Small business bank accounts

amarsreject

My wife and I are setting up a small business selling hand-made sewn products. We don't expect to be raking it in, but we're setting up an ecommerce website to sell our items, which has a paypal account attached, but are wondering whether we need to add a more traditional bank account.

Are these new banks like Tide and Starling any good, or are we better off sticking with the highstreet names? And are there any things we should be looking out for?

Thanks!

Zanderman

Business bank accounts vary in what they offer and can do - but you definitely should have one as, even if you use paypal for most transactions, you will inevitably be using a bank account for something - not least withdrawing from paypal. and it's against the t&c of virtually every personal account to use it for business.

You need to define what you need though - the high street names will offer all services, but tend to charge more (business banking is not, normally, free) but outfits like Tide and Starling, though cheaper, may not have everything.

How easy is it to pay in cheques or cash? Some new banks won't allow either - or only in a roundabout way.

Do they support IBAN (international payments)? Some don't - and whilst it may seem unimportant you'll find oddities out there - like Amazon Pay (if you wanted to start using that for payments in as well as paypal) who need you to have an IBAN number. [My main online business saw sales go up once we offered Amazon Pay as well as Paypal so it's not just a novelty.]

If you're a startup there are several good offers out there from High street banks - including Yorkshire/Clydesdale/Virgin currently offering 25 months fee-free and TSB offering the same. They'll have all facilities. Tide etc may not.