Scenario 1: Amazon will ask for the payment (if using cc); the bank will respond there are no funds in the account; Amazon deals directly with the company further directly, not with the bank, eventually getting payment order from the court. If the company went bankrupt meanwhile, Amazon might not get their money.
Scenario 2: Amazon will send the invoice; invoice will not get paid. After due date, Amazon will contact the company directly; bank doesn't even enter the picture, until collection order comes from the court. If the company went bankrupt meanwhile, Amazon might not get their money.
There's no scenario where some hypothetical loan would go straight to Amazon, unless Amazon has some instrument, that instruct the bank to pay them. Something like bank guarantee or promisory note, and uses them before declaring bankrupcy.
So for Amazon draining loaned money, they would have to transfer them to a normal account and pay with debit card paired to that account, with no limit set.
It is not wise to transfer them to a normal account; you pay interest for the balance on the loan account; if you move them to your normal account, you are paying interest for money that is sitting on your normal account.
That's why you don't pay large sums with CC, but with invoice + bank transfer, and have a limit set on your cards, when you do.
- control: you are in control, when you do the payment. You can plan your cash flow.
- additional advantages: You also have payment terms, some vendors offer discounts for earlier payments; if your cash flow can handle that, why would you giving up of that?
- liability: with CC, you are getting credit that is drawn at other party leisure. It's you, who is liable for this credit line, even if the other party made a mistake. You are always liable to the bank, never towards the vendors. With bank transfers, every single payment was authorized by you (where by 'you' I mean authorized person at your company) and the liability is towards the vendor, who is not likely to have such a strong position (see Porter's five forces).
- leverage: if another party makes a mistake, they have motivation to correct it. Every company in existence has already received invoices, that are incorrect. Withholding payment until they are corrected is a strong motivator. Without that, you could be left without invoices that can be put into accounting AND without money that you have to account for.
- setting up processes: when you grow beyond certain size, you are going to want to formalize both the procurement, accounts payable and treasury. Having purchasing and payment discipline that are compatible with that already in place will mean less pain from the growth, less things to change.
When we need people in the field purchasing small supplies, we don't want them to handle cash, so they get debit (not credit) cards, with relatively small limits. It is enough for them to get by, but not enough to make any damage of significance. (The exception is fuel and that's what fuel cards are for - basically it has a form factor of a credit or debit card, but works only for fuel, is paired to a license plate and the vendor sends invoice at the end of the month).
Another scenario, where CCs are useful, if you need to pay something right now; you don't or can't want to wait for the order->delivery+invoice->payment cycle. That's fine for consumer impulse purchases, but that should not be a normal way for company purchases.
Of course, if you start a new business relation, some companies would not trust you, that you are going to pay the invoice; sending advance invoice and paying it is fine. In practice, it is quite rare occurrence.
The real world is filled with barbershops, daycares, bars, clinics, PVC manufacturers etc
None of them get VC money.
When they need money, they go to a bank and usually have to place a PG in order to get funds.
Tech startups have it easy. Its all equity. You are not pledging your lifetime earnings on a business idea.
Once tech startups lose their upside potential (prob not anytime soon if ever), you will be sitting with the regular folk, those that pledge their skin and life to their business.
Either way it might be nice to keep your options open, depending on your plans.
Really? Working in Southern California a few years ago, refund requests were refused ALL THE TIME. This is why there's a common belief that what you are charged you simply owe them, period.
It may be more progressive now, but let's not be revisionist.
I know several other companies that had expensive mistakes without refunds. There's probably a complex decision tree for these issues and I doubt anyone really knows outside of AWS.
Being an entitled jerk who blames other people for your own negligence is bad, and you shouldn't change that. But openly giving companies the opportunity to be kind (while admitting that it was entirely your fault) potentially helps both them and you.