Introduction

Payment methods offer you the way of managing payments in you club. You can decide if you want to use only traditional payments, i.e. cash, or provide online payments to your club members. You can choose only one or several payment methods. Some of the payment methods are dependent on the legal or tax regulations available in a given country. They may also depend on the culture and habits in a given country. 

This article briefly describes four key methods of payments you can introduce in your club.

• This article will help you understand payment methods available in your club.  
• This article will be helpful to PG Champion, Club Manager, Administrator and Club Owner. 

Before you start

As you already know, there are several methods of payment you can use. To check how many of them are available in your country, go the list of Payment Providers.

If you are adding a new club to the system, you have to inform the Perfect Gym Support Team of the Payment Provider's configuration key.

Payment method description

Direct Debit

A direct debit or direct withdrawal is a financial transaction in which one person (or company) withdraws funds from another person's bank account. Formally, the person who directly draws the funds ("the payee") instructs his or her bank to collect (i.e., debit) an amount directly from another's ("the payer's") bank account designated by the payer and pay those funds into a bank account designated by the payee. Before the payer's banker will allow the transaction to take place, the payer must have advised the bank that he or she has authorized the payee to directly draw the funds. It is also called pre-authorized debit (PAD) or pre-authorized payment (PAP). After the authorities are set up, the direct debit transactions are usually processed electronically. Because of this reason, there is no possibility to collect payments instantly from a client bank account in contrast to credit cards for recurring payments.

Direct debits are typically used for recurring payments, such as credit card and utility bills, where the payment amounts vary from one payment to another. However, when the authorization is in place, the circumstances in which the funds are drawn as well as the dates and amounts are a matter of agreement between the payee and payer, with which the bankers are not concerned. Direct debits are available in some countries, including The United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, Sweden, Spain, South Africa, Switzerland, and The Netherlands. Direct debits are made under each country's rules and are usually restricted to domestic transactions in those countries. 

In the PGM, you can generate Direct Debit (DD) booking according to this instruction. 

Some providers offer one-off bank-to-bank payments. This feature is currently available for Client Portal only with GoCardless provider for UK and Germany. This method allows you to make Direct Debit payments in real time. During this process member is redirected to provider's safe page for payment authorization ensuring privacy and security for customer's data.

Online payment gateway

A payment gateway is a merchant service provided by an e-commerce application service provider that authorizes credit card or direct payments (bank e-transfers) processing. The payment gateway may be provided by a bank to its customers but can be provided by a specialized financial service provider as a separate service, such as a payment service provider. A payment gateway facilitates a payment transaction by the transfer of information between a payment portal (such as a website, mobile app) and the front end processor or acquiring bank.

Here you will find more information on the online payment gateways. 

Online payment gateways are used in the Client Portal and (in future) will be available in the PerfectGym GO Mobile App. 

Credit Card

A continuous payment authority (CPA) is a type of regular automatic payment where an individual gives vendor permission to take money from a credit or debit account whenever the vendor feels money is owed. Continuous payment authorities should not be confused with direct debit arrangements or standing orders. Often there is no written record of them, and the payer (whose credit or debit card the CPA is linked to) can cancel them by contacting the vendor or their bank. 

Because of this reason, payments could be collected instantly from a client bank card, in contrast to direct debit where it isn't possible. 

In the PGM, you can generate one-time or recurring Credit Card (CC) billing manually or automatically.
Client Portal users can use stored Credit Card tokens for one-time payments as well.

E-invoicing

Electronic invoicing is a form of electronic billing (also called e-invoices). This payment method is widely spread in the Nordic countries. An example of payment provider used in case of e-invoicing would be CrediCare. 

E-invoicing methods are used by trading partners, such as customers and their suppliers, to present and monitor transaction documents between one another and ensure the terms of their trading agreements are being met. These documents include invoices, purchase orders, debit notes, credit notes, payment terms and instructions, and remittance slips. E-invoicing includes a number of different technologies and entry options and is used as an umbrella term to describe any method by which an e-invoice is electronically presented to a customer for payment.

In the PGM, e-invoicing feature is based on direct debit booking method with a slight difference. Here, you will find the instruction on how to do the booking.