Membership Auto Payments - Fixed Date Membership Packages

Auto-payments allow you to process Direct Debit payments for your eligible members without them having to take any action within your Fixed Date membership packages. You can set up auto-renewals for Date of Purchase membership packages by following the steps within the Membership Auto-Renewals guide. 

In order to be eligible, the following criteria must be met:

• The member must have a valid Direct Debit mandate with the provider
• The member must have an email address
• The member must be in the active or pending status
• The member must be imported from another package
• The payment method (in full or instalments) the member paid with on the original package is an option on the new renewal package
• The package must not be hidden or archived

If you are interested in setting up auto-payments within your Fixed Date membership packages, please ensure that you have created a GoCardless account and have Direct Debit as a payment option within the membership package.  =

We have split this article into 3 sections to help you easily find the relevant section:

• Setting Up Auto-Payments
• Cancelling Auto-Payments
• Who Is Included In Auto-Payments?

Setting Up Auto-Payments

Step 1: Head to the Membership module on the left hand side in your Admin area. 

Step 2: Click on the 'Options' button at the end of the package you wish to duplicate and select 'Duplicate'. You can then import your members from an existing membership package where GoCardless/Direct Debit was a payment method.

Step 3: Select 'Edit Package' and amend the package title, make sure it is set to public or invite-only and ensure all your package information is correct. 

Please note: Remember to keep GoCardless/Direct Debit as a payment method. 

Step 3: Select your members from the member table and then click on the icon with the three dots. Click on the 'Payment' button to send them a payment request.

Step 4: If you have selected multiple members from the membership table, the recipients' box will show who is eligible for an 'Auto-payment'.

If no selected members are eligible, you will be notified and can continue to step 2 to process a standard payment request. (Skip to Step 5)

If you have eligible members but don't want to continue with the auto-pay payment request then you can turn off the feature via the toggle and move on to step 2, the standard payment request process. (Skip to Step 5) 

If you would like to continue with the auto-pay process, you can customise the email and then click 'Save & Continue'. This will send the eligible members a notification that the payment has been set up to be taken in 30 days time or at the start of their new membership. 

Please Note: Members will also receive a reminder email 7 days prior to the payment being taken giving them an option to cancel this automated payment. 

Step 5: Any members who are not eligible for an 'auto-payment' will be moved to step 2 and will be included in the recipients' list to receive a standard payment request.

If auto-payments were disabled in step 1 of the payment request process, then all members selected will also be included here.

Cancelling Auto-Payments

If a member has received an auto-payment notification they will be able to cancel it by selecting the cancel button in the notification email or from the 'Your Memberships' page within their profile when logged in to the platform.

An admin can also cancel the auto-renewal on the member's behalf, by selecting the cancel button in the member's membership allocation page.

Step 1: Head to the individual's membership record where you should see the following:

Step 2: Click on the blue 'Cancel' button to stop their auto-payment from taking place.

Who Is Included In Auto-Payments?

The 'Auto-pay' column in the membership table displays who is eligible for an auto-payment or if they have one set up and the date the payment will be processed.