Purpose: There are multiple ways to take payments for your contracts. Each has its own benefits, utilising the payment integrations with Stripe and GoCardless. Take recurring payments for contract invoices automatically with a direct debit or in a lump sum, below are the details for setting up each type.

How you take payment will depend on how you've set up Invoicing (Step 6.1) in your contract template.
​
​

Each contract template allows only one payment method. To offer multiple payment options, create separate templates for each method and name them accordingly.

The payment integration(s) you would like to use need to be set up before they can be used in a contract template:

If your Contract template is set to create multiple invoices, you can use recurring payments to automate the process and let Commusoft manage this for you.
​
​

Recurring payments are available on the Customer Journey plan and above.

➡️ Allow Commusoft to take payment > Yes
​
​

Select this option in your Contract template for a recurring payment using Stripe. The payment frequency is determined by the invoice schedule set up in Step 6.1 of your Contract template.

When setting up a contract for a customer, the payment step will show a card details form to be completed. You can also select to use an existing card if the details are stored against this customer.

Once the card details are entered, no further authorisation is required from the customer.
​
​

If you've already got the card details stored against the customer, select "Use existing credit card" for the payment method dropdown. Select the stored card from the new dropdown displayed.

Select this option in your Contract template to set up a Direct Debit mandate using GoCardless. The payment frequency is determined by the invoice schedule set up in Step 6.1 of your Contract template.
​
​

When setting up a contract for a customer, the payment step will show a mandate form to be completed. You can also select to use an existing mandate if the details are stored against this customer.
​
​

Once the mandate details have been entered, click save. This will trigger a communication to the customer for them to approve the mandate. You can set up the email template with the [mandate_customer_approval] tag in Step 7 of the Contract template configuration.
​
​

The contract will now be in 'Pending mandate approval' status until the customer completes this action and the contract timeline will show a record of this email being sent.
​
​

Mandate links expire after 7 days.

The mandate activation process in GoCardless typically takes 2-3 days. The contract remains in a ‘Pending mandate approval’ status during this time. Once activation is complete, the contract will automatically become active and ready to process the first payment as per your invoice schedule. The confirmation communication you set up in Step 7 of the Contract template configuration will be sent to the customer.
​
​

If you have a mandate in Commusoft for another contract, you can link this to a new customer contract. As the mandate already exists and is active, you can select the reference from the dropdown instead of entering the bank details again. No mandate approval link is sent in this case and the contract will be active right away.
​
​

➡️ Stored card > Select mandate from dropdown > Save
​
​

Your existing customers may already have contracts with you, with a mandate that may have been set up directly in GoCardless. You can import these mandates into Commusoft, ensuring they are linked and any contract invoices raised will have the correct payment applied.
​
​

In GoCardless copy the mandate reference against the customer. You can find out more about the customer details in GoCardless in their 🔗️Customer Hub article.
​
​

➡️ Mandate reference > Enter reference > Check
​
​

If the mandate is found, the details will be displayed for your reference. Ensure the account holder's name and email address are correct before saving.

If the imported mandate is already in active status, the contract will be activated once saved. If the mandate is still pending, the contract will be in 'Pending mandate approval' status until the customer completes the approval. After approval, the contract is activated.

When importing a mandate, Commusoft will instruct GoCardless to stop any further direct debit payment requests. This includes any linked subscriptions, which will be displayed in GoCardless as cancelled and will be managed within Commusoft from this point onward. Once the contract is active, direct debit payment requests will start based on the selected price plan in Step 2 of the customer contract setup.
​
​

To check the mandate status in GoCardless, view the bank details against the customer. For more information, review their 🔗️Customer Hub article.

To avoid duplicate payments, avoid importing mandates on the day of an existing direct debit payment.

You can provide the customer with a link to the invoice portal to make a payment themselves. Here, they can either pay via Stripe with a card, through Apple Pay and Google Pay or via GoCardless using instant bank pay. This method can be used if you are sending them one invoice for a lump sum to pay off the contract value at the start of a set-term contract or if you will invoice your customer monthly over the course of the contract period.
​
​

➡️ Allow Commusoft to take payment > No
​
​

In Step 6.1 of the Contract template, you will have selected to email the invoice to the customer or not, this will determine if you need to email the invoice to the customer yourself or if this is done for you.

When using the invoice portal to take contract payments, the invoice must be emailed to the customer to ensure they receive the portal link. Review your Invoice email template to ensure the Invoice portal tag is included.

You can manually add payments to contract invoices if you:

➡️ Navigate to the invoice > Add new payment > Enter all payment details > Add payment.
​
​

If you are not using any of the available payment integrations, this will simply be a record of the payment and no physical payment will be taken from the customer upon completion of this action. This needs to be managed externally.

If your customer fails to complete the mandate authorisation within 7 days, this link will expire and they will need a new mandate request.

You can set up a new mandate by navigating to the customer contract, in the left side panel the payment information is displayed in the Payment collection section.
​
​

Edit the payment collection to see the payment step of the customer contract, where you can enter the bank details again. This will trigger a new request for the customer to complete authorisation and another 7-day time limit.