Ashtabula replaced PDF account forms with online applications and saw more retailers pay upfront
A Brisbane supplier of officially licensed NRL, AFL, Cricket Australia, Wallabies, All Blacks and PBR merchandise moved retailer onboarding from print-sign-scan PDFs to PencilPay. Approvals are faster, more retailers prepay by card or EFT, and Shopify, Xero and PencilPay stay in sync.
- Customer
- Ashtabula
- Industry
- Clothing brands
- Location
- Brisbane, Queensland
- Payment terms
- Upfront, 14-day and corporate accounts
- PencilPay products
- Pencil Trade, Pencil Pay, Pencil Finance
- Integrations
- Xero, Shopify
- Headline result
- Upfront more prepaid orders
Before PencilPay
Ashtabula supplies retailers across Australia with licensed merchandise for major sporting brands. New retailers applied on PDF forms that had to be printed, signed, scanned and returned, then checked and chased. As the business grew the process became slow, inconsistent and hard to scale.
Customer types vary from small retailers paying upfront to 14-day accounts and large corporate customers, and Ashtabula wanted to encourage faster payment without adding admin.
What Ashtabula implemented
Online account applications
Applications moved from PDFs to a fast online process where retailers provide details, agree to terms and set payment preferences in one sitting.
Flexible payment
Retailers pay immediately by credit card or EFT, or trade on 14-day or corporate terms.
Shopify, Xero and PencilPay in sync
Orders flow Shopify to Xero, PencilPay collects against Xero invoices and posts payments back, eliminating double entry.
What changed
Faster approvals
Digital applications are approved in a fraction of the time.
More upfront payment
Many new customers now choose to pay before dispatch.
Cleaner Xero reconciliation
Fewer errors and less admin, with smoother payment cycles and stable cash flow.
“Unlike other systems implemented in recent years, many of which were costly, clunky or delivered little value, PencilPay stood out for being simple, smooth and backed by responsive support.”
Ashtabula on PencilPay
About this story
How does Ashtabula onboard retailers now?
Through an online PencilPay application that captures business details, agreement to terms and payment preferences, replacing PDF forms.
Which platforms are connected?
Shopify for orders, Xero for invoicing and PencilPay for collection, with payments posted back to Xero.
Can retailers pay before dispatch?
Yes. Customers can pay immediately by credit card or EFT, and many new accounts choose to prepay.
Other wholesalers who stopped chasing.
APTC Australia
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The Bean Cartel
Specialty coffee roaster · Melbourne, Victoria
A Melbourne coffee roaster used PencilPay digital supply agreements and automatic collection 7 days after invoice to stop customers drifting out of their weekly billing cycle, recover invoices more than 10 weeks overdue and cut admin for sales staff and owners..
Scicluna’s
Fresh produce wholesaler, est. 1963 · Australia
A fresh produce wholesaler with about 80% of customers on 7 to 30-day EOM terms connected PencilPay to MYOB Acumatica to onboard venues, contract every account and collect each weekly invoice automatically.
