Introduction
If your organisation is using GoCardless as a payment method within the Operate Portal, your users can easily make one-off and recurring invoice payments. This guide will take you through the process that a user needs to follow in order to pay on the Portal.
If you need to set up GoCardless as a payment processor, please follow the GoCardless Setup Guide.
Good to Know
GoCardless payments are being processed as direct debits and do not require a debit or credit card; only a bank account with an account number or IBAN.
Both one time and recurring payments are accepted.
Recurring payments only apply to memberships or invoices. Meeting Room bookings, Desk bookings, Product/Service purchases or Credit Packs are only payable on a one time basis.
When making a recurring payment, GoCardless will retain the transaction information you submit. Subsequently, the Operator will be able to charge you automatically for due invoices, using a payment token. Neither Operate nor the Operator have access to your submitted payment information, only to a payment token which is used to process automatic charges.
We will provide examples below using the Invoice payment flow.
Getting Started Making an Invoice Payment
To pay for an invoice via GoCardless, please follow the steps below:
Log into your Portal account.
Go to My Account > Invoices. The Unpaid tab will automatically be selected.
Choose the Invoice that you would like to pay and click the Pay link.
Next, you will have the option to: View your Invoice, Make a one time payment or Make a recurring payment. We will now go through each of them, in detail.
Viewing Your Invoice Before Paying
To do so, simply click the View Invoice option on your screen, as shown below.
You will be taken to a preview of your invoice and you can return to the payment screen by clicking Back once you are ready.
Making a One Time Payment
To make a One Time Payment, click the corresponding option on your invoice payment screen.
You will now be taken to a GoCardless payment page, where you will need to submit your payment information. (Please see below for details about this page.)
Making a one time payment means that you will need to log into your Portal account and make a one time payment for each outstanding invoice.
Making a Recurring Payment
Click the Recurring payment option on your screen, as seen below.
You will now be taken to the GoCardless payment page, where you can submit your information and complete the transaction.
Making a recurring payment means that GoCardless will retain your account information and will allow the building Operator to charge you on this account, during each billing cycle, for the amount due. You will no longer need to pay invoices yourself.
The GoCardless Payment Page
This page requires some basic information in order to complete your transactions. The page is the same, regardless of whether you are making a one time or a recurring payment. The only difference is that when you choose to make a recurring payment, GoCardless will save your transaction information to allow the Operator to charge you in the future. Your data is retained by GoCardless, not essensys or the building Operator.
Company Name or your First and Last Name. Use the Click here to use your name link to switch from company name to your own name. You will still be given the option to use a company name if you change your mind.
Sort Code - This is your bank's sort code. It is typically available on your bank's webpage under the same name.
Your account Number. You can choose to enter an IBAN if your bank account uses one.
Your address: You can enter your postcode and GoCardless will automatically add it; or you can enter it manually.
Your Email.
Tick the box under the form if more than one person needs to authorise Direct Debits from your account. In such a case, GoCardless will need all signatories to sign a paper version of the Direct Debit mandate. They will give you instructions on how to do this after you complete this form. if it is a joint account but you can authorise payments on your own, you should untick this box.
Click Set up Direct Debit when you are ready.
Once the payment is completed, the invoice will move from the Unpaid to the Paid Tab of your Portal Invoices page.