[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":183},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-ebill-approval-workflow-from-the-payers-perspective":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"description":174,"extension":175,"lastUpdatedAt":176,"meta":177,"navigation":178,"path":179,"publishedAt":176,"seo":180,"stem":181,"__hash__":182},"blog\u002Fblog\u002F0086.the-ebill-approval-workflow-from-the-payers-perspective.md","The eBill approval workflow from the payer's perspective",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":162},"minimark",[9,13,16,21,24,27,30,34,37,62,65,69,72,79,85,91,95,98,101,104,108,111,114,118,121,124,127,131,134,137,141,144,147,150,153],[10,11,12],"p",{},"Most content about eBill focuses on the biller's side — how to connect, which service provider to use, what formats to send. But understanding how the approval process works for the payer matters too. It affects how you structure your invoices, what information you include, and why some eBill invoices get rejected or left pending.",[10,14,15],{},"This post walks through the payer experience from the moment an invoice arrives to the moment payment is scheduled.",[17,18,20],"h2",{"id":19},"how-ebill-invoices-appear-in-e-banking","How eBill invoices appear in e-banking",[10,22,23],{},"When a biller sends an invoice via eBill, the payer does not receive an email with a PDF attachment. The invoice appears directly inside their e-banking application — in the same interface where they check their balance or make transfers.",[10,25,26],{},"Most Swiss retail banks surface eBill invoices in a dedicated section, often labelled \"eBill\" or \"E-Rechnungen\". The payer sees a list of pending invoices, each showing the biller name, amount, and due date at a glance. Depending on the bank, they may also receive a push notification, an in-app alert, or an email notification that a new invoice is waiting.",[10,28,29],{},"The invoice arrives in e-banking because the payer registered for eBill at some point — either when setting up their account or through the settings menu. Registration is a one-time step that takes a few minutes. After that, any biller who has the payer's identifier (usually their email address or UID) can send invoices directly to their e-banking.",[17,31,33],{"id":32},"what-the-payer-sees-when-they-open-an-invoice","What the payer sees when they open an invoice",[10,35,36],{},"Inside the invoice view, the payer sees a rendered summary of the invoice. The exact layout varies by bank, but the standard fields are always present:",[38,39,40,44,47,50,53,56,59],"ul",{},[41,42,43],"li",{},"Biller name and logo (if provided)",[41,45,46],{},"Invoice number and date",[41,48,49],{},"Invoice amount in CHF",[41,51,52],{},"Due date",[41,54,55],{},"Payment reference (the QR reference or SCOR reference)",[41,57,58],{},"A description or message if the biller included one",[41,60,61],{},"A PDF attachment if the biller attached one",[10,63,64],{},"Some banks also display line-item detail if the biller sent structured line data. Others show only the header-level summary. From the payer's perspective, having the amount, due date, and a clear description is what matters for making the approval decision.",[17,66,68],{"id":67},"the-three-choices-approve-reject-or-defer","The three choices: approve, reject, or defer",[10,70,71],{},"The payer has three options for each invoice:",[10,73,74,78],{},[75,76,77],"strong",{},"Approve"," triggers the payment. The payer selects an execution date (typically the due date is pre-filled, but they can choose any future date), confirms the payment, and that is it. The bank schedules the payment for the chosen date and sends the approval status back to the biller. The biller knows within a short time that payment is confirmed and will arrive on that date.",[10,80,81,84],{},[75,82,83],{},"Reject"," sends the invoice back to the biller with a reason code. The payer selects a reason from a list — common options are \"amount incorrect\", \"invoice already paid\", \"goods not received\", or \"unknown invoice\". The biller receives the rejection with the reason and can follow up. Rejection does not cancel the underlying business transaction — it just means the biller needs to address the issue before the payer will pay.",[10,86,87,90],{},[75,88,89],{},"Defer"," lets the payer park the invoice without committing to a payment date or rejecting it. This is useful when the payer wants to review the invoice with someone else before approving, or when the due date is still far away and they do not want to commit yet. Deferred invoices stay in the pending list until the payer acts on them or the invoice expires.",[17,92,94],{"id":93},"what-happens-to-approval-date-and-execution","What happens to approval date and execution",[10,96,97],{},"When the payer approves and selects an execution date, the bank creates a scheduled payment. On the execution date, the bank processes a credit transfer through the Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC) system to the biller's account. The biller's bank receives the credit and notifies the biller via camt.054.",[10,99,100],{},"The payer's e-banking shows the payment as \"scheduled\" until the execution date, at which point it moves to \"executed\" and appears in the account statement. The payer can usually cancel a scheduled eBill payment up until the day before execution, as long as it has not yet been sent to clearing.",[10,102,103],{},"The execution date must be a Swiss banking day. If the payer selects a weekend or public holiday, the bank typically adjusts to the next banking day automatically or prompts the payer to choose a valid date.",[17,105,107],{"id":106},"partial-payments-and-instalment-agreements","Partial payments and instalment agreements",[10,109,110],{},"eBill does not natively support partial payments on a single invoice. The payer either approves the full amount or rejects. If a payer wants to pay in instalments, that arrangement needs to happen directly between biller and payer outside the eBill system — the biller would then send separate eBill invoices for each instalment.",[10,112,113],{},"If a payer pays a different amount than the invoice (for example, deducting a credit note they believe they are owed), they need to reject the eBill invoice and arrange the net payment differently. eBill approval always triggers a payment for the full invoice amount.",[17,115,117],{"id":116},"ebill-for-businesses-vs-private-individuals","eBill for businesses vs private individuals",[10,119,120],{},"The workflow described above is the same for both private individuals and businesses, but businesses often have additional considerations.",[10,122,123],{},"Many Swiss companies set up payment approval workflows where an eBill invoice needs to be reviewed and approved by a finance team member before the e-banking user can authorise payment. This happens at the e-banking access control level — some users may have view-only access to eBill invoices, while only authorised signatories can approve payments above a certain threshold. This is a bank-level configuration, not an eBill-specific feature.",[10,125,126],{},"For businesses with high invoice volumes, some banks offer bulk approval functionality — the user can select multiple pending eBill invoices and approve them in one action, which is useful for end-of-month payment runs.",[17,128,130],{"id":129},"expired-invoices","Expired invoices",[10,132,133],{},"eBill invoices do not stay in the payer's inbox indefinitely. Billers set an expiry date when they submit the invoice. If the payer takes no action before the expiry, the invoice is automatically removed from the e-banking view. The biller receives a notification that the invoice expired without action and can decide to resend it or follow up via another channel.",[10,135,136],{},"Expiry is not rejection — the biller does not receive a reason code, just a status update that the invoice was not acted on. For billers, this is a signal to contact the payer directly.",[17,138,140],{"id":139},"why-some-invoices-land-in-the-payers-inbox-but-are-never-noticed","Why some invoices land in the payer's inbox but are never noticed",[10,142,143],{},"A common complaint from billers is that eBill invoices are sent successfully — confirmed as delivered — but the payer says they never saw them. A few reasons this happens:",[10,145,146],{},"The payer registered for eBill but does not check that section of their e-banking regularly. Some users treat their e-banking as purely for checking balances and making ad-hoc transfers — they never look at the eBill tab.",[10,148,149],{},"The bank's notification settings were not enabled. Most banks offer optional email or push alerts when a new eBill invoice arrives, but these are often off by default. Payers who have not turned on notifications will only see invoices if they actively navigate to the eBill section.",[10,151,152],{},"The invoice was sent to the wrong identifier. If the biller had an outdated email address for the payer, the invoice was delivered to a different payer's inbox — or failed delivery entirely if the identifier was not registered.",[10,154,155,156,161],{},"For the biller's side of the workflow — how invoices are submitted and what happens after approval or rejection — the ",[157,158,160],"a",{"href":159},"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-the-ebill-network-works-a-technical-overview","technical overview of how the eBill network works"," covers the infrastructure behind these interactions.",{"title":163,"searchDepth":164,"depth":164,"links":165},"",2,[166,167,168,169,170,171,172,173],{"id":19,"depth":164,"text":20},{"id":32,"depth":164,"text":33},{"id":67,"depth":164,"text":68},{"id":93,"depth":164,"text":94},{"id":106,"depth":164,"text":107},{"id":116,"depth":164,"text":117},{"id":129,"depth":164,"text":130},{"id":139,"depth":164,"text":140},"A walkthrough of how a recipient reviews, approves, and pays an eBill invoice inside their e-banking portal.","md","2027-03-22",{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-ebill-approval-workflow-from-the-payers-perspective",{"title":5,"description":174},"blog\u002F0086.the-ebill-approval-workflow-from-the-payers-perspective","1Bq2I4D9omfeKCC8UGb_mSOs7DD0Xy5HQ3obNhCBxt4",1781082546905]