Auto Charge lets your customers save a card or bank account when they pay one of your invoices online. You can then charge it again: automatically for every invoice a recurring or retainer profile creates, or in one click for any other invoice. This is how you store a customer's payment details for future charges.
Auto Charge works with Stripe only, and isn't available on the Free plan. Administrators and Finance Managers set it up and charge invoices.
The payment details are saved with Stripe. Avaza keeps only a reference and a description, such as the card brand and the last four digits.
1. Switch on Auto Charge for Stripe
Go to Settings › Online Payments. If Stripe isn't listed, connect it first.
Click Stripe to open Stripe Account Details.
Tick Autocharge Enabled and click Save.
On the Free plan the tick box is greyed out and reads Autocharge Support (Only available on paid Avaza Accounts).
Customers save their details while paying with Pay Now, so Stripe must also be switched on in the Online Payments tab of your invoice templates.
2. Your customer saves a payment method
The next time your customer pays one of your invoices with Pay Now and Stripe, the payment form offers to save their payment details for future purchases. If they tick it, the method is saved once the payment goes through, and it becomes that customer's default.
You can't add a card for a customer yourself. They save it when they pay an invoice online.
If the invoice came from a recurring or retainer profile that has no payment method yet, the newly saved method is linked to that profile.
3. Charge a one-off invoice
When a customer has a saved payment method, their unpaid invoices show a message saying you can charge it.
Open the invoice and click Record Payment.
Choose Stripe as the Payment Source.
Select Initiate Online Payment with Saved Payment Method and choose the Saved Payment Method.
Check the Payment Amount, then click Save Payment.
It starts at the invoice balance. You can charge less.
- Card: the payment is recorded and applied straight away.
- Bank debit: the payment shows on the invoice as In Progress until the funds clear.
- Failed: no payment is recorded, and Avaza shows the reason Stripe gave.
4. Charge recurring and retainer invoices automatically
Go to Invoices › Recurring Invoices or Invoices › Retainer Subscriptions. Open a profile and click Edit, or create a new one.
Tick Enable Autocharge.
Choose the Autocharge Payment Method and save the profile.
Avaza then tries to charge each new invoice for the amount due as soon as the profile creates it, whether or not the profile sends the invoice automatically. See recurring invoices and retainer subscriptions.
You can tick Enable Autocharge before the customer has saved a method. When they pay one of the profile's invoices online and save their details, the method is linked to the profile, and the invoices after that are charged.
The Recurring Invoices and Retainer Subscriptions lists show an Auto Charge and a Payment Method column. In the Payments list, the Auto Charged column marks the payments taken automatically for these invoices.
Check for failed charges
A failed automatic charge creates no payment, so the invoice stays unpaid. The failure is recorded in the invoice's activity history. Administrators and Finance Managers who switch on Receive Payment Notifications in their User Profile also get an entry in their activity feed. To see only these, filter the activity feed by the activity type Invoice Payment Failed.
Then charge the invoice again from Record Payment, or ask your customer to pay with Pay Now.
If an invoice wasn't charged and there's no failure either, check that:
- Autocharge Enabled is still ticked on Stripe;
- the profile has Enable Autocharge ticked and an Autocharge Payment Method chosen;
- that payment method hasn't been disabled;
- the invoice still has an amount due. Avaza doesn't charge an invoice that's paid, or the part already covered by a payment in progress.
Manage saved payment methods
Administrators find a customer's saved methods under Contacts › Companies: open the company and scroll down its Details tab to Saved Payment Methods. The section only appears once the customer has saved a method. Each method shows its details, and a Default or Disabled label.
Click the three-dot button next to a method to:
- Set as default
- Disable: the method can't be charged any more. Active recurring and retainer profiles using it switch to the customer's default method. If you disable the default itself, another enabled method becomes the default and takes over those profiles. A customer's only enabled method can't be disabled.
- Enable: use a disabled method again. Enabling it doesn't make it the default or move any profiles back to it.
To replace a customer's default method, set the new one as default first, then disable the old one. If you disable the default without doing that, the customer's most recently saved enabled method becomes the default.
Only active profiles switch. A stopped profile keeps the disabled method, so if you resume it later, choose a new Autocharge Payment Method on it first, or its invoices won't be charged.
To stop charging a customer who has only one enabled method, untick Enable Autocharge on their profiles instead.
To stop Auto Charge for everyone, untick Autocharge Enabled on Stripe. Saved methods can then no longer be charged, and customers no longer see the option to save. A Stripe connection with saved payment methods can't be deleted.