Card subscriptions

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Index

A card subscription is a payment setup where your customer’s card is automatically charged on a recurring basis (e.g. monthly or annually).

 

This is commonly used for:

  • Subscriptions
  • Memberships
  • Ongoing services

 

It means the customer gives permission once, and payments are collected automatically going forward. Netcash offers various subscription integrations.

Manage subscription templates.

Netcash allows you to create subscription templates that can be linked to a Payment request or a Pay Payment button (Pay Now solutions) This converts a once-off payment into a recurring subscription.

 

Key Features

  • Easy to Create: Subscription templates are simple to set up and manage.
  • Reusable: A single template can be used for multiple customers.
  • Flexible: You can create templates based on: Billing frequency (e.g. weekly, monthly)
  • Product or service
  • Payment amount

 

There is no limit to the number of subscription templates you can create.

Subscription templates make it easy to automate recurring payments and streamline ongoing billing.

Creating a Subscription template.

 

Navigate to: Services > PayNow> Card subscriptions> templates.

 

  • Click on Add Template
  • Insert a template name.
  • Select your Subscription frequency: Monthly | Weekly | Biweekly, etc
  • Number of collections – the number of times the credit card must be debited, or select Infinite collections if applicable.

Note:
When setting up a subscription, keep the initial transaction in mind when calculating the total number of collections.
If you choose to include the initial transaction as the first payment, the remaining collections must be adjusted accordingly.

 

Example:
For an annual subscription with 12 payments:

 

Initial transaction counts as payment 1
Remaining collections = 11 payments

 

This ensures the total number of payments aligns with your intended billing cycle.

  • Subscription amount 
  • Select Active if the template is to be used; alternatively, a template can be made inactive if not in use and reactivated when in use.
  • Click on submit
  • Your template has now been created and can be linked to either a payment request or a payment button. These steps will be discussed next in the guide.

Payment request linked to a Subscription template

To link the Subscription template to a Payment request

 

Navigate to Services> Pay Now> Payment request> Create.

 

  • Type: select the type for your request
  • Generate QR code: Generate a QR for your customer to pay or
  • Send SMS or WhatsApp: Send a text with the payment link or
  • Send via email: Send an email with the payment link
  • Your reference: For internal identification purposes.
  • Amount: The amount you are requesting your customer to pay.

If the payment request is being linked to a subscription template, ensure that the number of collections is calculated correctly as the initial amount on the Payment request may differ to the subscription amount.

  • Description: This will be on the link of the SMS or email sent to your customer, for example, your company name or a description of what they want to purchase
  • Select the budget option if applicable. This allows your customer to select budget if available on their credit card. This does not impact the amount etc for you.
  • Select the subscription template.
  • Click on submit

 

The Payment request linked to the subscription template has been sent to your customer. Once your customer has completed the transaction, the subscription can be managed.

Notes:
  • Your reference must be unique for each new request.
  • The description will be sent in both email and sms.
  • Extra fields will appear on your downloaded statement for enhanced reconciliation.
  • Pay Now must be active (you may need to apply for the service).
  • If you are using extra fields 1, 2 and 3 will be carried through to Pay Now – for reconciliation.
  • The subscription will commence on the payment date of the payment request and the Number of collections selected in the subscription template. The Subscription date and other fields may be amended.
  • Only credit/Debit card option is available when sending a Payment request linked to a subscription template.

Payment button linked to a Subscription template:

 

Choose any existing subscription template in your Netcash account, select font size, colour, and button colour, and generate HTML code to place anywhere on their website.

 

Navigate to Services > Pay Now > Payment button

 

  1. Select one of your subscription templates from the right-hand side drop down menu. The amount will default to the subscription template amount.
  2. Insert Payment description – this is the text that appears on the payment page when your customer are paying and describes the nature of the payment.
  3. Choose your button colour, font colour and font size. Rounded borders are also possible.
    Note that the Demo button displays a preview of the button.
  4. Insert custom button or font colours if required.
  5. Extra fields are used to allow for easy reconciliation and will appear on your Netcash statement, for example, a project name, region or donation type.
  6. Extra 1: Information to be displayed on your Netcash statement – not visible to payer (Max 999 characters)
  7. Customer data 1 and 2: If populated, creates an input box on the payments page which can be used for referencing on the Netcash statement (Max 49 characters) The reference field description is visible to payer and allows for the payer to capture additional referencing/information.
  8. Click the generate code button.
  9. In the popup window click on Copy to clipboard.
  10. Copy the code, and paste it into your website HTML editor where you would like the button to appear.

Manage card subscriptions

You can update certain subscription details within an existing subscription.

 

Important Notes

  • Only specific fields can be edited, depending on the subscription setup.
  • A customer’s subscription will only become visible in the system after the initial payment has been completed.
  • This means the subscription is created and available for management only once the first payment—either via a payment request or gateway purchase—has been successfully processed.

 

Navigate to Services> Pay Now> Card subscriptions > Manage

 

Before you can amend, first select the status and date range for the subscriptions.

The following fields will be displayed:

Date added | Your reference | Card holder name | Credit card number | Amount | Payment left | Frequency | Card expiry date | Active | History

 

Select the pencil icon next to the subscription you would like to amend.

Edit subscription

 
The following card information is displayed:
 
  • Your reference:
  • Card holder name:
  • Credit card number:
  • Expiry date:
  • Card token:
  • Active:
 
By unticking the active box will stop future subscriptions from being processed. This can be made Active again at a later stage.
 
Required fields for subscriptions:
 
Next payment date: here the next subscription date can be amended. When using subscription for payment request and payment button the next date is dependent in the day the payment request/payment button notification was created.

for example : Sent on the 17 May next subscription date if frequency is monthly will be the 17 June.

 

  • Frequency: the frequency can be amended.
  • Cycle: the cycle can be adjusted.
  • Amount: the amount can be amended.
  • Once all changed have been done click on submit.

Please note: By editing a customers subscription, the current subscription will end immediately when you submit the changes. You will receive the next payment for the subscription (based on the changes made) from the start date that you set.

Transaction History

  • Click on the printer icon next to the relevant subscription to view the individual transaction history for the subscription
  • Click on the XLS button to view the following details for your subscriptions:
    • Date added
    • Card holder name
    • Masked credit card number
    • Expiry date
    • Card token
    • Active
    • Next payment date
    • Cycle
    • Your reference
    • Amount
    • Subscription end date

 

This allows you to see what changes were made, to a specific subscription, such as start date, frequency, cycle and amount and by whom the change was made.

To cancel credit card subscriptions, you can follow these steps:

 

Navigate to Services > Pay Now > Card subscriptions > Manage card subscription.

 

  • Find the subscription you want to cancel and click on the pencil icon to edit.
  • In the subscription details, untick the active box.
  • Click on submit.

Cycles selected up to 998 will display the total amount due for all cycles combined on the Netcash payment gateway. Cycles exceeding 999 will not display the total amount for the cycles.

Unpaid Subscriptions

To view unpaid subscriptions,

Navigate to Services > Pay Now > Card subscriptions > Unpaids

  • Select a date range and click on submit.
 
The following fields are displayed:
  • Action date of the failed transaction
  • Cardholder name
  • Description
  • The unique reference amount
  • Status

 

The Submit button next to each failed transaction will allow a user to re-submit the transaction for processing on that day. Resubmitted transactions will no longer display on the list.  

 

Alternatively, tick the “Select All” option to resubmit all unpaid subscriptions, or tick multiple unpaids subscriptions for resubmission.

 

Transactions that fail again will re-appear in the Unpaid subscription list. Successful transactions will appear on the Processed transaction report.

Refund Subscriptions

The credit card refund option allows you to request a refund, which will return the funds to your customer bank account/credit card account. Examples, where refunds can be initiated, are double payments received, perhaps your customer cancelled their order or contract.

 

Credit card refunds can be requested within 6 months of the transaction date. If the credit card has expired, an EFT payment is an alternative.

 

Navigate to Services > Pay Now > Manage > Pay Now refunds

 

  • Partial refunds are only available for credit card refunds.
  • Search for: select the payment method to refund.
  • Enter a date range for your search.
  • Amount: this can be left blank or alternatively add the transaction amount.
  • Click on submit.
    A list of transactions will be displayed.
  • Click on the request button for the transaction you would like to refund.
  • Insert the amount to be refunded. It cannot exceed the initial amount.
  • Click Request.

 

Refunds Status’s

The refunds for the various payment methods go through different stages in the refund process.

 

  1. Requested: Refund request has been submitted to Netcash
  2. Created: The refund has been created on Netcash
  3. Submitted: The refund request has been submitted to the relevant service provider.
  4. Confirmed: The refund has been confirmed by the relevant service provider (only applicable to Subscriptions).
  5. Completed: The refund has been processed by the relevant service provider.

Note: If there are insufficient funds in the Netcash account the credit card refund will be rejected and may be requested again at a later date.

 

A refund may take up to 7 days to be refunded to the card holders account.

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