Australia (BECS) bulk change process

Bulk change process
Client migration data requirements

Bulk change process

To kickstart the bulk change process, you will first need to create a GoCardless account and complete the verification process.

Please note: GoCardless take all requests of this nature on a case-by-case basis. We require certain criteria to be met to process a bulk change.

Payers (customers) in Australia need to complete a Direct Debit request (DDR) to authorise merchants to take payments from them via BECS AU, the local Direct Debit payment scheme.

DDRs are accompanied by Service Agreements, which detail the terms and conditions of the agreement being entered into.

When a merchant switches to GoCardless from another Direct Debit provider, we are required to transfer active payers’ DDRs over to us from the previous provider. This transfer process is known as a bulk change.

Important: Payments/subscriptions will not transfer over from your previous provider. You will need to set these up again after customers have been imported to your GoCardless dashboard.

The steps involved in the bulk change process are:

1. Check your existing customers’ Direct Debit Requests and Service Agreements

You must establish whether your customers’ Service Agreements are held with your business or your existing Direct Debit provider/bureau. You will also need to make a note of the agreed notice period in your customers’ Service Agreements.

2. Let us know you’re ready to begin the bulk change process

To begin, navigate to the Customer section in your dashboard and click Continue on the banner that says Migrate from another Direct Debit provider.

3. Notify your customers that you’re moving to a new Direct Debit provider

You will need to notify all customers whose DDR’s you’ll be moving over to us, using the template notification below. The notification must be completed in accordance with the agreed notice period in the existing Service Agreement.

Letter/email/SMS template for merchants to send to customers

Subject: Change of Payment Processor for Direct Debits to (merchant)

From (change date), (merchant) are changing our payment processor for Direct Debit payments. Our new processor, GoCardless (Direct Debit User ID 488299), will be taking over all Direct Debit collections from this date. Read their privacy notice at gocardless.com/privacy.

There’s no action required from you, and the change will not affect the service you receive in any way. The only change you will notice is that ‘GoCardless’ will appear on your bank statement.*

GoCardless will not be responsible for any claims or refunds relating to previous payments between (the merchant) and customer.

If you have any questions, you can contact us on (merchant contact details) or by emailing the GoCardless customer service team at help@gocardless.com

* if you have the custom branding add-on, please update this to the name you have requested to appear on your customers’ bank statements. If you are unsure, please reach out to your GoCardless contact.

Please note: Under bank debit scheme requirements, you must notify your customers of the upcoming change to the processor of their payments. We will provide you with a notification template that includes the information you must include in the notice.

We recommend that you notify your customers using the same communication channel(s) as you use for other messages (e.g. newsletters, email, post, etc.) to ensure receipt.

For the BECS Australia payment scheme the required customer notice period is in line with the notice period of your current Service Agreements (usually 14 days) prior to the bulk change date

4. Confirm in writing to GoCardless that you’ve notified your customers

You can email us on the ticket we will create when you submit the bulk change request via your GoCardless account, to confirm that all customers have been notified. Please include a copy of any notification emails and/or letters sent to your customers.

5. Upload your existing customers’ details into your GoCardless account

You will need to download the CSV import template, add in your customers’ details, and upload the CSV into your GoCardless account via our bulk change migration flow that you can access via the ‘Customer’ tab in your GoCardless dashboard. Please see below for the data requirements.

Payments/subscriptions will need to be created after customers have been imported to your GoCardless dashboard.

6. GoCardless processes the new DDRs

We’ll verify and approve the details that you’ve uploaded, and then create new DDRs for your customers. You’ll receive confirmation from us once this has been completed.

7. Cancel your customers’ previous DDRs

You’ll need to ensure that your customers’ previous DDRs are cancelled. If you’re moving to GoCardless from another Direct Debit provider, they will need to perform this action on your behalf. We recommend that this action is performed on the same date that the new DDRs are created.

Client migration data requirements

COLUMN	DATA	INFORMATION
A, B, C	Customer.given_name & customer.family_name OR customer.company_name	Enter either customer given name + surname OR company name. If your previous provider exported your customers' full names in a single cell per whole name, rather than splitting between given name and family name, you can use the text to columns function in Excel to separate. Example: John & Smith OR John’s Gym Ltd
D	customer.email	A valid email address is required for each customer so that they receive notifications from GoCardless about their payments. If you are planning to send your own notifications to your customers, please speak with your Account Executive. *Example: john.smith@example.com*
E, F, G, H, I, J	Customer.address_line1 Customer.address_line2 customer.address_line3 customer.city customer.postal_code customer.country_code	Enter the customer's postal address; each line of the address split across the corresponding columns.
K	customer.phone_number	(Optional) Example: +61 2 5550 4321
L	bank_account.account_holder_name	This is separate to the 'name' entry fields, since account holder name can differ from the individual (e.g., it could include a middle name) or company name. Example: John Smith
M	bank_account.account_number	An AUD-enabled bank account must be used for BECS Direct Debit payments. *Example: 123456789*
N	bank_account.branch_code	6 character format. This can be entered with or without hyphens / spaces e.g., 200000, 20-00-00, and 20 00 00 will all work. *Example: 200000*
O	bank_account.metadata.bank_custom_key	(Optional) - Use this field to add a custom reference for your customer if required. This will be assigned to your bank account within your dashboard and is a searchable field. Example: JAM12251
P	customer.metadata.custom_reference	(Optional) - Use this field to add a custom reference for your customer if required. This will be assigned to your customer within your dashboard and is a searchable field. Example: GYM441231
Q	mandate.metadata.mandate_custom_key	(Optional) - Use this field to add a custom reference for your customer if required. This will be assigned to your mandate within your dashboard and is a searchable field. Example: WIL12251
R	customer.language	This will determine the language of customer notifications. Example: en