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Manual Billing

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Richard Haynes

08 May, 2018 10:58 PM

Hi,

We have some bigger enterprise plans ($5000+ per year type value) and these larger businesses are adamant about paying via invoice. We've set this up somewhat but would still like to track these customers through Cheddar. I had a question about what will happen with Customer Communications.

If we apply a credit to the customer at the time they are created (to recognise the manual billing method) what will happen to their BIll Reminder communications. Or more specifically, can we put an if clause in there that checks they have enough credit, and if so says "you're all good". Else prompts them to update their payment method or get in touch with us.

Thanks in advance.

Rich

1. 1 Posted by Marcela Poffald on 09 May, 2018 04:44 PM

   

   Hi Rich,

   Just to be sure I understand, are these customers paying you outside of Cheddar? If so, have you looked into using the external payments feature for these customers? I see you have a few customers using external payment methods right now, but if you have any questions about using external payments for this use case, let me know!

   As for the customer communication emails, there are several customization options that might fit your needs. For example, if there's a specific plan that you put these customers on, you could use the {$plan.code} variable to serve specific content for customers on that plan, and further customize it using the {$invoice.amount} variable. For a complete overview of your email customization options, check out this list of variables you can use, and the documentation for the Smarty Template Engine.

   Hope this helps, but let me know if you have any other questions!

   Marcela

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2. 2 Posted by Richard Haynes on 15 May, 2018 05:29 AM

   

   Hi Marcela, External payment methods may be the go but can we still use the API to set the payment method to external? The help docs seem a little hazy on this. And can we still use the customer communication emails for external payment methods?

   Thanks in advance,

   Rich

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3. 3 Posted by Marcela Poffald on 15 May, 2018 07:40 PM

   

   Hi Rich,

   Yes, you can use the API to set the payment method to external by setting subsciption[method]=external when you add or update the customer. Just for reference, the required params to create a customer on an external payment method are:

   • code
   • firstName, lastName
   • email
   • subscription[ccFirstName], subscription[ccLastName] (there is no credit card involved, but these fields have to be filled)
   • subscription[planCode]
   • subscription[method]
   • subscription[gatewayToken]

   The value for the subscription[gatewayToken] param for customers on an external method can be whatever you'd like. Some merchants use this param to store information about the customer's record in an external system (like their account number in Quickbooks, for example).

   Customers on external payment methods will automatically get new subscription, subscription change, and bill reminder emails, but other types will not be sent automatically. You can, however, manually send payment receipt or voided invoice emails in the UI, by clicking the Send Email Receipt or Send Voided Email button on the invoice.

   Marcela

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4. Marcela Poffald closed this discussion on 31 May, 2018 04:27 PM.