Working with the Xero invoices

Once the payment services are added and configured in Xero Invoices (details), theThe Xero platform allows you to generate one-time and repeating invoices that can be sent to customers via email and then settled via the included links that invoke Payment Page from ecommpay.

• Generating a one-time invoice is relevant when you need to accept a one-time purchase—a one-time transfer of funds from the customer to the merchant (for example, the customer needs to pay for a single order or service, details). In this case, the customer can open Payment Page via the generated link, specify all necessary data, and confirm their intent to pay with one of the available payment methods.
• Generating a repeating invoice is relevant when you need to accept recurring payments (i.e. COF purchases)—repeating transfers of funds from the customer to the merchant (for example, the customer needs to pay a monthly subscription fee or pay for a series of services, details). In this case, the customer can open Payment Page via the generated link, specify all necessary data, and confirm their intent to pay the initial amount charged and agree to subsequent debits without explicit confirmation every time with either Direct Debit BACS or Direct Debit SEPA. You can initiate subsequent payments manually (whenever necessary) or automatically (according to a set schedule).

When working with one-time and repeating invoices, keep in mind the differences of their processing workflows, what operations and statuses can be used, and the specifics of interacting with the Xero platform.

One-time invoice payment

To process a one-time payment in the Xero platform, you need to generate an invoice and the corresponding payment link for the customer (learn more below).

After the generated invoice link is sent, the standard user scenario has the following steps.

1. The customer receives the link (in the email or via other communication channels) to pay the invoice and clicks the link to proceed.
2. The customer is shown a Xero page with the invoice details and buttons for selecting a payment method. The customer selects the payment method they need.
3. The customer is redirected to Payment Page to specify payment details and confirm payment.
4. The customer is shown a Xero page with the information about the paid invoice and the status Paid.

Initial invoice payment that registers a repeating invoice

To process an invoice payment that will register a repeating invoice (with the use of the same payment details), in the Xero platform you need to generate an invoice in the Xero platform that will be paid with Direct Debit BACS or Direct Debit SEPA and send the link to the customer. Note that the only available payment methods should be Direct Debit BACS and Direct Debit SEPA, and when the link is generated, you need to consider the way links will be generated subsequently: manually or automatically.

After the generated invoice link is sent, the standard user scenario has the following steps.

1. The customer receives the link (in the email or via other communication channels) to pay the invoice and clicks the link to proceed.
2. The customer is shown a Xero page with the invoice details and buttons for selecting a payment method. The customer selects the payment method they need.
3. The customer is redirected to Payment Page to specify payment details and confirm payment (while also expressing their agreement to register a recurring payment)..
4. The customer is shown an ecommpay web application page with the information about the invoice and the notification that the payment is being processed.

Processing of such payment can take up to five business days. However, the customer does not need to take any further action. If the customer needs to check the status of the payment, they can click the initial invoice link and get updated on the status of the payment (details).

Subsequent payment of the repeating invoice

To process each subsequent payment of the repeating invoice (with the use of the payment details provided at registration and the Direct Debit BACS or Direct Debit SEPA method), an invoice for such payment has to be generated in the Xero platform either manually or automatically. All subsequent invoices in the series can be generated manually (whenever the payment is necessary) or automatically (according to a schedule set at the time of the repeating invoice registration).

After the notification about the invoice due is sent, the user scenario can have the following steps.

1. The customer is notified (in the email or via other communication channels) that there is a scheduled payment due with the link to the invoice to be paid.
2. If necessary, the customer checks the details of the invoice and makes sure that the bank account has sufficient balance for payment.

Processing of each repeating invoice payment can take up to five business days. However, the customer does not need to take any further action. If the customer needs to check the status of the recurring payment, they can click the initial invoice link and get updated on the status of the payment (details).

Checking invoice payment status

Processing of each repeating invoice payment made with the Direct Debit BACS and SEPA methods can take up to five business days, without any further action on behalf of the customer necessary. However, the customer can check the status of any invoice payment by clicking the initial invoice link. The invoice payment can be assigned the following statuses.

• The payment is being processed. In this case, the customer is shown a Xero page with the invoice details and the buttons to select a payment method. The customer selects the method they selected initially and is redirected to the ecommpay web application page with the notification Your Payment Is Being Processed.
• The payment has been completed. In this case, the customer is shown a Xero page with the invoice details and the notification that says Paid
• The payment has been declined. In this case, the customer is shown a Xero page with the invoice details and the buttons to select a payment method. The customer selects the method they selected initially and is redirected to Payment Page with the notification Your transaction has not been completed.

Once payment services are configured in Xero Invoices (details), the Xero platform allows you to generate one-time invoices that can be sent to customers via email and then settled via the included links that invoke Payment Page from ecommpay.

To process a one-time purchase using a Xero invoice, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to the invoice management page in Xero.

   To do so, in the Business drop-down menu on the Xero toolbar, select Invoices.

   

2. Navigate to the page where invoices can be generated by clicking New Invoice on the Invoices toolbar.

   

3. Specify the purchase parameters and generate the invoice.

   The following fields are required: To, Issue date, Due date, Invoice number, Online payments, Currency, Description, Qty., and Price.

   • To—the name of the customer to whom the invoice will be sent for payment.
   • Issue date and Due date—the issue date for the invoice and the date on which the invoice payment link stops being valid, respectively. The due date cannot be later than 30 days from the issue date.
   • Invoice number—the payment identifier which should correspond one-to-one to the appropriate payment identifier unique within the project in the ecommpay platform. This identifier is prefilled, but it can be corrected manually.
   • Online payments—the payment service (or provider) for processing the payment (should match the name provided when the service was added, for example, ecommpay).
   • Currency—the currency of the payment. All amounts on the invoice will be specified in this currency.
   • Description—the name of the goods or services that were purchased.
   • Qty.—the quantity of the goods or services that were purchased.
   • Price—the price of a single unit.

   At this point, you can also save your changes without sending the invoice by clicking Save & close.

   
4. Review and confirm emailing the invoice link to the customer in the window that is opened by clicking Approve & email.

   Click Approve & email in order to navigate to the page where you can review and send the invoice link to the customer. Confirm emailing by clicking Send email.

   

5. Make sure that the payment has been completed.

   The status of a one-time invoice payment can be viewed in Xero on the Invoices page (here completed payments will be assigned the paid status) and in the Payments section of Dashboard (here completed payments will be assigned the success status). A full list of all possible statuses for one-time purchases processed in the ecommpay platform can be viewed in this article.

To illustrate, these are the steps of this procedure in the Xero interface.

Introduction

Once all necessary payment services are configured in Xero Invoices (details), the Xero platform allows you to generate repeating invoices manually. Repeating invoices can be settled with the use of the Direct Debit BACS and Direct Debit SEPA payment methods, and the payment amount of the initial invoice that registers a series of recurring payments (with the use of the same payment details) cannot be zero and must result in debiting of funds.

Initial invoice payment that registers a repeating invoice

The procedure of processing an invoice payment that registers a repeating invoice is similar to processing a one-time invoice payment with the exception that the parameters should include the Direct Debit BACS and Direct Debit SEPA payment services that support registering and performing recurring payments.

To process an invoice payment that registers a repeating invoice, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to the invoice management page in Xero.

   To do so, in the Business drop-down menu on the Xero toolbar, select Invoices.

   

2. Navigate to the page where invoices can be generated by clicking New Invoice on the Invoices toolbar.

   

3. Specify the purchase parameters and generate the invoice.

   The following fields are required: To, Issue date, Due date, Invoice number, Online payments, Currency, Description, Qty., and Price. Note that the Online payments field must contain the name of the payment service used for processing recurring payments with the Direct Debit BACS or Direct Debit SEPA payment method.

   • To—the name of the customer to whom the invoice will be sent for payment.
   • Issue date and Due date—the issue date for the invoice and the date on which the invoice payment link stops being valid, respectively. The due date cannot be later than 30 days from the issue date.
   • Invoice number—the payment identifier which should correspond one-to-one to the appropriate payment identifier unique within the project in the ecommpay platform. This identifier is prefilled, but it can be corrected manually.
   • Online payments—the payment service for processing recurring payments with the Direct Debit BACS or Direct Debit SEPA payment method (should match the name provided when the service was added, for example, Ecommpay BACS or Ecommpay SEPA).
   • Currency—the currency of the payment. All amounts on the invoice will be specified in this currency.
   • Description—the name of the goods or services that were purchased.
   • Qty.—the quantity of the goods or services that were purchased.
   • Price—the price of a single unit.

   At this point, you can also save your changes without sending the invoice by clicking Save & close.

   
4. Review and confirm emailing the invoice link to the customer in the window that is opened by clicking Approve & email.

   Click Approve & email in order to navigate to the page where you can review and send the invoice link to the customer. Confirm emailing by clicking Send email.

   

5. Make sure that the payment has been completed.

   The status of an invoice payment that initiates a series of recurring payments can be viewed in Xero on the Invoices page (here completed payments will be assigned the paid status) and in the Payments section of Dashboard (here completed payments will be assigned the success status). A full list of all possible statuses for one-time purchases processed in the ecommpay platform can be viewed in this article.

To illustrate, these are the steps of this procedure in the Xero interface.

Subsequent repeating invoice payments

The procedure of processing a repeating invoice payment is similar to processing a one-time invoice payment with the exception that the parameters should include the Direct Debit BACS or Direct Debit SEPA payment service and method.

To process a repeating invoice payment using a Xero invoice, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to the invoice management page in Xero.

   To do so, in the Business drop-down menu on the Xero toolbar, select Invoices.

   

2. Navigate to the page where invoices can be generated by clicking New Invoice on the Invoices toolbar.

   

3. Specify the purchase parameters and generate the invoice.

   The following fields are required: To, Issue date, Due date, Invoice number, Reference, Online payments, Currency, Description, Qty., and Price.

   • To—the name of the customer to whom the invoice will be sent for payment.
   • Issue date and Due date—the issue date for the invoice and the date on which the invoice payment link stops being valid, respectively. The due date cannot be later than 30 days from the issue date.
   • Invoice number—the payment identifier which should correspond one-to-one to the appropriate payment identifier unique within the project in the ecommpay platform. This identifier is prefilled, but it can be corrected manually.
   • Reference—the indicator of the payment method that was used to register a repeating invoice (must be set to [ecommpay-bacs] or [ecommpay-sepa].
   • Online payments—the payment service for processing recurring payments with the Direct Debit BACS or Direct Debit SEPA payment method (should match the name provided when the service was added, for example, Ecommpay BACS or Ecommpay SEPA).
   • Currency—the currency of the payment. All amounts on the invoice will be specified in this currency.
   • Description—the name of the goods or services that were purchased.
   • Qty.—the quantity of the goods or services that were purchased.
   • Price—the price of a single unit.

   At this point, you can also save your changes without sending the invoice by clicking Save & close.

   
4. Review and confirm emailing the invoice link to the customer in the window that is opened by clicking Approve & email.

   Click Approve & email in order to navigate to the page where you can review and send the invoice link to the customer. Confirm emailing by clicking Send email.

   .

5. Make sure that the payment has been completed.

   The status of a repeating invoice payment can be viewed in Xero on the Invoices page (here completed payments will be assigned the paid status) and in the Payments section of Dashboard (here completed payments will be assigned the success status). A full list of all possible statuses for recurring payments processed in the ecommpay platform can be viewed in this article.

To illustrate, these are the steps of this procedure in the Xero interface.

To illustrate, these are the steps of this procedure in the Xero interface.