GoCardless and Recurring Invoices

Support
1

Hi Guys,

Tried the GoCardless instructions. Nothing worked.

The recurring invoices - no checkbox to select.

One off payments - appears to want me to login as the customer. How am I supposed to know his GoCardless password!

Should a gocardless dd be setup from the invoice?

Regards

Gary

2

Do you have a pre-authorisation with the client? Without this no option to auto-bill will appear.

One-offs (or PayLinks as GoCardless call them) are intended to be sent to your client so that they can login and complete payment. If you have a pre-authorisation you don’t need to do this.

3

Hi Glenn,

Yes, I have a Gocardless Pre-Authorisation. I have copied this Pre-Authorisation into QF and the blue DD flash has appeared on the re-occuring invoice. This invoice is due to be sent (via email) on 21st November, with payment due 10 days later. What does Gocardless do then?

Cheers

Gary

4

If the following label is visible then on the 21st of November when the invoice is created Quick File will send a request to GoCardless to collect the full value of that invoice using the pre-authorisation. Typically the funds will then take around 7 days to land in your account.

5

Hi Glenn,

Yes, that label is now visible. So on the 21st:

  1. The client gets the invoice by email.
  2. His bank receives a direct debit request for the value of the invoice.
  3. His bank transfers the correct amount to the GoCardless.

Then, 4 to 7 days later, this money is transfered from GoCardless to me.

What Information is transfered from the invoice to the GoCardless DD request?

Will the money leave the clients account on the 21st?

Is the ‘due date’ on the invoice now irrelevant?

I did ask GoCardless the above questions but the help desk guy could’nt answer them!

Cheers

Gary

6

Hi Glenn,

Just spoke with a very helpful guy at GoCardless. I’ll write out the information he gave me as this may be useful to other QF/GoCardless users. Back in a minute.

Cheers

Gary

7

Hi Glenn,

One question before I can finish off my notes. When QF sends the request to GoCardless to raise a new DD request, is the text I have typed into the description field of the invoice copied into the description field of the GoCardless request?

Cheers

Gary

8

When we send the request to GoCardless we do not use the description you have entered on the invoice. Instead we use the following format:

Payment for invoice #000001
9

Ok, that’s fine and will match up with the email the customer receives from QF.

Almost there!

I just created a one-off invoice for my customer but could not find an auto bill checkbox. I hit the ‘pay online’ button but It asked me to pay.

Does issuing this new invoice automatically invoke a new dd request from GoCardless even though there isn’t an auto bill checkbox?

10

One-off invoices require the user to initiate payment. If you have a pre-auth you can manually request funds, this is covered in the GoCardless guide:

Taking generic payments using a pre-authorised Direct Debit

The funds, once cleared will deposit as a credit on the client account, all you need to do then is link the credit to pay down the invoice.

Hope that helps!

11

Hi Glenn,

I think I understand all this now. To help me. I wrote out these instructions for my ‘Proceedures manual’. Are they correct?

Cheers

Gary

============

How QuickFile and GoCardless Work together.

Reoccuring Payments - manually, via your GoCardless Dashboard

  1. On the date you set for the DD to be issued, GoCardless sends an email to your customer stating that the payment of £XXX will be taken in 3 WORKING DAYS time.
  2. On that date (3 WORKING DAYS later), GoCardless transfer the amount of £XXX from the clients account into their GoCardless account.
  3. 4 WORKING DAYS later, GoCardless transfer the amount of £XXX from their GoCardless account into your bank account.

The process takes 7 WORKING DAYS, not calendar days, hence the variation in time (month to month) between the request being submitted (Day 1) and you getting your money on Day 7. [See https://gocardless.com/payment-timings]

Reoccuring Payments - via QuickFile and GoCardless

  1. You setup the customers reoccuring invoices in QuickFile as usual and then tick the ‘auto billing’ box. This box displays as long as you have (i) authorised the link between your QuickFile account and GoCardless account and (ii) transfered the ‘pre-authorisation’ code from the customers account in your GoCardless account, into the customers profile in your QuickFile account.

  2. On the automatic invoicing date you setup in QuickFile, your customer gets an email from QuickFile as usual.

  3. At the same time, QuickFile automatically requests GoCardless to issue a DD request.

  4. GoCardless now takes over and sends an email to your customer stating that the payment of £XXX will be taken in 3 WORKING DAYS time.

  5. On that date (3 WORKING DAYS later), GoCardless transfer the amount of £XXX from the clients account into their GoCardless account.

  6. 4 WORKING DAYS later, GoCardless transfers the amount of £XXX from their GoCardless account into your bank account.

One-off Payments

  1. Create an invoice for your customer in QuickFile as usual and email it to the customer.
  2. Go to ‘All Clients’ and display this customers profile.
  3. If you have a GoCardless pre-authorisation setup, the ‘Direct Debit’ box under the ‘Contact Details’ will state “Direct Debit Found” alongside a big, green ‘tick’.
  4. Click on this ‘Direct Debit’ box.
  5. In the popup that displays, click on the green “Collect Funds”.
  6. In the new popup that displays, complete the form and click on “Process Payment”.
  7. GoCardless will now send an email to your customer stating that the payment of £XXX will be taken in 3 WORKING DAYS time.
  8. On that date (3 WORKING DAYS later), GoCardless transfer the amount of £XXX from the clients account into their GoCardless account.
  9. 4 WORKING DAYS later, GoCardless transfer the amount of £XXX from their GoCardless account into your bank account.

Due Date

On your invoices, your ‘due date’ should now be 3 WORKING DAYS after the invoice date.

=========================

12

I’ll ask GoCardless to verify this as the pre-auth codes established in GoCardless may not be transferable to Quick File. This used to be the case and there was a manual process that GoCardless used in order to transfer these over.

Under One-off Payments you may want to add a 10th step…Here’s an example:

  1. When the funds have been transferred into your bank account the original amount requested will appear as a credit on the client
    account in Quick File. To assign this credit to the invoice, open the
    invoice preview and click the ‘Log a Payment’ button. Select the
    option in the yellow bar to “Pay from credit”.
13

Hi Glenn,

Thanks for checking these proceedures… I have added step 10 to the list.

“… as the pre-auth codes established in GoCardless may not be transferable to Quick File …”

I manually transfered the pre-auth code into my customers QF profile and that allowed the blue banner to display on the recurring invoice, but I haven’t tested it yet.

I’ll give GC a call later today.

Cheers

Gary

14

I’m afraid to say that GoCardless won’t recognise these pre-authorisations within Quick File or any other 3rd party application. We asked them to review this but they are very busy at the moment working on their European payment systems. Unfortunately only those pre-authorisations created in Quick File will work. Certainly give them a call to see if there are any other options here.

15

Hi Glenn,

Thanks for checking with GoCardless. I have added your information into the instructions below, so, all being well, this is all correct.

Cheers

Gary

===============================

How QuickFile and GoCardless Work together.

Reoccuring Payments - manually, via your GoCardless Dashboard

  1. On the date you set for the DD to be issued, GoCardless sends an email to your customer stating that the payment of £XXX will be taken in 3 WORKING DAYS time.
  2. On that date (3 WORKING DAYS later), GoCardless transfer the amount of £XXX from the clients account into their GoCardless account.
  3. 4 WORKING DAYS later, GoCardless transfer the amount of £XXX from their GoCardless account into your bank account.
  4. When the funds have been transferred into your bank account the original amount requested will appear as a credit on the client account in Quick File. To assign this credit to the invoice, open the invoice preview and click the ‘Log a Payment’ button. Select the option in the yellow bar to “Pay from credit”.

The process takes 7 WORKING DAYS, not calendar days, hence the variation in time (month to month) between the request being submitted (Day 0) and you getting your money on Day 7. [See https://gocardless.com/payment-timings]

Reoccuring Payments - via QuickFile and GoCardless

  1. You setup the customers reoccuring invoices in QuickFile as usual and then tick the ‘auto billing’ box. This box displays as long as you have (i) authorised the link between your QuickFile account and GoCardless account and (ii) initiated the ‘pre-authorisation’ code request from within your QuickFile account.

******* IMPORTANT *******

GoCardless will not recognise the pre-authorisations UNLESS those pre-authorisations were created from within Quick File itself. Pre-authorisations created in GoCardless, if copied into Quick File, WILL NOT WORK. In this case you need to setup the reoccuring direct debits within GoCardless itself.

  1. On the automatic invoicing (or Direct Debit date) date you setup in QuickFile, your customer gets an email from QuickFile as usual.
  2. At the same time, QuickFile automatically requests GoCardless to issue a DD request.
  3. GoCardless now takes over and sends an email to your customer stating that the payment of £XXX will be taken in 3 WORKING DAYS time.
  4. On that date (3 WORKING DAYS later), GoCardless transfer the amount of £XXX from the clients account into their GoCardless account.
  5. 4 WORKING DAYS later, GoCardless transfers the amount of £XXX from their GoCardless account into your bank account.
  6. When the funds have been transferred into your bank account the original amount requested will appear as a credit on the client account in Quick File. To assign this credit to the invoice, open the invoice preview and click the ‘Log a Payment’ button. Select the option in the yellow bar to “Pay from credit”.

One-off Payments

  1. Create an invoice for your customer in QuickFile as usual and email it to the customer.
  2. Go to ‘All Clients’ and display this customers profile.
  3. If you have a GoCardless pre-authorisation setup, the ‘Direct Debit’ box under the ‘Contact Details’ will state “Direct Debit Found” alongside a big, green ‘tick’.
  4. Click on this ‘Direct Debit’ box.
  5. In the popup that displays, click on the green “Collect Funds”.
  6. In the new popup that displays, complete the form and click on “Process Payment”.
  7. GoCardless will now send an email to your customer stating that the payment of £XXX will be taken in 3 WORKING DAYS time.
  8. On that date (3 WORKING DAYS later), GoCardless transfer the amount of £XXX from the clients account into their GoCardless account.
  9. 4 WORKING DAYS later, GoCardless transfer the amount of £XXX from their GoCardless account into your bank account.
  10. When the funds have been transferred into your bank account the original amount requested will appear as a credit on the client account in Quick File. To assign this credit to the invoice, open the invoice preview and click the ‘Log a Payment’ button. Select the option in the yellow bar to “Pay from credit”.

Due Date

On your invoices, your ‘due date’ should now be 3 WORKING DAYS after the invoice date.