How to Write a Check Online: A Burlington, Vermont Bookseller’s Guide to Paying Distributors

Quick answer: To write a check online with OnlineCheckWriter, fill in the payee, date, amount, and memo in your browser. Then print the check yourself on blank check stock, or have it printed and mailed for you.

Can a Bookstore Pay a Book Distributor With an Online Check?

It can. If you run an independent bookstore in Burlington, Vermont, and you’re restocking from a distributor, a small press, or a regional wholesaler, you can write and send a check online the same way you’d write one by hand. The only difference: you type the payee, amount, date, and memo on a screen instead of a checkbook. No more looking for the checkbook between customers, and no more building a walk to the post office into the day’s schedule. The finished check works like any other check; the distributor deposits and processes it the same way.

How Do You Write a Check Online for a Vendor Payment?

Say a monthly statement arrives from a distributor showing three invoices totaling $1,240, minus a $60 credit from a batch of returns sent back the week before. This is a hypothetical example to show the process, not a real invoice from any named company. Here’s the process from statement to sent payment.

1. Open the check-writing tool and start a new check.
2. Enter the payee exactly as the distributor lists it on the statement, for example “ABC Book Distributors, Inc.”
3. Subtract any returns or credit memo from the invoice total, then enter that net amount, not the original invoice face value.
4. Add the account or invoice number to the memo line so the distributor’s accounts-receivable team can match the payment to the right order.
5. Add your saved signature and preview the check to confirm every field lines up correctly.
6. Print it yourself on blank check stock with a MICR-compatible laser printer (see the printer section below for why that matters).
7. Or, if the distributor requires a mailed paper check, have the check printed and mailed directly to your vendor by FedEx overnight instead of running the envelope to the post office yourself. Even overnight mail still takes at least a business day to arrive, so send it ahead of the due date, not on it.

In this hypothetical example, that net amount is $1,180 (the $1,240 invoice total minus the $60 returns credit).

Do You Need Special Check Stock or a Special Printer to Write a Check Online?

You don’t need a pre-printed checkbook, but the printer matters. Fill in the check online, then print it on blank check stock with a laser printer loaded with magnetic MICR toner. That’s what makes the routing and account number line at the bottom readable by a bank’s automated equipment. An inkjet printer, or a laser printer with ordinary non-magnetic toner, won’t produce a bank-readable MICR line, even if the check looks fine on screen. No laser printer with MICR toner on hand? OnlineCheckWriter can print and mail the check for you instead.

Which Vendor Type Determines How You Pay?

Not every distributor or publisher expects the same thing. A bookstore usually pays a distributor invoice in one of four ways, depending on who’s on the invoice:

What Mistakes Should You Avoid When Paying a Distributor by Check?

• Paying the invoice face value on a consignment order. Deduct the current returns or credit memo first, or the publisher gets overpaid and the next statement has to correct it.
• Paying the full original purchase order on a partial shipment. Distributors often ship part of an order and invoice only what shipped; paying the original order amount overpays the account.
• Missing a small press’s payment window. Not every vendor sends automated reminders the way a large distributor’s statement system does. A missed net-30 window can flip a small account to prepay-only, which is a real cash-flow problem for a single-location store.
• Leaving the memo field blank or vague. A memo that just says “books” instead of the invoice or account number can leave a distributor’s accounts-receivable team unable to match the payment, which shows up as a false past-due notice on an invoice that’s already paid.
• Mailing the check before recording a co-op or marketing credit. If a credit posts on the next statement instead of the statement you’re paying now, you can end up tracking the same amount twice.
• Netting a returns credit that hasn’t posted on the distributor’s side yet. If the credit shows on your own paperwork but not yet on their statement, the payment can look short to them and trigger its own past-due flag. Confirm the credit has posted before subtracting it.

Is Writing a Check Online Secure Enough for Vendor Payments?

OnlineCheckWriter holds these independently audited certifications:

• PCI-DSS
• SOC 1
• SOC 2
• ISO 27001
• ISO 20000
• ISO 9001
• NIST 800-53

It’s also built to comply with:

• CCPA
• GDPR
• HIPAA

Positive Pay adds another layer on top: your bank compares the checks you actually sent against the checks presented for payment, and flags a mismatch. You enroll in Positive Pay through your own bank, not through OnlineCheckWriter; the basic version usually checks the number and dollar amount only, and payee-name verification is often a separate tier, so ask your bank which one you have. For more on how US banks handle check processing and funds availability generally, see the Federal Reserve’s guide to Regulation CC.

Does Writing a Check Online Work With QuickBooks or Other Bookkeeping Tools?

Yes. OnlineCheckWriter connects with these accounting and payroll platforms, so a check written for a distributor can line up with the records already kept for the store instead of a second manual entry:

• QuickBooks Online and Desktop
• Xero
• NetSuite
• Zoho Books
• Bill.com
• FreshBooks
• Sage
• Wave
• Gusto

Frequently Asked Questions

A restock order doesn’t wait for a bank run, and neither should the payment that covers it. Write the check online the day the invoice arrives, keep the memo field specific, and the next box of new releases has one less thing standing between it and the shelf.