Payment methods are the acceptable sources of payment by a business, which can be used by its contacts to pay for products or services purchased.
In turn, contacts can specify which of these acceptable payment methods they want to use when purchasing from the business.
Besides contacts, payment methods can also be added for Businesses, Merchants and Service Providers. This denotes the payment method that will be used for B2B settlements, as a result of a possible reconciliation process between organisations.
In the case of Merchants/Service Providers, they can also use their stated payment methods to purchase products/services from the Business (in effect the Merchant/Service Provider is one of the Business' contacts).
THE BASICS
Before we get started with Payment methods, let’s take a look at some common terms related to Payment Methods which are used throughout the software.
Wallet
The wallet is one of the most convenient payment methods for contacts whereby, they can simply top-up their open wallet balance with a sum of money, and then use those funds to pay for their future purchases. There are automatic wallet top-up settings which can be configured to ensure that a contact’s wallet has sufficient funds at any given time. Refer to the Wallet manual for details on setting Auto top-up rules and Termed top-up rules.
The CRM.COM Wallet is another payment method which can be automatically topped-up whenever a payment is necessary. If a contact has selected the CRM.COM wallet as their payment method, but there are not enough funds to pay for a purchase, then the CRM.COM wallet will be automatically topped-up with the required amount, by retrieving the necessary funds from the card funding the wallet. Automatic top-up in such cases is performed only if the feature is enabled in Wallet settings.
Payment Gateways
A payment gateway is a service provided by a third-party system, which tokenises the payment methods information, and subsequently authorises card and account debit payment processing, as well as accepting refunds and payouts in various currencies.
CRM.COM implements payment gateway plugins which represent the intermediate layer between CRM.COM and a payment gateway such as Stripe, Revolut and PayPal etc. Each business can configure multiple payment gateways to handle the required payment methods.
Payment Gateways can be configured via system settings, refer to the Integrations manual for a list of supported payment gateways.
Payment Method Types
A payment method type clearly states the actual payment source, e.g. Account Debit, Card, Cash, Cheque, CRM.COM Wallet, Wallet. Refer to Settings for further details on configuring payment methods.
Depending on the payment method type, CRM.COM may require additional details to facilitate the payment method capturing, in order to allow money collection. For example, a card payment method type requires the card number, expiration settings etc., whereas account debits require bank details or the IBAN number.
Payment method details are required only for online payment methods. These however, are not configurable, the system will implement the expected behaviour according to the payment method type.
Online & Offline Payment Methods
There are two types of Payment Methods - online and offline.
Online payment methods are those which allow immediate collection of funds through a payment gateway service. Card, wallet, and direct debit are examples of online payment methods. Online payment methods require some sort of verification from the relevant payment gateway through which the payment was submitted.
On the other hand, offline payment methods indicate that a business will collect the money manually, e.g. payments using cash, cheques or an electronic transfer.
Primary Payment Methods
The very first online payment method added for a contact will automatically become their primary payment method. Primary payment methods are used as the default payment method when purchasing via a front-end device. Since a contact can have multiple payment methods, they can select which one of their defined payment methods is the primary one, and they can also switch between payment methods at their discretion.
Subscription Payment Methods
Subscriptions require a payment method that will be used for settling invoices which will be issued for recurring billing of services.
The subscription’s payment method can be one of the contact’s payment methods or the CRM.COM wallet. In the first case, the subscription’s payment method is set based on the selected payment method during the ordering flow (so it can be any of the contact's payment methods). If a payment method is not specified when the subscription is ordered, then the contact’s primary method becomes the subscription’s payment method, if the contact doesn’t have a payment method, then subscription is funded by the CRM.COM Wallet.
The subscription payment method can be changed to another payment method by the contact, at any given time.
Managing Payment Methods
As mentioned previously, in the same way that a contact can have payment methods, so too can a Business, Merchant or a Service Provider organisation.
Contact Payment Methods
Contact payment methods are typically managed by the contact using a front-end system (app/portal). However, account debits can be setup on behalf of the contact by a back-end system user. Navigate to the contact (CRM > My Contacts > select a contact), any existing payment methods are visible on the Payment Methods card. Select Add to add an Account Debit payment method, select the payment gateway and complete the necessary information.
Setting the Primary Payment Method
If the contact has more than one payment method, then one of those will be defined as the primary payment method. This is done using a front-end device (e.g. a mobile app or a portal).
Changing the Subscription's Payment Method
The payment method for a subscription can be changed using a dedicated action either by through the back-end system or using a front-end device.
To change a subscription payment method via the back-end system, navigate to the contact screen and select the Subscriptions tab to see all the contact’s subscriptions, select the options button (…) for the relevant subscription, then select the Change payment method option, select one of the contact’s payment methods which will now fund the subscription.
Refer to the Subscriptions manual for further information on subscriptions.
Business Payment Method
To configure the payment methods for a business, the system user must be signed-in at the business level (or masqueraded down to the business), click on your logged-in user name in the top right-hand-corner of the screen and select My Business.
A Business can only have a Payment Method of type Account that indicates the Business’s account that will be used during the settlement process. A Business cannot have any other online or offline Payment Methods used for purchases or refunds.
Merchant/Service Provider Payment Methods
Merchants/Service Providers can have multiple payment methods, like Contacts do. These Payment Methods can be used as the method of payment when a merchant is purchasing items from the Business.
Payment methods for merchants and service providers can be configured either by the business on behalf of the merchant/service provider, or by masquerading as the merchant/service provider.
Configure from the business level - sign-in at the business level > navigate to the merchants/service providers > select the organisation > edit the payment methods
Configure from the merchant/service provider level - sign-in at the business level > masquerade to the merchant/service provider level > click on your logged-in user name in the top right-hand-corner of the screen and select My Business > edit the payment methods.
Payment Triggers
Payments can be initiated either from:
A consumer app/portal during the checkout process (Customer Initiated Transactions). During these flows, additional security checks (3DS, OTP) are applied since the consumer must verify the transaction themselves.
A server-based request (Merchant Initiated Transactions) for billing, or other financial actions such as a top-up. Server side payments can be used for:
Subscription recurring billing
Subscription recurring payment for wallet termed and auto top-ups
Refunds & Payouts
When a refund or a payout is issued to a contact, the funds will be credited to the payment method which was used for the initial payment.
Likewise, in cases of B2B settlements for organisation accounts (businesses, merchants/service providers), charges and rebates are debited or credited accordingly, using the organisation’s defined payment method.
Payment Method Settings
To view or create the permitted payment methods for a business, navigate to the Financial Settings screen - click on your logged-in user name in the top right-hand-corner of the screen select Settings > Financials > Payments.
Allowed Payment Methods
The business can select from seven different payment methods which can used by both contacts and organisations (merchants/service providers).
Refer to the table below for details of the available payment methods.
In the descriptions below the term ‘customer’ implies a contact or an organisation.
Type | Description |
|---|---|
Account Debit | Account debits are commonly used for business-to-business whereby the business directly debits the customer’s bank account. The customer must provide their account information and agree on a mandate to debit their account.
SEPA Direct Debit is a delayed notification payment method, so funds are not immediately available. When the payment has been submitted successfully, the payment intent state is updated from ‘Requires confirmation’ to ‘Processing’. If the payment is successful, then the state is updated to 'Succeeded'. |
Card | Customers can use their bank cards (credit, debit, prepaid) to pay online or in person. Capturing card details, registering and verifying the cards is solely managed by the payment gateways which CRM integrates with. Once the card is successfully registered, the payment gateway sends back encrypted information that will be used for future payments. This is the only information kept by CRM.COM for security purposes. |
Cash | Customers can settle a payment in cash, this is an offline payment method which is carried out in person and on demand. Not supported for automated/recurring payments. |
Cheque | An offline payment method ordering the bank to transfer money to the bank account of another party. |
Electronic Transfer | Can be used to post offline payments such as Bank Transfers and POS payments. Can’t be used as a contact’s payment method. |
CRM.COM Wallet | Customers use their CRM.COM wallet as a payment method. The wallet itself is funded by an online payment method such as a card. Therefore, upon using the wallet as a payment method, the wallet can be automatically topped-up with the required payment amount by retrieving the funds from the card (as long as wallet settings allow automatic top-up on using the wallet as a payment method). CRM.COM Wallet is automatically available for all contacts to use as a payment method. Therefore, it doesn’t have to be specifically added as one of the contact’s online payment methods. |
Wallet | Wallets are linked to a customer’s card or bank account but they are also used to store monetary funds. Wallets provide a fast and secure way for customers to pay with a card-on-file or an available balance. Wallets improve conversion and reduce fraud.
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Reference Material
You may also find it useful to refer to the following manuals for further reading in relation to Payment Methods.
Contacts
Financials
Wallet
Integrations
To configure payment gateways
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