Revision as of 19:08, 31 March 2022

About this Module

GoCardless is a payment gateway which allows for direct debit payments to be automated electronically.

Supported Features

Adding the GoCardless Payment Gateway

To set up the GoCardless payment gateway in WHMCS:

1. Make certain that your WHMCS installation uses an HTTPS-secured connection. If you do not, this payment gateway will not function. You can purchase an SSL certificate here.
2. Go to Configuration () > System Settings > Payment Gateways or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, Setup > Products/Services > Payment Gateways.
3. Choose the All Payment Gateways tab.
4. Click GoCardless. The WHMCS GoCardless app will appear.
5. Either sign up for a new account or sign in to your existing account. The system will automatically configure GoCardless for you.
6. Optionally, enter a custom name for the gateway for each of your supported currencies.
7. Check Show on Order Form to display this payment method in the Client Area during checkout.
8. In WHMCS 8.0 and later, check Charge Date Preference if you want to initiate payment capture immediately after invoice generation. By default, if you do not check this, the GoCardless charge date will be the due date for the invoice.
9. Click Save Changes.

Supported Currencies

GoCardless only support the following currencies:

• 'AUD'
• 'CAD'
• 'DKK'
• 'EUR'
• 'GBP'
• 'NZD'
• 'SEK'
• 'USD'
  We added support for USD in WHMCS 7.9.

Clients who do not use one of these currencies cannot make payments using GoCardless.

Payment Workflow

When the first payment is made, a mandate is set up with the client's bank. This typically takes a few days, so the invoice will change from Unpaid to Payment Pending status. At this point, you can view the mandate details and expected payment completion date by viewing the invoice. As soon as the mandate is set up and the first payment has cleared, the invoice's status will change to Paid and the service will be provisioned by WHMCS automatically.

When the renewal invoice is generated for a recurring service, a capture attempt will be made against the mandate in accordance with Process Days Before Due in Configuration () > System Settings > Automation Settings or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, Setup > Automation Settings. As it can take a few days for the payment to complete, we recommend a setting of 3. This way, 3 days before the invoice Due Date, the payment process will be initiated by the cron and the invoice status updated from Unpaid to Payment Pending. Payment should then complete on the invoice Due Date and the invoice will be marked Paid once the payment has cleared.

Once a mandate has been created, WHMCS can use it for processing renewal payments for any other services associated with the client as long as they are set to the GoCardless gateway as well.

When making a manual payment, customers are able to select to use a previously stored bank account or enter a new one.

Customers never leave your WHMCS installation during checkout or adding/removing a new bank account. Personal bank information is submitted directly to GoCardless and is never stored in your local WHMCS installation.

Reversed Payments

The Direct Debit Guarantee scheme allows the payee to file a claim for any payment taken in error. WHMCS will monitor for charged_back events from GoCardless and will automatically process these as appropriate.

To learn more, visit Payment Reversals

Refunding Payments

While refunds with GoCardless are not directly supported from within WHMCS, they can still be processed directly with GoCardless on a case-by-case basis through their review and approval process.

Please refer to the refunding payments section of the GoCardless documentation.

Mandates

Reinstating Mandates

When a mandate has been accidentally cancelled, WHMCS can initiate steps to reinstate the mandate without having the client set it up again.

To do this:

1. Go to Configuration () > System Settings > Payment Gateways or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, Setup > Payments > Payment Gateways.
2. Click the Manage Existing Gateways tab.
3. Click Manage Cancelled Mandates.
4. Follow the instructions in the modal that appears to reinstate a cancelled mandate.

Importing Existing Mandates

You can import mandates that you set up outside of WHMCS and associate them with a client.

To do this:

1. Go to Configuration () > System Settings > Payment Gateways or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, Setup > Payments > Payment Gateways.
2. Click the Manage Existing Gateways tab.
3. Click Import Existing Mandates.
4. Follow the instructions in the modal that appears to import a active mandate to a specific client.

Reconfiguring Callbacks

After moving WHMCS, you must perform the following steps:

1. Go to Configuration () > System Settings > Payment Gateways or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, Setup > Payments > Payment Gateways.
2. Click Configure GoCardless Account Connection.
3. Log in again using the same details.

This ensures that GoCardless stores and uses the new system URL and gateway callback file URL.