Payment creation & events
The process for collecting direct debit payments for NetSuite invoices is outlined in this section.
Note: there are alternative methods for creating payments for invoices as outlined in the FAQs.
Initiating payments
The first step to creating a direct debit payment for a customer with an active mandate is populating & saving the related fields on the NetSuite invoice.
Field | GC Subtab | Description | Editable? |
---|---|---|---|
Due date | N/A | The due date of the invoice. This will determine the charge date for the GoCardless payment. If the due date is after the next possible charge date for the customer's mandate, the GoCardless payment will be charged on the invoice due date. If the due date is before the next possible charge date for the customer's mandate, the GoCardless payment will be charged on the next possible charge date. |
Y |
Invoice # |
N/A |
The Invoice # will be set as the payment description in GoCardless. The GoCardless payment description is displayed on email notifications to the customer. |
N |
Pay with GoCardless |
GoCardless > Request information |
When this checkbox is selected for an open invoice that has a mandate populated and does not have an existing GoCardless payment against it, a payment request will be sent through to GoCardless within 5 minutes following the invoice save. |
Y |
Payment reference |
GoCardless > Request information |
An optional payment reference can be input before saving an invoice with the "Pay with GoCardless" checkbox selected. When a reference is input, it will populate the payment reference in GoCardless which partially drives how the payment appears on the customer's bank statement. See details here. |
Y (10 character limit) |
Amount due |
N/A | The amount due on the invoice will determine the amount of the GoCardless payment. If a credit needs to be applied to the invoice, save it without “Pay with GoCardless” selected to apply the credit. Once the amount due is adjusted, save with “Pay with GoCardless” selected to process the payment. |
Y |
The following non-editable fields will also be populated on the invoice for viewing purposes:
Field | GC Subtab | Description | Editable? |
---|---|---|---|
GoCardless account |
GoCardless > Request information |
The GoCardless configuration record (i.e. account) that's associated with the customer. |
N |
Integration status |
GoCardless > Request information |
The status of the payment request to GoCardless: Pending: this means the payment request hasn't been sent to GoCardless yet (either the invoice was saved without the "Pay with GoCardless" checkbox selected, or the invoice was saved with the "Pay with GoCardless" checkbox selected and the request hasn't gone through yet). |
N |
Mandate | GoCardless > Request information | The mandate that's associated with the customer. If the customer doesn’t have a mandate, or the mandate is in an unchargeable state (cancelled, expired, etc.), an error message will be displayed upon saving the invoice with the “Pay with GoCardless” field selected. |
N |
Payment events
After the invoice is saved with the “Pay with GoCardless” checkbox selected, the payment will be created in GoCardless within minutes. A script runs every 5 minutes, and sends payment requests to GoCardless for invoices that meet the following conditions:
- Fully approved & in the open state.
- Related to a customer with a mandate in the “Active” or “Pending Customer Approval” status.
- Has the “GoCardless Account” field populated - this is inherited from the customer record’s “GoCardless Configuration” field.
- Has the “Pay with GoCardless” checkbox selected without an existing GoCardless payment against it.
Once the payment is created in GoCardless, the following fields will be populated or updated on the invoice:
Field | GC Subtab | Description | Editable? |
---|---|---|---|
Integration status | GoCardless > Request information | The status of the payment request to GoCardless: Processed: This means the payment request was successfully sent to GoCardless. The details in the "transaction information" section should be populated at this time. Failed: This means the payment request to GoCardless failed. The related error message will be displayed in the "Integration error" field. |
N |
Integration error |
GoCardless > Request information | When this "Integration status" field is set to "failed", the error message will be displayed in this field to explain why it failed. After the appropriate adjustments have been made, you can re-attempt the payment request by re-saving the invoice with the "Pay with GoCardless" box selected. |
N |
Payment status |
GoCardless > Transaction information |
The status of the GoCardless payment. It will initially be set to “pending submission”. This means, the payment has been created in GoCardless, and is pending submission to the bank for processing. |
N |
Description |
GoCardless > Transaction information |
The description associated with the payment status. | N |
Charge date |
GoCardless > Transaction information |
The charge date of the GoCardless payment. It will equal the invoice due date unless the invoice due date was prior to the next possible charge date on the customer's mandate. | N |
GoCardless payment ID |
GoCardless > Transaction information |
The GoCardless payment ID. | N |
Data flow - payment creation
As the GoCardless payment processes, the following fields will be updated on the invoice so you have full visibility into where your payment stands within NetSuite:
Field | GC Subtab | Description | Editable? |
---|---|---|---|
Payment status |
GoCardless > Transaction information |
The status of the GoCardless payment. It will be set to one of the following: Pending submission: The payment has been created in GoCardless, and is pending submission to the bank for processing. Submitted: The payment has been submitted to the bank for processing Confirmed: The payment has been collected from the customer’s bank account, and is now being held by GoCardless pending being paid out. Paid out: The payment has left GoCardless and has been sent to the creditor’s bank account. Failed: The payment could not be collected, usually because the customer did not have sufficient funds available. Resubmission requested: A request to resubmit the failed payment was initiated (see the Payment failures section) Charged back: The customer initiated a chargeback through their bank, and the payment has been returned to the customer. Cancelled: The payment was cancelled. |
N |
Reason code |
GoCardless > Transaction information |
The reason code that’s associated with the payment status. This only applies to some payment statuses such as failed, charged back, etc. See details here. | N |
Description |
GoCardless > Transaction information |
The description associated with the payment status. See details here. | N |
Data flow - payment status updates
Payment paid out event
Once a GoCardless payment is settled, it transitions to the “Paid out” status. At this point,
- A payment record will be created in NetSuite and linked to the related invoice.
- The invoice will be marked as “Paid in full”.
- The payment status, reason code, and description fields will be updated on the invoice as outlined in the above section.
Data flow - payment paid out event
Payment failed event
If a payment fails, the payment status details will be updated on the invoice, and the “Retry failed payment” button will become available for selection. When this button is selected, a retry payment request will be sent to GoCardless within minutes.
Alternatively, the GoCardless Success+ product can be used to automatically schedule retries for failed payments on the optimal dates for collection.
Once the retry request is initiated (manually or through Success+),
- The “payment status” on the invoice will transition from “Failed” to “Resubmission requested”.
- The “charge date” on the invoice will be updated to reflect the charge date of the retried payment.
Payment chargeback & late failure events
After a GoCardless payment is “paid out”, it could fail or become charged back in rare cases. When this occurs, the handling of these events will depend on your NetSuite accounting settings - specifically whether the “Void Transactions Using Reversing Journals” setting is enabled or disabled.
In either scenario, the payment status details will be updated on the invoice to reflect the post-paid out chargeback or failure:
When the “Void Transactions Using Reversing Journals” setting is enabled, a journal entry will be created for the chargeback or late failure to reverse the GL impact of the payment. The NetSuite payment record will be removed from the invoice (re-opening it), and linked to the journal entry.
The journal entry is created using the following details from the payment:
- Subsidiary
- Currency
- Exchange Rate
- Approval Status - Approve
- Undeposited Funds – used for Credit side of the transaction
- AR Account – used for Debit side of the transaction
- Amount
- Customer
- Department
- Class
- Location
When the “Void Transactions Using Reversing Journals” setting is disabled, the NetSuite payment record will be voided and unlinked from the invoice to re-open it. The payment record will also be locked to limit any accidental processing or depositing.
Data flow - chargeback & late failure events