Sageway Lending passes advance requests to providers at (336) 505-7297.
A merchant cash advance is a sale of future card receipts, not a loan. Its cost is set by a factor rate, and only a business with steady card sales is a fit.
At a glance
- Gasoline stations, Alamance County, NC
71 employer establishments (CBP 2023, NAICS 4471)
- Restaurants and other eating places, Alamance County, NC
321 employer establishments (CBP 2023, NAICS 7225)
- Grocery and convenience stores, ZIP 27217
13 employer establishments (ZBP 2023, NAICS 4451)
Revenue-Based Financing or an Advance? Alamance County, NC Insurance Agencies Compare Remittances and Payments
An advance only works where card sales come in every day, because that is what the provider buys and what it collects from. An agency paid through carrier commissions rather than by customers tapping a card at a counter gives a card-sales advance little to draw on.
For an agency, the honest comparison is between a payment that stays the same each month, from a term loan or a line of credit, and nothing at all from this product. An agency buying another book of business is covered on the business term loans page. The advance belongs to the counter businesses below.
Is Revenue Based Financing a Good Idea? An Example With Scan Tools
People use "revenue-based financing" loosely, for any funding that comes back as a slice of sales. On this site it means the merchant cash advance: the provider buys a set amount of future card receipts. The price is a factor rate, a multiplier applied to the advance once. Unlike an annual rate, a factor stays put: collecting the amount in fewer days leaves the cost exactly where it was.
| Item | Invented figure | How it is worked out |
|---|---|---|
| Advance | $18,000 | Invented |
| Factor | 1.27 | Invented |
| Amount to be collected | $22,860 | Advance times factor |
| Cost of the advance | $4,860 | Collected minus advance |
| Holdback | 11% of daily card sales | Invented |
| Average daily card sales | $1,650 | Invented |
| Collected per business day | $181.50 | Sales times holdback |
| Business days to finish | 126 | Collected amount divided by the daily share, rounded up |
Whether that is a good idea depends on the tool. A scan tool is used for years, and an equipment agreement spreads its price over that life. The advance fits a purchase that earns back within the months it takes to collect.
Is Revenue Based Financing the Same as MCA? Shelving, Bulk Buys and the Answer for Grocers
Close, but not identical. Revenue-based financing can be collected from all revenue, including bank deposits; a merchant cash advance is collected from card sales only. Both are purchases of future receipts, and neither is a loan.
For a grocer the split is practical. New shelving is equipment with a long life. A bulk buy of stock, sold through over the next weeks at the register, is the kind of purchase a card-sales advance can match, because the same card sales that move the stock fund the daily holdback. A register-side bulk buy is a question that any of Alamance County, NC's 45 grocery and convenience stores with paid employees in 2023 could weigh this way (County Business Patterns, NAICS 4451).
Choosing Between Merchant Cash Advance and Line of Credit at a Burlington, NC Gas Station
A station stocking its store shelves and coolers can draw on a line of credit or take an advance. Interest on a line runs only on the drawn balance, and whatever is paid down opens up again for the next order. An advance has a fixed cost from the start and is collected from card sales day by day. Alamance County, NC counted 71 gasoline stations with paid employees in 2023 (County Business Patterns, NAICS 4471).
| Item | Merchant cash advance | Line of credit draw |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Factor 1.24 | Rate (annual %): 14% |
| How it comes back | Daily share of card sales | 6 level monthly payments of $2,776.61 |
| Total cost before fees | $3,840 | $659.66 |
On these invented terms the draw costs $3,180.34 less, before any fees either agreement sets. A line takes a partner review of its own, though, and not every station will have one in place when the stock is needed.
Revenue Based Financing for Small Business When a Burlington, NC Restaurant Replaces a Walk-In Compressor
When the compressor on a walk-in fails, the repair cannot wait. A card-sales advance can pay the repair bill, and the holdback then moves with the dining room: a thin day sends a smaller amount, a full one sends more.
| Day of card sales | Collected that day |
|---|---|
| $1,100 | $99.00 |
| $1,800 | $162.00 |
| $2,600 | $234.00 |
The total to be collected stays $12,350 however the days run. At an even $1,800 a day it would take 77 business days. For scale, the count of restaurants and other eating places with paid employees in Alamance County, NC stood at 321 in 2023 (County Business Patterns, NAICS 7225).
Four numbers go into the calculator on this page (advance, offered factor, holdback share, typical daily card sales); out come the amount remitted, what the advance costs and a business-day estimate.
By Sageway Lending · Updated