Connect Gocardless and Peoplevine
Integrating Peoplevine with GoCardless, a payment processing platform specializing in direct debit payments, can offer numerous benefits to businesses in the hospitality sector.
This integration enhances both operational efficiency and the customer experience.
Key benefits
Streamlined Payment Processes
Automated Billing: GoCardless focuses on direct debit payments, enabling businesses to automate recurring billing, significantly reducing administrative overhead. This automation is particularly beneficial for subscription-based services or memberships, common in hospitality businesses like clubs or subscription services.
Reduced Payment Failures: Direct debit payments have a lower failure rate compared to credit cards, which expire or can be maxed out. This reliability can improve cash flow and reduce the need for chasing payments.
Enhanced Customer Experience
Flexible Payment Options: Offering direct debit as a payment option through GoCardless can cater to customers' preferences for simpler, automated payment methods, enhancing their overall experience.
Smoother Onboarding: Integrating GoCardless with Peoplevine's CRM capabilities facilitates a seamless onboarding process for new customers, with efficient setup of payment details and near immediate access to services.
Improved Financial Management
Predictable Cash Flow: Direct debits allow for more predictable cash flow management, as payments are collected automatically on scheduled dates.
Lower Transaction Costs: Generally, direct debit transactions can have lower fees than credit card payments, leading to cost savings for the business.
Enhanced Data Insights and Security
Consolidated Data Management: Combining financial transactions from GoCardless with customer interactions and history from Peoplevine can offer businesses comprehensive insights into customer behavior and preferences.
Secure Transactions: GoCardless focuses on security and compliance, providing peace of mind for both the business and its customers. Integrating it with Peoplevine ensures that sensitive payment information is handled securely, in compliance with regulatory standards.
Operational Efficiency
Reduced Administrative Tasks: Automating payment collection and reconciliation can significantly reduce the time and effort spent on administrative tasks, allowing staff to focus on customer service and experience.
Integration with Other Services: Peoplevine can integrate with various other platforms and services for marketing, scheduling, and more. Adding GoCardless into this ecosystem can further streamline operations and data flow across different areas of the business.
Before you begin
Before you connect Stripe and Peoplevine, there are some considerations that you should take into account.
Jurisdictional Considerations and Legal Entity Alignment
Proper alignment between the jurisdiction of your legal entity and your GoCardless account is crucial for an effective setup. This means if your business's tax identification number (TIN) is registered in a specific jurisdiction (e.g., the United Kingdom), you must activate your GoCardless account for that jurisdiction and link a bank account from the same country. This alignment is essential to leverage local direct debit schemes and ensure compliance with legal and financial regulations.
Multi-Jurisdiction Operations
For businesses operating in multiple jurisdictions or with legal entities and TINs in more than one country, it is advisable to set up separate GoCardless accounts for each jurisdiction to make the most of local direct debit schemes. Note that once a GoCardless account is activated within a specific jurisdiction, changing the jurisdiction is not possible. If a mistake in jurisdiction selection is made, the solution involves creating a new GoCardless account in the correct jurisdiction and closing the mistakenly created account. The Account Management section provides detailed guidance for handling such scenarios.
Bank Account Configurations and Revenue Streams
Configuring your revenue streams and their allocation to specific bank accounts is another critical consideration. GoCardless allows the linking of bank accounts to facilitate direct debit payments. Unlike Stripe, GoCardless focuses on direct debit payments, making it essential to understand the direct debit capabilities and limitations in your jurisdiction.
Managing Multiple Revenue Streams
Businesses with diverse revenue streams that require settlement into different bank accounts may need to consider the implications of using GoCardless for each revenue stream. While GoCardless is primarily designed for recurring payments, understanding how to manage one-off payments and subscriptions across different bank accounts is crucial for effective financial management.
To connect Gocardless and Peoplevine
Log in to the Peoplevine Control Panel.
From the Peoplevine banner, click your company’s dropdown menu.
Under the Settings and Tools section, select Payment Processors.
On the Your Payment Processors page, click Register a Payment Processor.
From the list of Payment Processors, select Gocardless.
Now, on the GoCardless Authentication page, click Connect.
You are redirected to the Gocardless sign up page. If you already have a Gocardless account, you can sign in with the Sign In button.
If you are creating a new Gocardless account:
Enter your general account information: Name, Email, and Password.
Then click Continue.
Next, Gocardless asks you to enter your company information as well as submit banking and other information used to verify your account for Know Your Customer (KYC) purposes.
Business Country Selection: First, select the country where your business is registered. Remember, once your account is activated, the country setting cannot be changed. If a mistake is made, delete the account and create a new one without processing any charges.
Business Information Submission: Fill in the required fields based on your business type, including details about beneficial owners, account representatives, your business's statement descriptor, customer support number, and bank account details for Gocardless payouts.
Bank Account Preference: Standard checking accounts from reputable institutions are recommended.
Compliance: Ensure that you include either the Direct Debit Guarantee in full, or a link where the customer can view the full text. A statement that confirms what name will appear on the customer's bank statement. Confirmation to the customer that the Direct Debit has been set up successfully
Enhance Security: Enable two-step authentication for added security. The 2-factor authentication setup process can be viewed here.
Note: The Gocardless verification process can take some time as some of the information you provide requires review by GoCardless. Until then, you cannot make transactions.
Now that your account is set up, go to your Gocardless dashboard, and click the Developers tab.
Locate and click the Create button.
From the dropdown menu, select Access Token
In the Name field, enter Peoplevine.
In the Scope section, choose Read-write access.
Next, click Create access token.
Copy and save the access token in a secure location.
Return to the Peoplevine Control Panel and go to the Payment Processors page.
In the Update Payment Processor section:
Choose how Gocardless is used as a payment processor, for example, Membership Dues + House Account.
Ensure that the payment processor is set to Gocardless.
Paste your Access Token into the Access Token field.
Choose which option you want to enable in the Options section.
Click Update Processor when you are finished.
Troubleshooting Gocardless and Peoplevine
This section provides a structured approach for resolving discrepancies between GoCardless and Peoplevine, specifically in cases where a transaction is reported as failed in GoCardless but appears as processed in Peoplevine.
Identifying Transaction Failures
When a payment transaction for a member (e.g., John Doe) fails in Gocardless but is marked as processed in Peoplevine, it indicates a synchronization issue between the two platforms. This situation usually arises because Peoplevine receives a "processing" status from Gocardless without immediate knowledge of a subsequent failure.
Resolution Process
Initial Steps
Verification: Confirm the transaction status in both Gocardless and Peoplevine to ensure that there is indeed a discrepancy.
Understanding the Cause: Recognize that Peoplevine initially receives a "processing" response from Gocardless and will not be aware of the failure until a later stage.
Reprocessing Transactions
Option 1 - Direct Reprocessing in Gocardless:
If immediate resolution in Gocardless is preferred and tracking in Peoplevine is not a concern, proceed to reprocess the transaction directly within Gocardless.
Option 2 - Reprocessing via Peoplevine (Recommended for tracking):
Refund the Initial Transaction:
Navigate to the transaction record in Peoplevine.
Initiate a refund process but ensure to uncheck the "automatic refund" option. This step prevents automatic refund processing, allowing for manual control over the reprocessing.
Reprocess the Transaction:
After refunding, reprocess the payment within Peoplevine to ensure the transaction is recorded and tracked accurately.
Finalizing the Process
By reprocessing the transaction either directly through Gocardless or via Peoplevine (with a refund and reprocess method), you can resolve the discrepancy and ensure accurate financial tracking. This procedure not only corrects the immediate issue but also helps maintain consistent transaction records across both platforms.
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