GCash / Digital Payments vs Cash for Physical Stores
How to compare fees, net income, and real profit when using GCash, QR Ph, cards, and other digital methods versus pure cash payments in your store.
What you’ll learn in this digital payments vs cash guide
This guide helps you compare GCash and other digital payments versus cash for small businesses in the Philippines, so you can understand fees, real profit, and when to favor each payment method.
To connect this with your overall finances and tax compliance, also see our Basic Bookkeeping and Accounting Guide, VAT vs Non-VAT Tax Type Guide, and Payment Processors Guide for PH Businesses.
To experiment with how different mixes of cash vs digital payments affect your monthly net income, you can also use our Budget Calculator to model fees, sales, and expenses.
Overview
Using GCash and other digital payments in a physical store is great for convenience and sales tracking, but fees can quietly eat into your margins if you don’t monitor your net income versus pure cash sales. The key is to know the typical fee percentages and regularly compare your gross sales vs actual money received per payment method.
Typical Fees vs Cash (PH Small Business)
Assume QR Ph / e-wallet transactions for small merchants, and cash has no direct transaction fee (but has handling risks and hidden costs).
| Method | Typical fee rate (approx.) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cash payment | 0% per transaction | No MDR, but you handle cash, risk of pilferage, and manual recording. |
| GCash merchant / QR Ph | around 0.8%–2% MDR | Public examples show QR Ph MDR around 0.8% and promo waivers up to certain thresholds. |
| Maya QR / QR Ph | around 1.25%–1.5% MDR | Maya QR and QR Ph merchant pages list around 1.25–1.5% per QR transaction. |
| Other e-wallets via QR Ph hub | around 1.25%–2% MDR | Many providers quote up to ~2% MDR for e-wallet / QR payments. |
| Card via POS (Visa/Mastercard) | up to ~3%+ per transaction | Card MDR can reach around 3–3.5% plus a fixed fee per transaction. |
Example for a ₱200 sale:
- Cash: you keep ₱200.
- GCash/Maya QR (1.5% example): you receive about ₱197 (₱3 fee).
- Card (~3%): you receive about ₱194 (₱6 fee).
Pros of GCash / Digital Payments
Higher chance of closing sales: Customers without enough cash can still buy, increasing total sales volume.
Faster and traceable: Easier daily reconciliation; payments show buyer, time, and exact amount, which helps bookkeeping and BIR compliance.
Safer than handling a lot of cash: Less risk of theft and “kulang sa remittance” since money goes straight to your account/wallet.
Cons of GCash / Digital Payments
MDR reduces profit per transaction: A 1.5–2% fee can erase your margin on low-markup items if you don’t adjust pricing.
Payout delays and limits: Cut-off times, settlement days, or wallet limits can affect your cash flow.
Chargebacks / disputes risk: For cards and some wallets, disputes or mistaken payments can cause reversals or account reviews.
Pros of Cash Payments
No direct transaction fee: What the customer pays is what you receive, good for very thin margins.
Instant usable cash: You can immediately buy stock, pay suppliers, or handle daily expenses.
Cons of Cash Payments
More leakages and pilferage: “Di na encode,” kulang sa benta report, or small theft can be harder to detect.
Less professional image, no digital trail: Harder to prove income history to banks and more manual work for BIR records.
When to Favor GCash/QR vs Cash
Favor GCash / QR if:
- Average ticket is higher (e.g., ₱300–₱1,000+) with 30%+ markup, so 1.5–2% fee is small versus profit.
- You want better sales records for bookkeeping, loans, or business valuation (cafés, salons, clinics, etc.).
- You notice “no cash” is a frequent reason for lost sales; extra volume can cover the MDR.
Favor cash (or be stricter) if:
- You sell low-margin items (softdrinks, sachets, load) where margin is only 5–10%.
- You operate where most customers are comfortable with cash (palengke, sari-sari, terminals).
- Digital is just a “nice to have” and not yet a major driver of sales.
How to Monitor Net Income Difference
- Track by payment type daily or weekly. Use a simple sheet with columns for Cash, GCash, Maya/other e-wallet, and Card.
- Encode gross sales per method at closing, then subtract actual MDR or payout differences once credited.
- Compute effective margin per method. For an item with ₱20 profit on ₱200 price (10% margin), a 1.5% GCash fee (₱3) drops your realized profit to ₱17 (8.5% margin).
- Compare profit per ₱10,000 of sales for cash vs digital over a week to see which channel is more profitable overall.
Decide policies based on numbers, not feelings. If digital payments boost total weekly sales by ~30% even with 1–2% fees, it usually makes sense to continue and bake 1–2% into your list prices.
If digital share is small but eats profit on thin-margin items, you can keep digital but limit it to higher-margin products or set a minimum spend for QR/Card (follow local rules; don’t surcharge, but minimum purchase is usually allowed).
Train and Align Your Staff
Communicate clearly to your staff how to handle digital vs cash payments. Train them to always log the payment method and check that the QR used is the official business/merchant QR (not a personal QR) to avoid off-book sales or incorrect fees.
You can even print a small internal guide at the cashier that summarizes when to promote GCash/QR and when to ask for cash.