B2B Payment Methods in France: What Each One Means for a Creditor

The main B2B payment methods in France

A business selling to or buying from a French counterparty can settle an invoice through several instruments: the bank transfer (virement), the cheque, the payment card, electronic money, the bills of exchange known as effets de commerce, and cash. Each carries a different balance of convenience, cost and — the point that matters most to a supplier — security. Selecting a payment method in France is therefore a commercial decision with real legal consequences, not a mere formality left to the accounts department.

French law does not impose a single method for ordinary business-to-business trade. The parties are broadly free to agree how the price will be paid, and that freedom is one of the attractions of contracting under French law. But it is a bounded freedom: cash payments are capped, certain sums must pass through a bank account, and one instrument — the promissory note — can only be imposed on a debtor by agreement. The framework sits mainly in the Monetary and Financial Code and the Commercial Code.

A useful distinction runs through the whole subject. Some instruments are simple payment instruments: a transfer, a card payment or a cash handover extinguishes the debt but leaves no separate document embodying the claim. Others are negotiable instruments — the effets de commerce — that both record the debt and can be passed on or discounted for immediate cash. That difference becomes decisive the day a debtor does not pay, and it shapes how you should think about securing payment in France.

Bank transfer (virement) and SEPA: speed and finality

The virement, or bank transfer, is the workhorse of B2B settlement and the payment method in France that most foreign suppliers will meet first. French law imposes no particular formalism on it: the payer can instruct the transfer in writing, electronically, by fax or even by telephone, and the instruction is valid however it is given. Within the euro area, the SEPA scheme has standardised these transfers, so a payment from a French buyer to a supplier elsewhere in the zone moves on the same rails as a domestic one.

Its great strength is finality. The Cour de cassation has held that a transfer counts as payment as soon as the funds are received by the banker holding them for the beneficiary's account. Up to that moment, however, the payer keeps the initiative: the debtor can freely cancel the transfer order until the amount has been credited to the beneficiary's bank. This is the structural weakness of the virement for a creditor — the timing of payment is in the buyer's hands, and if the order is never given, nothing happens.

A transfer also leaves the supplier with no document cambiaire — no bill or note — to strengthen a recovery action. If the buyer does not pay, the creditor can rely only on the ordinary commercial documents it holds (the purchase order, the delivery note, the invoice) to prove the debt. There is, moreover, no such thing as a transfer without funds: if the account is not sufficiently provisioned, the creditor is simply not paid, with none of the special recovery machinery or penalties that attach to a bounced cheque.

Cheques: still used in France, and still risky

The cheque remains a live payment method in France, more so than in many neighbouring markets, and Article L131-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code governs it. A trader is not obliged to accept cheques: it may refuse them, or set a minimum or maximum amount, provided it has clearly informed its customers in advance. That freedom exists precisely because of the risks the instrument carries — unpaid cheques, fraud, and the handling costs that go with them.

A creditor who does accept a cheque should protect itself. It should verify the payer's identity and may consult the Banque de France's national file of irregular cheques (the FNCI), which flags cheques reported lost or stolen, forged, drawn on a closed account or issued by someone under a banking ban. The FNCI is a fraud-detection tool, not a guarantee of payment, so for larger sums a chèque de banque (banker's cheque) or a certified cheque offers far better security, because the funds are set aside by the bank. These verification points are covered in our note on cheques and the FNCI register.

When a cheque bounces, French law does give the payee a structured route. The drawer's bank issues a certificate of non-payment, the drawer is placed under a banking ban (the interdiction bancaire) that can last five years unless the situation is regularised, and the payee can ultimately obtain an enforceable title through a commissaire de justice. The right to stop a cheque is deliberately narrow — limited to loss, theft, fraudulent use, or the payee's insolvency proceedings — so a buyer cannot simply cancel a cheque because of a commercial dispute.

Bills of exchange and promissory notes (effets de commerce)

The effets de commerce are the payment methods in France built specifically for inter-company credit. An effet de commerce is a negotiable instrument that records a short-term claim and serves to pay it, and through the technique of discounting (escompte) it also works as a financing tool: the holder can hand the instrument to a bank for immediate cash before it falls due. Two forms dominate — the bill of exchange and the promissory note.

Bill of exchange and promissory note

The bill of exchange (lettre de change, or traite) brings together at least three parties: the creditor (the tireur) draws a title on the debtor (the tiré), instructing payment of a fixed sum on a set date to a beneficiary — who may be the creditor, its bank or one of its own creditors. To be valid, the bill must carry the mandatory particulars set out in Article L511-1 of the Commercial Code. The promissory note (billet à ordre) works the other way round: the debtor promises to pay a fixed sum on a set date. Crucially, a debtor can only be required to pay by promissory note if that was expressly agreed and is stated on the invoice, which lets suppliers refuse a note sprung on them close to the due date.

The appeal of these instruments for a creditor lies in their reinforced legal regime. Once a bill has circulated by endorsement, the rule that personal defences cannot be raised (inopposabilité des exceptions) means the party sued cannot resist the holder by pointing to disputes with the original drawer. Payment can be guaranteed by an aval, a form of surety under which the guarantor — often a company director backing a bill drawn on their company — is bound in the same way as the party guaranteed. On non-payment, the holder has recourse against every signatory, and against an accepted bill or a promissory note it can even take a protective attachment over the debtor's assets without prior court authorisation. Our note on bills of exchange (effets de commerce) develops these points.

Payment cards and electronic money

Payment cards are ubiquitous in France, though they feature more in retail and lower-value B2B settlement than in large commercial contracts. A merchant is not bound to accept cards and may set a minimum transaction amount, again on condition that it informs customers beforehand. Accepting cards is not free: on each transaction the merchant pays its bank a commission covering both the processing and the guarantee attached to card payment, and banks must send professionals an annual statement of those fees.

The legal regime around card payments is protective of the cardholder, which is worth understanding on the receiving side. A holder generally has thirteen months to contest an unauthorised or mis-executed payment. Where a payment is unauthorised, the bank must refund it, subject to a cap on the holder's exposure before it reports the loss and to the rules on strong customer authentication; case law has repeatedly turned on whether the bank required strong authentication and on the holder's own gross negligence. For a supplier, the practical takeaway is that a card payment can be reversed after the event in a way a completed transfer cannot.

Electronic money — stored value such as gift cards, prepaid cards and electronic wallets — is a further, if narrower, channel, and since October 2024 the payment ceilings have been extended to electronic-money tokens. Retailers may also offer cashback, adding a small cash sum to a card payment for a non-professional customer within a statutory limit. None of these is a natural fit for settling substantial B2B invoices, where transfers and effets de commerce remain the serious options.

Cash and its legal ceiling

Cash is legal tender, and as a rule a trader may not refuse it: an outright refusal to be paid in cash is a criminal contravention, punishable by a fine. That principle has limits, though — a merchant need not accept more than fifty coins in a single payment, and it is for the debtor to tender the exact amount rather than expect change on a very large note.

For B2B purposes the decisive rule is the ceiling in Article L112-6 of the Monetary and Financial Code. Above a set amount, cash payment must be refused. The threshold is 1,000 euros where the debtor is tax-resident in France or acts for the purposes of a business — which captures almost all professional dealings. Higher ceilings (15,000 or 10,000 euros) apply only to a non-resident debtor acting outside any business activity, and payments between private individuals not acting professionally are not capped at all. The rationale is the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

The sanction is pointed. A debtor who pays in breach of the cash ceiling is liable to a fine of up to 5% of the sum paid in cash, and — unusually — the payer and the payee are jointly liable for that fine. A supplier who accepts a large cash payment therefore shares the exposure, which is reason enough to keep B2B settlement inside the banking system. These limits are set out in full in our note on cash payment limits in France.

Weighing payment methods in France from a creditor's perspective

Ranked by the security they give the party waiting to be paid, the instruments fall into a rough order. An advance transfer or a payment on or before delivery is safest, because the money is already in hand and, once received, cannot be clawed back. An accepted bill of exchange or a promissory note comes next, offering a self-contained title, limited defences and a fast attachment route. A banker's or certified cheque is well secured because the funds are set aside; an ordinary cheque and a card payment are weaker, each reversible in its own way; and cash, though final when it changes hands, is legally capped and unsuited to serious B2B amounts.

The right choice depends on how well you know the buyer, the size and frequency of the trade, and whether you are extending credit. Where you grant payment terms, an effet de commerce lets you carry the credit and, if needed, discount it for liquidity — a combination no simple transfer can match. Whatever the instrument, it should sit alongside the other protections in the contract, such as retention of title, so that the payment method and the security work together rather than in isolation.

Comparing the main payment methods in France

The table below summarises how the principal payment methods in France compare on the two questions a supplier cares about most: how secure the instrument is once it is used, and the key legal point to keep in mind. It is a starting grid, not a substitute for matching the instrument to the specific deal and counterparty.

Frequently asked questions about B2B payment methods in France

What payment methods are used for B2B in France?

The main payment methods in France are the bank transfer (virement), the cheque, the payment card, electronic money, the bills of exchange known as effets de commerce (the lettre de change and the billet à ordre), and cash. For business-to-business trade the transfer dominates, with effets de commerce used where credit is extended.

Is a bank transfer the safest payment method?

A received transfer is very secure because it is final and cannot be reversed once the funds reach the payee's bank. Its weakness is that the payer keeps the initiative and can cancel the order until the amount is credited, so it protects you best when the money arrives before or on delivery rather than on deferred terms.

Can I refuse a cheque in France?

Yes. A trader may refuse payment by cheque, or set a minimum or maximum amount, provided customers are clearly informed in advance. The freedom exists because cheques carry real risks of non-payment and fraud; for larger sums a banker's or certified cheque is far safer than an ordinary one.

What is an effet de commerce?

An effet de commerce is a negotiable instrument that records a short-term claim and serves to pay it. The two main forms are the lettre de change (bill of exchange) and the billet à ordre (promissory note). Both give a creditor a stronger recovery position than a transfer, and can be discounted with a bank for early cash.

Is cash allowed for B2B payments in France?

Cash is legal tender, but Article L112-6 of the Monetary and Financial Code caps it at 1,000 euros where the debtor acts for a business or is tax-resident in France. A payment above the ceiling is unlawful and the payer and payee are jointly liable for a fine of up to 5% of the sum, so cash is unsuited to serious B2B amounts.

Can I refuse to accept a payment card?

Yes. A merchant is not obliged to accept cards and may set a minimum transaction amount, as long as customers are told beforehand. Card acceptance also costs a commission on each transaction, and card payments can be contested by the holder for up to thirteen months, which makes them less final than a completed transfer.

Which payment method best protects an unpaid seller?

For settled payment, an advance or on-delivery transfer is safest because it cannot be reversed. Where credit is extended, an accepted bill of exchange or a promissory note gives the strongest position: a self-contained title, limited defences once endorsed, and a fast route to protective attachment. Pair the chosen method with retention of title and clear late-payment terms.

How our French lawyers help with B2B payment methods in France

Petroff Avocats advises both suppliers and buyers on the payment side of French trade. For creditors, we structure payment terms and general conditions of sale, choose and document the right instrument for the counterparty and the risk, put effets de commerce and avals in place, and pursue recovery when a transfer fails or a cheque bounces. For buyers, we review the payment and security clauses you are asked to sign, keep your cash-payment and invoicing practice within the Monetary and Financial Code, and defend disputed or fraudulent debits. On both sides, the aim is a payment method that reflects the commercial deal and holds up if the relationship sours.

This article is for general information only. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create a lawyer-client relationship. The law and its application to your circumstances may differ from the general position described here. Contact our French lawyers for advice on your situation.