This article gives you a brief overview on getting things up and running using the payments functionality offered by Billingbooth.
Before you can start using the payments functionality, your account will need to be at least upgraded to the Business plan. Drop us an email at support@billingbooth.com and we can get this process completed fairly quickly.
The following steps describe the basics to get your payments set up and ready to be billed:
- Configure general payment options
- Connect to a payment provider
- Add a payment method to a customer
- Do a billing run
1. Configure general payment options
The first step with setting up payments is to configure a few generic options as well as linking payment provider accounts. There are two ways to reach these options, the first is to click the "Settings" link in the left-hand navigation menu, this opens up a drop-down menu, from that menu click "Payment Collection". The second way is through the Payments section itself, by clicking "Payments" in the left-hand navigation menu and then clicking the "Payment Settings" button at the top-right of the page. This is effectively a shortcut to the Payment Collection settings page.
For more information on the fields themselves, you can read our Payment Settings article for more information.
2. Connect to a payment provider
Choose the appropriate payment provider from the available tabs at the top-right of the Payment Collections page and set up the necessary details.
For provider specific help, see the below articles:
Eazipay
GoCardless
3. Add a payment method to a customer
Head to the "Customers" page using the left-hand navigation, from there, select the customer you'd like to add a payment method to from the list and click "Payments". This screen shows you the Payment History of the customer and also their configured Payment Methods. To add a new payment method, click the "Add Payment Method" button at the top-right and you will be taken to a wizard which will help you with the rest of the process.
4. Do a billing run
After you have performed a billing run, if you have selected to collect payments automatically via the Payment Collection Settings (see step 1), then Billingbooth will submit a payment per invoice. If you selected to collect payments manually, select the customer you wish to invoice from the "Customers" page and then click "Payments". Click the "Take Payment" button at the top-right of the Payment History panel. Enter the amount to bill in the "Amount" field and set the "Provider" field to the provider you wish to use for the payment. The "Collection date" is an optional field, clicking the field will present you with a calendar that you can select a future date from and the payment will be taken on this date. If you wish to take the payment immediately, leave this field blank.
NOTE: The "Collection date" is only usable with providers that support the ability to set collection dates in the future.
Following this a payment will appear in respective Payment History lists with the status of "Pending Submitted" with a charge date based on the "Collection period after invoice issue date" value in Payment Collection Settings.
To see the Payment History of all your customers, simply click "Payments" in the left-hand navigation menu. To see a customer specific Payment History, click "Customers" in the left-hand navigation menu, select the customer you'd wish to see the payment history of and then click "Payments" in the sub-navigation menu.
As long as the status of a payment is "Pending Submitted", it can be cancelled using the Cancel button in the Actions column of the Payment History table. If you cancel a payment and wish to re-issue it, you will have to do this manually, for help on setting a payment up manually, follow the manual payment instructions outlined at the start of this step.