Step by Step – Adding FlexiPay

Director’s FlexiPay functionality allows participants to split the total cost of a particular Cart into a number of installments – spread over a specified time period. The built-in functionality allows the event organiser to choose how many installments the total payment should be split into and what time period should separate each installment. For example, to emulate the terms offered by many third party providers, you would select 4 payment installments with a fortnight between each.

The organizer can also specify a service fee for the transaction (using existing Surcharge functionality available for all payment methods). The first installment is always due immediately and the service fee – if one exists – is added to this first installment.

Important! FlexiPay is currently only available for Windcave merchants.

FlexiPay is an alternative to signing up with services such as AfterPay, OxiPay, PartPay or LayBuy. It allows you to offer an installment payment option for participants and saves you paying a potentially higher commission with an external service. But remember you will still have to pay your existing merchant services fee and you assume the risk and admin hassles of late or non-payment.

How It Works

FlexiPay works by asking the payment gateway to supply a re-billing token when the first payment is processed. These tokens are often used for subscription-type transactions. The token allows Director to bill the credit card in the future without any input from the card holder and without holding any of the secure card details within the Director database.

Once the FlexiPay cart has been setup, an overnight maintenance task on Director checks for any due payments. If any are found, the rebilling token is used to make the installment payment and the payment is then recorded against the original cart. The total number and value of successful and failed payments is recorded in the Audit Log. If the payment fails, it will automatically be retried the next day.

Important! You should periodically check the Housekeeping task in the Audit Log to ensure no FlexiPay transactions are failing.

Important! Remember that you will pay a Windcave processing fee for every payment transaction so keep this in mind when deciding to charge an admin fee (surcharge).

Step 1: Create a FlexiPay Payment Method

1. Navigate to “Stores” -> “Payment Methods“
2. Click the Add New button
   1. Name: “FlexiPay”
   2. Button Text (the button your entrants will see) to, e.g. “Pay by 4 Installments”
   3. Select Windcave as the payment gateway
   4. Copy the values for Settlement Time and all fields in the Ecom Gateway Settings panel from your existing Windcave payment method.
   5. Make sure the Active toggle is set ON
   6. Choose Payment Frequency and How Many Installments to suit (typically “Fornightly” and “4”)
   7. Click the Save button
3. Your new payment method should now appear on the list of all methods. It is strongly recommended to click the Actions button next to the FlexiPay line and select “Payment Instructions”. This will take you into an HTML editor screen where you can describe for the participant how the payment method works, when payments will be processed and – perhaps – what happens if a scheduled payment fails. This content will appear on the FlexiPay confirmation screen when the participant selects that payment option at the checkout.

The payment method is now ready to use. Next, add it to your store.

Step 2: Add FlexiPay to Your Store

1. Open the Store Dashboard for the store you want to make FlexiPay available on.
2. The quickest way to access the Store Dashboard is to go to Stores -> My Stores and click on the Dashboard icon next to the store you want to work with.
3. Click onto the Payment Methods tab.
4. Click the Add New button
   1. Select your new FlexiPay payment method from the list.
   2. Choose the type of transactions you want this payment method to be available for. Typically, this option should only every be switched to the ON for position for the standard payments. however we recommend it is switched OFF for all (see note below regarding payment threshold).
   3. It is strongly recommended to charge a surcharge for using this payment method (otherwise there is little incentive to not choose it – which will affect your cashflow and may bring admin headaches). To add a typical surcharge of 5%, enter “0.05” in the Surcharge % field.
   4. It is strongly recommended to specify a Standard Payment Threshold value. If you use this – with all of the checkout options in the OFF position – then the FlexiPayment option will only be available when the cart total exceeds the specified threshold (say $100). This ensures minor payments for only $20 or $30 cannot be broken up into installments.
   5. Click the Save button.
5. FlexiPay is now setup on your store.

How To: Find/Review FlexiPay Carts

1. Navigate to Stores -> Carts
2. Click on the Search button.
   • In the popup, set the Flexipay? slider to “FlexiPay Carts” and click the Search button.
3. All FlexiPay carts are now shown including the total cart value and the amount paid so far.
4. Click on any cart to access the cart details. Inside, you will find further details on the start of the FlexiPay transaction.

How To: Update a FlexiPay Transaction

When you open a cart with FlexiPay installments in progress, you will find an information panel showing the number of payments remaining, the amount per payment and the date of the next payment. Click the “Details” button to edit any of these values. Any changes you make will only affect future payments.

In general, changing the terms of a FlexiPay transaction in progress is not recommended.

How To: Cancel/Finalise a FlexiPay Transaction

Participants can make a full payment for the remaining amount of their FlexiPay transaction at any time through their Dashboard. When they do this, all future FlexiPay transactions will be cancelled as the cart is now fully paid for.