Take a payment

Owned by Yash Aryan (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 20 December 2023 by Sara Jacobs
8 min read

 

Overview

The Take a payment section on the Blink platform is your virtual terminal. Use it to manually process transactions by entering your customer's card details or by charging customers through an existing Direct Debit mandate.

Navigation

You can take payments by clicking the "Take a payment" option under the Payments tab on the left-hand navigation bar.

 

 

Taking a payment

Start by selecting the MID and transaction type from the drop-down menu: Sale, Pre-auth Card, Verify and Credit.

  • Sale: immediate payment transaction.

  • Pre-Auth: confirms that the customer has sufficient funds available. No funds are taken or ring-fenced; you have 30 days to capture the payment.

  • Verify: confirms the authenticity of a card. This can be used as an anti-fraud check.

Credit - Making a payment

A credit transaction is when you make a payment to your customer and not taken it.

This feature is not available by default

Please contact Support to enable this option for your account (see Refunds for more info)

Payment type: Sale

Once you have selected Sale as the type of transaction, you have the option of 3 payment types:

  • One-off

  • Repeat: Variable schedule

  • Repeat: Fixed schedule

Below, you will find an overview of the specifics of these types:

One-Off

One-Off

You can choose between taking a card payment within the one-off payment type or setting up a Direct Debit.

 

One-off: Card payment

Start by selecting the MID, transaction type, payment method, and amount. Then, enter the customer's full name, email, and transaction reference (if any) - this information will be included on the receipt and in the transaction history.

If you have enabled multiple currencies on your account, you can select the desired currency from the drop-down list by clicking on the currency symbol.

When setting up a merchant account, you choose which currencies to process transactions in. Additional currencies can be added upon request.

 

Enter the amount you wish to charge the customer.

You can take immediate payment or delay capture for up to 30 days.

Fill in the card and address details and click Charge.

To capture your delayed capture early, go to the Blink card transactions page under Reporting, locate the transaction, and proceed with early capture. This allows you to charge partial amounts for more flexibility.

One-off: Direct Debit

Firstly, select the MID, type of transaction, one-off payment, and Direct Debit.

The next step is to select the relevant customer.

 

Setting up a new Direct Debit customer

Setting up a new Direct Debit customer

  • When you choose "New Direct Debit customer", you will be presented with two options:

  • Send an invite email: This option invites your customer to set up a mandate with you.

  • Request a one-off payment and mandate: This option redirects you to the "Request a payment" page, where you can send your customer a payment link to take a payment and set up a Direct Debit mandate at the same time. Once your customer completes the payment link, a payment will be processed, and a mandate will be created. The customer will receive confirmation from GoCardless.

To charge the customer, first, input the amount. Then, enter a transaction reference, which will appear on the customer's email receipt and in the Direct Debit transaction history on Blink. You will receive a monthly overview of your Direct Debits from GoCardless.

 

Customer notifications via GoCardless

Customer notifications via GoCardless

Once you have established a Direct Debit schedule, GoCardless will notify your customer of the subscription. Your customer will receive a notification at least three working days before payments are taken, and will be informed whether the Direct Debit was successful or unsuccessful.

 

You can now select the date you want to take payment. You now have the option to choose between receiving funds as soon as possible (within 5/6 working days) or taking a payment on a specific future date.

Select the mandate and click on Charge.

 

Repeat payment: Fixed schedule

You can choose between taking card payments on a fixed schedule or setting up a direct debit.

Card payment

First, choose the MID, transaction type, fixed schedule, and card payment. Then, enter the customer's full name, email, and transaction reference (if applicable) to be noted on the email receipt and transaction history.

Choose the start date.

Select the frequency of payment and enter the amount per payment, starting from £1. Currency may also be selected if settings permit.

Finally, choose the total number of payments to be taken in this repeat payment schedule, and if desired, select a different date and amount for the final payment. (This will replace the date and amount of the final scheduled payment, so the date must be after the penultimate scheduled payment date. It will be included in the number of cycles.)

Fill in the card and address details and click charge.

You will receive a transaction receipt, and the customer gets both a transaction receipt and an email describing the repeat payment that has been created.

Direct Debit

Firstly select the MID, the type of transaction, Fixed Schedule and Direct Debit.

The next step is to select the relevant customer.

Enter in the amount you wish to charge the customer. Next, enter a transaction reference noted on the customer's email receipt and Direct Debit transaction history in Blink.

You can now select the date you want to take a payment. You have the choice between as soon as possible (receiving the funds in 5/6 working days) or taking a payment on a specific date.

Choose whether you want to charge a specific number of payments or until further notice.

Don’t forget to select the mandate before you click on Charge.

You will receive a monthly overview of your Direct Debits from GoCardless.

 

Setting up a new Direct Debit customer

When you click on New Direct Debit customer, you have two options:

  • Send an invite email - invites your customer to set up a mandate with you.

  • Request a one-off payment and mandate - will redirect you to Request a payment, where you can send your customer a payment link to take a payment and set up a Direct Debit mandate. Once your customer has completed the payment link, a payment is actioned, and a mandate will be created that can be used moving forward. The customer will receive confirmation from GoCardless.

 

Customer notifications via GoCardless

Once you have set up a Direct Debit schedule, your customer will be notified of the subscription by GoCardless. They will also inform the customer at least three working days before payments get taken and whether the Direct Debit was successful or unsuccessful.

 

Repeat payment: Variable schedule

Variable schedule payments are only available on card payments.

Repeat payment: Variable schedule

Variable schedule payments are only available on card payments.

Card Payment

This allows you to set up a payment schedule from a previous customer that contains multiple different payment amounts on any chosen dates.

Firstly select the MID, type of transaction, and one-off payment. Next, enter the customer's full name, email and a transaction reference, if applicable - which will be noted on the email receipt and transaction history.

Select the date and enter the amount for the first payment.

Select the plus icon to add additional payment(s) and repeat the steps.

Fill in the card and address details and click Charge.

You will receive a transaction receipt, and the customer gets both a transaction receipt and an email describing the repeat payment that has been created.

If you have multiple currencies enabled on your account, you can select the currency you wish to process the transaction using the drop-down list by clicking on the currency symbol.

 

Payment Type: Credit

Select the transaction type dropdown and choose the Credit option at the bottom.

Next, enter the customer's full name, email and a reference for this payment.

There is an option to add a note here. This will be displayed on both the merchant and customer receipts.

If multiple currencies are enabled on your account, you can select the currency you wish to process the transaction by clicking on the currency symbol.

Enter the amount you wish to pay the customer.

Fill in the card and address details and click the Pay button.

 

You will be asked to confirm this payment.

Once the payment has been made, both the customer and the merchant will receive a receipt.

The account owner will receive a separate copy of the merchant receipt, which also contains the name of the user who made the payment.

 

 

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