and their consignors, vendors, and dealers. By enabling ACH payments directly from a store's SimpleConsign account, it allows consignors and vendors to securely input their banking details through Consignor Access, a dedicated management portal. This integration offers a more efficient, secure, and cost-effective method for handling payouts.

How does a SimpleACH bank-to-bank transfer work?

When a payout is initiated via SimpleACH, it follows a two-part ACH process managed through our bank-to-bank payments partner, Dwolla. First, Dwolla issues an ACH debit to pull funds from your verified bank account. Once the funds clear, they are deposited into your SimpleACH Balance. From there, Dwolla issues an ACH credit to send the funds from your SimpleACH Balance to the consignor or vendor's bank account. This entire process may take 2-5 business days.

What are the benefits of SimpleACH over check or cash payouts?

SimpleACH offers several advantages over traditional check or cash payouts for consignors. It streamlines the payment process by enabling direct bank transfers, eliminating the need for printing and mailing checks, which reduces administrative tasks and associated costs. ACH payments are more secure, minimizing risks of loss or theft inherent in cash or checks. They also provide faster access to funds, enhancing consignor satisfaction and loyalty. Additionally, ACH transactions are environmentally friendly, reducing paper usage and waste.

How secure is SimpleACH?

SimpleACH utilizes a secure bank-to-bank payments platform named Dwolla to ensure that your digital transfers are protected and neither the store nor SimpleConsign retains your bank account information. Additionally, ACH payments are considered secure, as they are processed through the Automated Clearing House network, which adheres to strict regulations and security standards set by the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA). By leveraging these security measures, SimpleACH provides a reliable and safe platform for electronic fund transfers.

What fees are associated with SimpleACH?

A fee of $2.50 is charged per payout to the store when using the SimpleACH payout method. If the store wishes to pass this fee on to consignors, they can enter $2.50 in Settings. Some stores may choose to charge a higher amount to generate additional revenue from this feature.

For which plans is SimpleACH available?

SimpleACH is included in the Standard and Professional plans and is currently available exclusively to U.S.-based stores.

Set up SimpleACH

I'm the owner of a Store. How do I set up SimpleACH?

Please refer to our Store SimpleACH Setup guide to begin the enablement process.

I have SimpleACH setup but I'm not seeing ACH as a payout option, why?

-Make sure your funding source is set in SimpleACH setup. The primary user can access this from the Back Office, Company Tab, ACH setup.
-Make sure that your user account has a SimpleACH password setup. From the Back Office click the Users tab, double click the user in question, click SimpleACH on the left hand menu. You must have a verified email address entered and a 12-character password setup.

I have multiple locations. How do I set up SimpleACH for all of them?

A single SimpleACH account should be established for the entire company rather than for each individual location. Once the main account is configured, you can add additional locations through the SimpleACH Configuration settings. After linking a new bank account, you may assign it to the respective locations as needed.

How do I assign funding sources to each location?

If you operate multiple store locations, you can assign a unique funding source to each one to keep payouts organized and accurate.

Here’s how to assign funding sources by location:

Navigate to the SimpleACH configuration settings in your Back Office (click Settings then click the Company tab).
Each location will be listed on the page with its own funding source dropdown menu.
Use the dropdown to select the correct bank account for that specific location.

💡 Note: Each funding source must be verified before it can be assigned to a location. If you haven’t added or verified the funding source yet, you’ll need to do that first.

How do my consignors or vendors set up SimpleACH?

Once you've completed the store setup, navigate to our Consignor SimpleACH Setup guide to learn how to enable SimpleACH for consignor or vendor payouts.

How do I check if my consignor or vendor has signed up for SimpleACH?

To verify a consignor or vendor's SimpleACH signup status, navigate to the Back Office and double-click their name in the Consignment tab to open the Add/Edit Consignor screen. On the right-hand side, under Consignment, you’ll see a section labeled SIMPLEACH SETUP PROGRESS which displays the steps required for the consignor’s SimpleACH approval. An '❌' indicates the step has not been completed whereas a '✔︎' indicates the step has been completed.

How do I set up a consignor or vendor for SimpleACH at multiple stores?

When a consignor registers with SimpleACH at a store, their email address becomes locked to that specific location. If they wish to sign up at another store, they’ll need to use a different email address. This requirement by our third-party provider, which cannot be modified by SimpleConsign, and it also facilitates troubleshooting for consignors associated with multiple stores.

How do I transfer funds from my bank account into my SimpleACH Balance?

To transfer funds from your linked funding source to your SimpleACH Balance:

Navigate to the SimpleACH configuration settings in your Back Office (click Settings then click the Company tab).
Click on the “View Account Balance” tab.
In the Transfer section:
- Enter the amount you wish to transfer.
- Set the From dropdown to your funding source name.
- Set the To dropdown to SimpleACH Balance.
Click the green “Transfer” button to complete the transfer.

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💡 Tip: We recommend transferring funds into your SimpleACH Balance before vendor or consignor payouts. This ensures you have enough cleared funds to cover the payouts and prevents overdrawing or going into a negative balance.

Payouts

How quickly are ACH payouts delivered to consignors?

SimpleACH payouts may take 2-5 business days to appear in the consignor’s bank account, depending on their bank. Payouts do not process on holidays or weekends, and must be submitted before 3:30 PM CST to meet the 2-5 business day timeframe.

Are there ACH payout limits?

The minimum payout amount is $5.01, assuming a $2.50 SimpleACH fee. If the fee is higher, the minimum payout will increase accordingly. The maximum payout per transaction is $10,000. If a consignor's balance exceeds this amount, multiple payouts will be required. A fee will apply to both payouts.

How do I pay out a consignor through ACH?

For detailed instructions, please refer to our Consignor Payouts article for more information. The process for paying consignors via SimpleACH is similar to issuing payments by check or cash, however, you will need to select 'SimpleACH' as the payment type.

To process ACH payouts, the consignor must have SimpleACH enabled and a linked bank account in Consignor Access. For further instruction, consult our Consignor SimpleACH Setup guide.

What happens when an ACH payout fails?

If a payouts fails, it typically indicates that the consignor's bank account has been disconnected, possibly due to a password change, account closure, or similar reasons. In this case, the payout amount will be held in your SimpleACH balance and will retry when attempting the payout again, rather than from the store's bank account.

Please our SimpleACH Troubleshooting Guide and SimpleACH Error Code Glossary articles for more information on failed payouts.

To process a payout from your SimpleACH balance, navigate to the Account Balance section (highlighted in yellow) within the Funding Sources tab (highlighted in orange) under SimpleACH Configuration. Use the Assign tab to designate the payout source, whether from the SimpleACH balance or the linked bank account.

The linked bank account must have sufficient funds to cover both the consignor payouts and the $2.50 fee per payout.

Can I retry failed payouts in bulk?

Yes. If multiple payouts fail for any reason, you can retry them in bulk by going to the Payout History screen and selecting the "Retry All Failed" option.

This action will prompt you to select the appropriate funding source for the payouts.

You can then enter your user PIN and SimpleACH password once to retry all failed payouts.

Can my ACH account go into the negative?

Yes, it is possible for your SimpleACH balance to temporarily go negative. This typically happens when an ACH debit initiated from your bank account fails after the funds have already been sent to the recipient via ACH credit. Since ACH debits can take several days to finalize, a transfer might initially appear successful and be paid out, only for the debit to later fail due to insufficient funds, a closed bank account, or a bank reversal. In this case, the credited funds have already left your SimpleACH Balance, but the debit never arrives—leaving you with a negative balance that must be resolved with SimpleConsign before future payouts can be processed.

How do I clear a negative SimpleACH balance?

If your SimpleACH Balance becomes negative, it means funds were paid out before enough money was available in your SimpleACH Balance.

When this happens:

The primary user will see a red banner across their screen that reads:

"You currently have a negative balance in your SimpleACH account. Please transfer sufficient funds to your connected funding source as soon as possible to avoid any interruption of your SimpleConsign service."

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You will be unable to process ACH payouts until the negative balance is cleared.

To resolve the issue:

Go to the SimpleACH configuration settings in your Back Office (click Settings then click the Company tab).
Click on the “View Account Balance” tab.
In the Transfer section:
- Enter the amount needed to bring your balance to $0.00 or higher.
- Set the From field to your linked funding source.
- Set the To field to SimpleACH Balance.
Click the green “Transfer” button to complete the transfer.

💡 Tip: To avoid negative balances in the future, always transfer funds into your SimpleACH Balance before initiating vendor or consignor payouts.