Taking payments online

Before you start

Online payments are part of the Pro plan. If you're on Basic, you can upgrade any time in Account → Billing. Your Petboard subscription itself is paid by Direct Debit through GoCardless, which you set up when you signed up. If you're in your free first month, nothing is taken for your plan until it ends: your first payment is a few working days after it, and you can cancel any time before your free month ends without paying anything.

You'll also need:

Your registered business name and a main contact name.
The bank account you want payments paid into.
About 10 minutes to create (or sign in to) your GoCardless account.

GoCardless is a UK payments company regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Your customers pay from their bank account, either as a one-off bank payment or by Direct Debit, and every Direct Debit is protected by the Direct Debit Guarantee.

Connect your GoCardless account

In Petboard, go to Setup → Online payments.

Save your business details. Fill in your registered business name and main contact name, then press Save details. The Connect button stays greyed out until you've done this, because Petboard uses these details to fill in the GoCardless forms for you.
Press "Connect GoCardless account". This opens GoCardless, with your details already filled in.
Sign in to GoCardless, or create an account. If you don't have one yet, you can create it there and then. GoCardless asks for your bank details and some information to confirm who you are.
Come back to Petboard. GoCardless sends you back to the Online payments page, which now shows your account as connected.

If GoCardless still needs to check your account

GoCardless has to verify every new account before it can take payments. Until that's done, Petboard shows one of two messages on the Online payments page:

GoCardless is checking your details: GoCardless has everything it needs. You don't need to do anything; just wait.
GoCardless needs a few more details: press Finish verifying with GoCardless to go to GoCardless and complete their checks.

Once GoCardless has verified your account, online payments are switched on.

Settings to check in your GoCardless dashboard

Once you're connected, Open your GoCardless dashboard on the Online payments page takes you straight there. It's also where you see your payments and payouts.

Switch on Success+. With Success+, if a Direct Debit fails because there wasn't enough money in the customer's account, GoCardless tries it again automatically on the day it's most likely to go through, instead of it failing for good. Petboard asks for this on every Direct Debit, but it only works once you've switched Success+ on in your GoCardless dashboard.
Make sure refunds are switched on, and ask GoCardless to lift the 7-day wait. Refunds are off by default for GoCardless accounts, and even when they're on, GoCardless normally won't refund a payment until 7 days after it was collected. Contact GoCardless support and ask them to switch refunds on and remove the wait, so refunds from an invoice in Petboard work as soon as you need them.

Petboard never holds your money

Payments go into your own GoCardless account and GoCardless pays them into your bank account on its normal payout schedule. Petboard never touches the money and never sees your customers' bank details.

What it costs

Each online payment costs one all-in fee of 2.4% + 20p per payment, capped at £11 (excludes VAT). That covers GoCardless's processing fee and Petboard's share, bundled into one rate.

For example, on a £100.00 payment the fee is £2.60 and £97.40 is paid to you.

The fee is taken from each payment before GoCardless pays you, so there's no separate bill.
A deposit and a balance are separate payments, so each has its own fee.
Payments you record yourself (cash, bank transfer, card, cheque) have no fee.
Your free first month covers your plan's price, not this fee. Online payments your customers make during the free month have the usual fee.

Full plan prices are on the pricing page.

Taking deposits

Deposits are optional. To switch them on, go to Setup → Deposits and choose either a percentage of the booking or a flat amount per booking.

With deposits on, here's what happens:

A customer asks to book a stay.
You accept the booking. Petboard emails the customer a deposit invoice.
The customer pays it online. In one short GoCardless step they pay the deposit straight from their bank and set up a Direct Debit for the rest of the booking.
The booking is confirmed, and you'll see the deposit marked as paid.

Setting up the Direct Debit doesn't take any money

It just means you can collect the balance later without chasing. Nothing more is taken until you send the balance invoice. See balance invoices below.

When a deposit isn't paid

Until the deposit is paid, the booking shows as Awaiting deposit and the pen stays held for that customer.

If the deposit becomes overdue, Petboard emails you and flags the booking on the Today screen and in your bookings list. You then decide what to do:

Send reminder re-sends the deposit request to the customer, with a link to pay.
Cancel booking voids the unpaid deposit invoice, frees up the pen and emails the customer to let them know.

Both ask you to confirm before anything is sent. Petboard never cancels a booking on its own. It's always your decision.

Balance invoices and Direct Debit

When you're ready to bill for the rest of the stay, open the booking and press Generate invoice. The invoice includes the stay, any extras and adjustments, less the deposit already paid.

Send it whenever suits you. Most catteries send it at the end of the stay. Press Send invoice and confirm, and Petboard emails the invoice to the customer and marks it as sent. Where it applies, it also schedules the balance Direct Debit, as described below.

If a customer has no email address, the button reads Mark as sent instead. Petboard can't email the invoice, so you print it or share it with them yourself. If the balance is collected by Direct Debit, marking it sent still schedules the Direct Debit, so tell the customer the date too.
If the email can't be sent, the invoice is still marked as sent. Press Send again to try once more. If the Direct Debit couldn't be scheduled either, the invoice page tells you both.
Send again is also there on a sent invoice if a customer says they never got it. It emails the invoice again and changes nothing else: no new Direct Debit, and the due date stays as it is. The email only gives the Direct Debit's date while that date is still to come and the Direct Debit isn't being retried. The confirmation tells you which.

Collecting the balance by Direct Debit

If the customer set up a Direct Debit when they paid their deposit, Petboard can collect the balance automatically. This is controlled by the setting Collect balance invoices by Direct Debit on the due date on the Online payments page. It's on unless you switch it off.

With the setting on:

Sending the invoice schedules the Direct Debit for the invoice's due date.
The due date is always at least 3 working days after you send the invoice, so the customer has the itemised invoice first. Nothing is taken before then.
The customer's invoice email and their invoice page show the amount and the date it will be collected. GoCardless also sends them its own notice.
The customer can still pay another way instead, and the Direct Debit is then cancelled, if they pay before the cut-off: 3 working days before the date. Their invoice email and their invoice page give the cut-off day. From that day on, the Direct Debit is about to go to their bank, so they're no longer offered another way to pay.

Seeing where things are

Direct Debit status: the booking and the customer's page show whether their Direct Debit is being set up, active, or has been cancelled, failed or expired. Petboard updates it from GoCardless automatically. A balance invoice can still be sent while it's being set up; if it's cancelled, the customer pays the invoice online instead.
Payment status: each invoice collected through GoCardless shows where the payment is: scheduled, submitted to the bank, confirmed (the invoice is marked paid), then paid out to your bank account. A Direct Debit that GoCardless is trying again shows as being retried.

Changing the due date

If you change the invoice's due date, the Direct Debit moves to the new date.

Pay links and QR codes

Every invoice that can be paid online has its own pay link and QR code. You'll find both on the invoice in Petboard, ready to copy into a text or email. The QR code is also printed on the invoice, so a customer can scan a paper copy with their phone.

The link never goes out of date, and the customer doesn't need to sign in. If the invoice has already been paid or voided, the link says so rather than taking a payment. If the customer has already paid and their payment is still going through, Petboard checks with GoCardless and tells them so, rather than letting them pay twice.

When a customer comes back from paying (by the link or their portal), Petboard asks GoCardless straight away and tells them whether their payment has been received, is still being confirmed with their bank, or didn't go through. A payment GoCardless has is recorded on the invoice there and then, even if GoCardless's own notification to Petboard is delayed.

Where customers land after paying

Customers always come back to your business's own pages, never to a Petboard page without your name on it.

If they're signed in to their portal and it's their invoice, they go straight to the invoice, with the answer at the top.
If they paid with the pay link and aren't signed in, they see a payment status page in your portal pages. It says whether the payment has been received. To look at the invoice, they press Sign in to see this invoice.
If their bank hasn't confirmed the payment yet, the page says We're checking your payment with your bank and updates itself for about a minute. If there's still no answer, it says it hasn't heard from the bank yet and offers Try again. If they finished paying, there's nothing more for them to do: they get a receipt by email once the bank confirms it.

When a customer pays another way

If a customer pays you another way, open the invoice, choose how they paid (cash, bank transfer, card, cheque or other) and press Record payment. Petboard asks you to confirm who paid, how much and how, then records what's still owed on the invoice, and the payment appears in the invoice's Payments list. The same button is on the booking page.

Recording an offline payment cancels the scheduled Direct Debit, so they're not charged twice.
Once a GoCardless payment for the invoice is on its way (for example a Direct Debit already with the bank), you can't record one by hand: Petboard marks the invoice paid when that payment clears, and if it fails you can record a payment then. If Petboard can no longer check that payment with GoCardless (you disconnected, or connected a different GoCardless account), it waits only until the payment could no longer be collected, a few working days after its collection date: check your GoCardless dashboard before you record it. Until then the invoice and booking pages warn you, and the confirmation for Record payment repeats the warning. Once GoCardless is fully disconnected you can always record one.
Voiding the invoice cancels it too.
If the customer pays online using the invoice's pay link before the cut-off (3 working days before the Direct Debit's date), the Direct Debit is cancelled automatically. From the cut-off day on, the pay link and their portal tell them the Direct Debit will collect it and there's nothing to pay. If the date has passed and GoCardless is still processing it, they're told that, and to check with you before paying another way.

A couple of days before the due date, it's too late to cancel

GoCardless sends the Direct Debit to the customer's bank a couple of working days before the date. After that it can't be cancelled, and Petboard tells you so if you try to record a payment or void the invoice.

If a Direct Debit fails

Sometimes a Direct Debit doesn't go through. If it failed because there wasn't enough money in the account and you've switched on Success+, GoCardless usually tries it again automatically, on the day it's most likely to go through. While it's being retried, Petboard:

emails you to say it will be retried, so you don't need to do anything,
shows The Direct Debit is being retried on the invoice, with GoCardless's reason and, once GoCardless has chosen it, the new date, and
keeps the invoice open until the money arrives.

The customer's invoice page and invoice email tell them GoCardless will try the Direct Debit again (with the date, once GoCardless has chosen it), so there's nothing to pay now, and to check with you first if they'd rather pay another way. While a retry is waiting they can't pay online: the retry goes to their bank like any other Direct Debit, so it might not be cancelled in time. The retry can land some days after the due date. If it goes through, the invoice is marked paid as usual.

If the customer pays you another way while a retry is waiting, record the payment as usual. GoCardless can't cancel the retry until it has chosen the new date, so Petboard cancels it then. If it can't (because it has already gone to the bank), we'll email you and you can refund one of the payments once it has cleared.

If GoCardless doesn't retry it, the retry fails too, or the customer cancels the Direct Debit with their bank, it has failed for good. When that happens, Petboard:

emails you,
shows the reason on the invoice, and
keeps the invoice open, so it's still owed.

From there, the customer can pay online using the invoice's pay link, you can record a payment they make another way, or you can press Collect by Direct Debit again on the invoice. That sets a new date at least 3 working days away and tells the customer.

If this happens while you're disconnecting GoCardless (see below), the email says online payments are off, so record a payment when the customer pays you another way.

If a customer's online payment doesn't go through

Now and then a payment a customer makes with the pay link or from their portal doesn't go through: it's cancelled, or their bank can't complete it. Petboard checks every payment with GoCardless, so when that happens:

we email you, with GoCardless's reason,
we email the customer in your business's name, saying the payment didn't go through, with a button to try again (or, if the invoice can't be paid online, asking them to get in touch with you), and
the invoice stays owed. An Instant Bank Pay payment shows as paid as soon as it's made, so if it fails afterwards the invoice opens again, and a deposit is no longer marked as paid.

You and the customer get one email each, however many times GoCardless tells us about it. Direct Debits scheduled for a balance invoice have their own emails, described above, instead.

If a payment fails after the invoice showed paid

Rarely, a payment that GoCardless had already confirmed is turned back: the customer's bank reverses it (a chargeback), or it fails late. Petboard checks every payment with GoCardless, so when that happens the invoice opens again (overdue if its due date has passed) and we email you to say which it was, with GoCardless's reason. GoCardless takes the money back: if it had already been paid out to you, the amount comes off a later payout. A deposit is no longer marked as paid, but its booking stays confirmed: what happens next is your decision. The customer can pay again with the invoice's pay link, or you can record a payment when they pay you another way.

If the invoice had been paid twice and another payment still covers it, it stays paid, and we still email you about the one that was turned back, so you don't refund the payment that's left as a duplicate. If you had already refunded the customer, the invoice stays refunded and we email you to check the payment in your GoCardless dashboard.

If GoCardless later reinstates the payment (for example, the chargeback is cancelled), the invoice is marked paid again and we email you to say so.

If a customer pays twice (say by the pay link and then by Direct Debit), or pays an invoice you've voided, we email you so you can refund them.

Refunds

Every invoice has a Payments list showing each payment: when it was made, how, how much, where it stands (for example received, being confirmed, retrying or charged back) and anything refunded. Owners and admins can refund an online payment from there: enter the amount (all of it, unless you change it), press Refund, then check the amount and confirm. A refund can't be undone. You can refund part of a payment, and the invoice stays paid until everything paid online has been refunded. The money goes back to the customer's bank account through GoCardless, usually within a few working days.

GoCardless can only refund a payment once it has cleared, so a payment that's still being confirmed shows when it can be refunded.
If an invoice was paid twice, each payment has its own refund, so you can refund the extra one. While another payment for the invoice is still on its way (a Direct Debit already with the bank, say), nothing can be refunded yet: once it has cleared, refund whichever payment is extra.
GoCardless charges a small fee for each refund, and Petboard's share of the fee on the original payment isn't returned.
Refunds are paid from money GoCardless is holding for you that hasn't been paid out to your bank yet, so there needs to be enough there to cover the refund.
Once a balance invoice includes a deposit, only what the deposit holds beyond that (a duplicate payment, say) can be refunded on the deposit. Refund the rest on the balance invoice, and not from your GoCardless dashboard either: the customer would be credited twice (we email you if it happens). Once the balance invoice has been refunded in full, the deposit can be refunded on its own. If you refund some or all of a deposit before the balance invoice is made, the balance invoice deducts only what you kept.
Refunds you make in your GoCardless dashboard show on the invoice too: Petboard keeps each payment's refunds in step with what GoCardless reports. If a refund doesn't reach the customer and GoCardless returns the money to you, we email you. Refund them another way (a returned refund usually means their bank account is closed), or try again from the invoice.
Payments you recorded yourself (cash, bank transfer, card, cheque) can't be refunded through Petboard. Refund those the way you took them.

Disconnecting GoCardless

You can disconnect at any time from Setup → Online payments by pressing Disconnect GoCardless and confirming. It isn't instant: Petboard winds down first, so that money already on its way isn't lost track of.

What happens straight away

Online payments stop. Customers can't pay online, and no new Direct Debits are set up.
Payments that haven't started are cancelled. Payment requests a customer hasn't paid yet, and scheduled Direct Debits that haven't gone to the customer's bank yet, are cancelled at GoCardless.
Petboard names the invoices affected. The Online payments page lists every invoice whose Direct Debit or payment request was cancelled, including any cancelled later in the disconnect, so you can tell those customers how to pay you instead. Their pay links ask them to get in touch with you.

What carries on

Payments and refunds that were already on their way still finish. That includes a Direct Debit already with the customer's bank and one GoCardless is retrying. Until they have, Petboard keeps its access to your GoCardless account, but only to see what happens to them and mark those invoices paid as usual, to cancel anything that hadn't started, and to make refunds you ask for.

While this goes on, the Online payments page says Disconnecting. It lists the invoices still on their way and the latest date the disconnect will finish. Don't record those payments by hand: Petboard marks them paid when they clear, and recording them as well would count them twice.

When it finishes

Once nothing is left on its way, Petboard revokes its own access to your GoCardless account, so it can no longer see or change anything there, and emails you: Petboard has finished disconnecting your GoCardless account. The email lists anything you should check in your GoCardless dashboard. Petboard checks with GoCardless every 15 minutes, so that is usually within an hour of the last thing finishing. A refund counts as on its way for 14 days, and a Direct Debit GoCardless is retrying for up to 35 days. So does a payment request Petboard couldn't cancel, or a payment it couldn't check. It's never more than 45 days after you pressed Disconnect. If something is still on its way at 45 days, Petboard lets go anyway and names those invoices in the email, so you can check them in your GoCardless dashboard and record any payment yourself.

If you remove Petboard from inside your GoCardless account while it's winding down, the disconnect finishes there and then, and the email lists anything to check.

Changing your mind, or connecting a different account

While it's winding down, Reconnect GoCardless with the same account switches online payments back on. Anything that was cancelled stays cancelled, but customers can pay those invoices online again.
A different GoCardless account can't be connected while Petboard is connected to yours, or still disconnecting it, because Petboard is following that account's payments. Disconnect first, and connect the new one once the disconnect has finished.
Once it has finished, Reconnect GoCardless connects your account again.

If you disconnect from inside GoCardless instead

If you remove Petboard in your GoCardless dashboard rather than in Petboard, Petboard notices, switches online payments off and emails you. Customers who open a pay link are asked to get in touch with you to pay. The email lists any invoices whose online payments were still on their way, which Petboard can no longer check with GoCardless: check those in your GoCardless dashboard. If you reconnect the same GoCardless account, Petboard catches up with them.

Check for Direct Debits already scheduled

If you disconnect from inside your GoCardless account, GoCardless may still collect Direct Debits that were scheduled before, and Petboard may not hear about it. If you reconnect the same account, it catches up and marks those invoices paid, so don't record them by hand. If your GoCardless dashboard shows one collected and its invoice still isn't paid a day later, record it on the invoice then.

Getting help

Stuck, or something doesn't look right? Email hello@petboard.co.uk and we'll help. For questions about your GoCardless account itself, such as verification or payouts, GoCardless's support team can help too.

Taking payments online.