Setting Up "Auto-Pay" Credit Card Payments for Invoices

If you want to schedule a payment to automatically charge a customer's credit card for a certain amount on a given date, you can set up these automated transactions inside of each invoice.

In order to schedule "Auto-Pay" payments, you first need to connect to one of our preferred merchant payment processors. Once your merchant payment processor is connected to your Planning Pod account, any client that you want to set up for Auto-Pay payments must have a saved credit card on file that you can access (see "Storing Customer Credit Card Information for Future Payments" for details).

Helpful Hint: If you save multiple credit cards for a client, you can use those additional credit cards as backup payment options in case there is an issue using the primary card you selected for an Auto-Pay payment.

If you have given your clients access to their Client Portal, they will be able to see any scheduled "Auto-Pay" payments set up inside their invoices.

NOTE: We recommend that you pre-arrange with your clients regarding these automated payments and obtain their permission contractually prior to running payments on their card.

To Create One or More "Auto-Pay" Payments:

1. Use one of these three ways to access the Invoices tool:
   • Click on the "Invoices" tool button on the Event Dashboard.
   • Use the Switch Event tool to select the appropriate Event and the "Invoices" tool.
   • Click on "Invoices" in the main navigation bar.
2. Find the Invoice to which you want to add one or more "Auto-Pay" payments and click on it.
3. Find the "Auto-Pay" area and click on the plus icon. NOTE: If the client on the invoice does not have a saved credit card on file, click on the "Go To Contact Now" link to add one or have your client log into their Client Portal to add their credit card details there.
4. Select the credit card you wish to use for the automated payment(s).
   • If there are multiple credit card saved for a client, you can click on the "Attempt payment with other available payment methods if the selected method fails?" checkbox to try other saved credit cards if the selected payment method does not work properly.
5. Select the number of "Auto-Pay" payments you wish to create. NOTE: If you select 2 or more, then the intervals between the payments and the payment amount for each payment will be the same. If you need different intervals and/or amounts for your payments, you will have to create payments one at a time (and not in batches).
   • If you select 2 or more reminders, use the "How Many Days Apart?" field to determine the interval or "day span" between when payments are scheduled.
6. Select the date the payment will be charged to your customer's credit card (or, if you selected 2 or more payments, this will be the date for the first payment transaction, and additional payments will be scheduled according to the "day span" you previously added).
7. Enter the Amount for each payment. You can also use the "Quick Fill" option to calculate a percentage of the invoice total for each payment or to apply the balance of the invoice.
8. Click "Save" when you are finished.
9. Repeat if you wish to add more "Auto-Pay" payments to the same Invoice.

Once created, the "Auto-Pay" payment will have a yellow "pending" status until the transaction is attempted, after which it will show a green "attempted" status.

A payment will display as red "Not Paid" status until the transaction is attempted, after which it is  marked either as green "Payment Successful" or red "Payment Not Successful" with a reason provided.

IMPORTANT: If an "Auto-Pay" payment is attempted and is NOT successful, no additional attempts will be made to re-try the transaction. You will either need to create another "Auto-Pay" payment or use one of the other methods we offer for collecting the payment.

You can also edit or delete the "Auto-Pay" payment by clicking on the "Actions" button next to the Payment.