Australia (BECS) custom notifications

The following is a guide to building custom notifications for customers on GoCardless Advanced or GoCardless Pro and for partners using the add-on feature Custom checkout experience and payer notifications.

In order for payers in Australia to authorise merchants to take payments from them via BECS AU, the local Direct Debit payment scheme, they must complete a Direct Debit Request (DDR).

Once the DDR has been set up, there are 2 types of notifications that payers can receive:

DDR and Service Agreement documentation
Pre-payment notifications

Customers on GoCardless Advanced or GoCardless Pro have the option to use GoCardless’ own notifications, or to create their own custom notifications by using our Custom checkout experience and payer notifications add-on feature.
Please note there is an additional “add-on” monthly fee called Custom checkout experience and payer notifications.

Partners can opt to create custom notifications as well. This will enable merchants who are using GoCardless through their app to offer their customers (payers) a consistent branding experience.

Please note: Custom notifications will need to be approved by GoCardless before being implemented.

How to build custom notifications

1. Create a notification including the payer’s DDR and Service Agreement
2. Create notifications to inform payers of upcoming payments. Depending on your collection type, these notifications could relate to:

Amendments to a DDR or service agreement e.g., price change, pause or resume
Subscriptions of fixed amounts at regular intervals (optional)
One-off payments, or payment schedules of varying amounts (optional)

3. Submit notifications to GoCardless for approval

The details for each are below, and there’s a summary table below.

1. Notification including the payer’s DDR and Service Agreement

This compulsory notification provides the payer with the necessary documentation relating to their DDR and Service Agreement, i.e., the terms and conditions of the agreement they have entered into.

It must be received by the payer within 7 days of the DDR being set up.

There are 2 compulsory elements to this notification, and 5 recommended elements.

Compulsory:

PDF link to the DDR and Service Agreement	This information can be retrieved via the mandate pdf endpoint
Regulatory footer & privacy notice	Text to read ‘Payments securely processed by GoCardless. GoCardless Ltd (company registration number 07495895) is registered as a foreign company in Australia, ABN 17 606 261 74, and holds an Australian Financial Services licence (AFSL), number 478976. GoCardless uses personal data as described in their Privacy Notice.

Recommended:

Heading that is identifiable to payers	For example ‘Important: Confirmation of the setup of your Direct Debit to [Merchant]’. Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint, and pull [scheme_identifiers: name] to populate this field
Merchant name	Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint, and pull [name] to populate this field
Payer details as obtained in the sign-up process	Account holder name Bank account number - details must be redacted Bank name - retrievable from the bank details endpoint
Merchant email address and phone number	Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint , and pull [scheme_identifiers: email] and [scheme_identifiers: phone_number] to populate these fields
Remind payers of the name that will appear on their bank statements	Partners can retrieve this information by making a GET request to the creditors endpoint and pulling the field [scheme_identifiers: name].

2.1. Advance notice - amendment to a DDR or service agreement

This compulsory notification lets payers know of any amendments to their DDR or service agreement, for example a price change, pause or resume.

It must be received by the payer at least 14 business days before further payments are charged under the new terms.

The notification has 4 compulsory elements and 1 recommended element.

Compulsory:

Heading that is identifiable to payers	For example 'Your subscription has been updated'.
The name of the merchant charging the payer	Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint, and pull [name] to populate this field
Payment details	Details of the change e.g., the previous charge amount and/or frequency, and the updated charge amount and/or frequency The date the change will come into effect Description of what the charge is for
Regulatory footer & privacy notice	Text to read ‘Payments securely processed by GoCardless. GoCardless Ltd (company registration number 07495895) is registered as a foreign company in Australia, ABN 17 606 261 74, and holds an Australian Financial Services licence (AFSL), number 478976. GoCardless uses personal data as described in their Privacy Notice.

Recommended:

Remind payers of the name that will appear on their bank statements.

Partners can retrieve this information by making a GET request to the creditors endpoint and pulling the field [scheme_identifiers: name].

2.2. Advance notice - subscriptions of fixed amounts at regular intervals

This optional notification tells the payer when to expect a series of payments of the same amount and regular intervals. A single notification to cover the entire subscription is sufficient.

Although optional, GoCardless recommends sending this notification to ensure that payers are fully informed of all debits that will be made against their account.

We recommend that the notification includes:

Heading that is identifiable to payers	For example 'You've set up a Direct Debit subscription'.
The name of the merchant charging the payer	Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint, and pull [name] to populate this field
Payment details	Amount being charged Charge dates, including final charge date, if applicable Description of what the charge is for Instruction that the amounts will be charged via Direct Debit
Payer details as obtained in the sign-up process	Account holder name Bank account number - details must be redacted Bank name - retrievable from the bank details endpoint
Merchant email address and phone number	Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint, and pull [scheme_identifiers: email] and [scheme_identifiers: phone_number] to populate these fields
Regulatory footer & privacy notice	Text to read ‘Payments securely processed by GoCardless. GoCardless Ltd (company registration number 07495895) is registered as a foreign company in Australia, ABN 17 606 261 74, and holds an Australian Financial Services licence (AFSL), number 478976. GoCardless uses personal data as described in their Privacy Notice.
Remind payers of the name that will appear on their bank statements	Partners can retrieve this information by making a GET request to the creditors endpoint and pulling the field [scheme_identifiers: name].

2.3 Advance notice - one-off payments, or payment schedules of varying amounts

This optional notification tells the payer when to expect a single payment, or any payment in a payment schedule of varying amounts.

Although optional, GoCardless recommends sending this notification to ensure that payers are fully informed of all debits that will be made against their account.

We recommend that the notification includes all details as mentioned in section 2.2, except that for payment schedules of varying amounts, advance notice is sent before each payment.

Important: It is recommended to also include the date that the email is being sent in case a customer or bank were to dispute the date they received the advance notice. Example: This notification was sent on January 3, 2023.

3. Submit notifications to GoCardless for approval

Example templates of your payment pages must be sent to GoCardless for approval prior to your go-live date. Once you have written approval from GoCardless, you may implement the payment pages.

To test your payment pages, you can sign up here for a sandbox account.

What if I’m a partner?

When creating a new partner app and going through our technical certification process, you’ll be able to submit custom notifications for approval through our partner portal.

Summary table

The below shows a summary of the information required in each type of custom notification.

		ADVANCE NOTICE
	Notification including the payer's DDR and service agreement (compulsory)	Amendment to a DDR or service agreement (compulsory)	Subscriptions of fixed amounts at regular intervals (optional)	One-off payments, or payment schedules of varying amounts (optional)
Heading that is identifiable to payers	Recommended	Compulsory	Recommended	Recommended
Merchant name	Recommended	Compulsory	Recommended	Recommended
Payer details	Recommended		Recommended	Recommended
Merchant contact details	Recommended		Recommended	Recommended
PDF link to DDR and Service Agreement	Compulsory
Regulatory footer & privacy notice	Compulsory	Compulsory	Compulsory (if sending this notification)	Compulsory (if sending this notification)
Reminder of what will appear on payers' bank statement	Recommended	Recommended	Recommended	Recommended
Payment details		Compulsory	Recommended	Recommended