How To Collect Online Payments via GoCardless

ClubSpark enables you to collect payments online from your members. GoCardless is the service we use to process Direct Debit/ one off payments on your behalf.

For information on the Coaching / Court Booking online payments via Stripe, click here.

GoCardless have a pricing structure which you can choose from, starting at 1.0% + 20p + VAT and capped to a maximum of £4.00 per transaction (minimum of 20p). In addition ClubSpark charge 0.8% (uncapped) per transaction in order to provide and support this service. See FAQ's on how the VAT is applied. 

We recommend that you view the GoCardless price information here: https://gocardless.com/pricing/

It only takes a couple of minutes to register your bank account with GoCardless and the process is instant, so you can accept payments straight away. Login to ClubSpark and go to your Membership Module to register your bank account. 

Note:  GoCardless changed their pricing options on 1st November 2023. If you have an existing GoCardless account, you will have be contacted via email from GoCardless about the changes to their pricing options. 

This article covers:  

• How to Sign Up for GoCardless Account
• Adding the GoCardless Payment Option to your Membership Packages 
• What happens when someone cancels their GoCardless Mandate? 
• Email Communications from GoCardless
• FAQs 

Sign Up for GoCardless Account

Note: From 1st July 2023, any new GoCardless account set up will be offered the choice of three payment plans. Any existing account holders will be moved to a plan of their choice from 1st November 2023. 

Step 1:

The first thing you'll need to do is to register your bank account details with GoCardless. You can do this from within the Membership Module, using the 'Setup your account' link within the blue bar across the top of the page, shown below.

Step 2:

A screen will appear with the fees on, you then need to select the blue 'Register bank account' button. 

Step 3:

You will be taken to the GoCardless site to set up an account. Once this is done the account will be linked to your ClubSpark account and you will no longer see the blue GoCardless banner at the top of the page. 
Further information from GoCardless set up is available here: Go Cardless Account Set Up - read if you are a registered charity or non-for profit

Once you have completed this information, you will then have an account created. GoCardless will email you with a verification email to complete the sign up. 

You will be asked to log in and see the below steps from GoCardless: 
For more information on the GoCardless pricing options please see here:  https://gocardless.com/pricing/ 

Adding the GoCardless Payment Option to your Membership Packages 

When creating your membership package, you can decide if you wish to take a one off payment where you can choose a different price for new and renewing members. Or you can decide to allow monthly instalments or both. Under the payment method section when creating a membership you must have the 'Direct Debit' box ticked to allow these GoCardless payment. 'Credit Card' payments are taken through Strpe.

Once you've imported your members into your new package you can use ClubSpark to do all the hard work of chasing payments. Simply select all of your members and send a payment reminder. Your members will receive an email and link to set up their payments.

We'll let you know by email as soon as a member pays. Online payments via GoCardless are automatically updated in ClubSpark. The member's account will show as 'Pending' while the payment is being processed. It will show as 'Paid' when the payment process is complete.

The online payment process period via GoCardless is usually 7 - 10 working days. If there are any issues with payments (e.g. failures or cancellations) we'll immediately let you know so you can retry the payment or contact the member. 

To reconcile the payments in your bank account, log into your GoCardless account here - using the email and password created at set up. For any questions directly related to your GoCardless account, email the team at [e-mail]

Note: As of 2022 - GoCardless do offer a discount to registered charities - The GoGardless Charity Pricing plan provides registered charities and non-profit organisations with a 25% discount on the standard transaction fees for all of our direct debit and instant bank pay schemes. 

What happens when someone cancels their GoCardless Mandate? 

Members can cancel their direct debit GoCardless in two ways: 
1) Via their Bank
2) Contacting the administrator to manually cancel

As an administrator with the membership notifications enabled - Administrator Email Notifications you will receive an email from Clubspark and GoCardless notifiying you that a member has canceled via their bank. You as an admin, will need to then go into Clubspark to manually change the status of the membership from Active to Cancelled. As this is done via the bank, the system is not updated automatically.   

Email Communications from GoCardless

By default, GoCardless will send email notifications in the following situations:  

To your customers (members) : 

• When they authorise a Direct Debit
• If their mandate requires multiple signatures
• When they authorise or are assigned to a subscription/plan
• When their existing subscription is changed or finishes
• Three working days before any one-off payment is charged
• When a payment of theirs fails
• If a failed payment is retried
• When a payment of theirs is cancelled
• When a payment of theirs is refunded
• When their mandate is cancelled
• If their mandate is reinstated
• If their mandate fails or expires

To you as the merchant/ GoCardless account owner - note it will be sent to the email listed as the account owner. The Events page on the GoCardless Dashboard provides a comprehensive log of all significant activities that occur within a GoCardless account.

• A new customer completes authorisation (general, paylink, or plan)
• A customer’s payment fails
• A customer’s payment is cancelled
• A customer’s payment is charged back
• A customer’s mandate is cancelled
• A created payment exceeds the transaction limit
• Each day a payout is due

FAQS

Q: I’m a charity but my GoCardless account says that I’m a limited company

A: If you’re a charity or non-profit organisation that is currently listed as a limited company within your GoCardless account, then we suggest that you update your organisation’s details in your GoCardless dashboard. This will make you eligible for our new Charity Pricing plan, which goes live from 1st January 2022. Please be aware that we will need to verify your charitable status before making any changes to your account. You can find out more information about this here. ClubSpark can not assist with the application for your Charitable Status, you will need to reach out directly to GoCardless. 

Q: Why are there different payment options and prices for GoCardless? 
Clubspark uses payment providers such as Stripe and GoCardless as this protects yourselves and your members as much as possible from fraudulent attempts. We do not store or hold any personal banking information for your customers. This is all held by the financial institutes and inline with the financial regulations. This is why they charge a transaction fee. and whilst Clubspark works with the organizations to keep the costs at a minimum for your clubs, we do not have control of the transaction fees charges. Clubspark only charges 0.8% per transaction. For more details on the GoCardless transaction fees, please see their site: https://gocardless.com/pricing/ 

Q: How can I remove the GoCardless account to add a new one? 
If you need to unlink the GoCardless account, then you will need to contact support by submitting a request and we will be able to do this for you.