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How to take a card payment for a customer's balance (Add Balance Payment)

  • Updated

To charge a customer's card for money they owe, open their account, click Place Order, then Add Balance Payment, choose what the payment is for, and check out with Credit Card. The button appears only when the account owes a balance.

Applies to: Admins with the Place Order permission · All plans · Card payments through your payment gateway (Payrix)

Where: Customers > Account Management > Search > (customer) > Place Order > Add Balance Payment

Before you start

  • The account must owe money. To bill a customer for something new, such as a fee or a fine, first add a Misc - Debit for it with Add Transaction on their Account Overview.
  • Balance payments are card only. To record a check or cash, use Add Transaction with Payment - Check or Payment - Cash instead.

Take the payment

  1. Go to Customers > Account Management > Search, find the customer and click the name to open Account Overview.
  2. Click Place Order. The Cart page shows "This account owes an existing balance of $(amount) that has not been paid."
  3. Click Add Balance Payment. A list of everything still owed opens, with each item's Amount and Non Reconciled (unpaid) amount.
  4. In Amount To Pay, enter how much of each item this payment covers. Use the Other row for a payment that isn't for a particular item.
  5. Click Add. You'll see "Balance Payment(s) added to cart."
  6. Click Checkout.
  7. Under Payment Information, leave Payment Method at Credit Card. Amount Paid is the total you entered and can't be changed here. Optional: add Payment Comments (the customer can see them).
  8. Check the Billing Information. It's filled in from the primary account holder; change it if someone else's card is used.
  9. Enter the card under Credit Card Information.
  10. Under Additional Options, check Send Confirmation Email to Customer if the customer should get an email receipt.
  11. Click Place Order.

What you'll see: the order, with "Customer order completed." When you checked the email box, the message adds that a confirmation email has been sent to the primary account holder (and, on youth sites, any other parents on the account). The payment appears on Account Overview, and the balance goes down by that amount.

If it doesn't work

  • There's no Add Balance Payment button. The account doesn't owe anything (its balance is $0 or a credit), or your site has no card payment gateway. Add a Misc - Debit first if the customer should owe the amount.
  • "Amount to Pay is greater than the reconcile balance." An amount is more than that item's Non Reconciled amount. Lower it, or put the extra on the Other row.
  • "The balance payment amount can't be equal or less then zero dollars." Enter an Amount To Pay on at least one row.
  • "Balance Payment(s) must be processed separately. Remove all other items from the cart before proceeding." Take the balance payment in its own order, with nothing else in the cart.
  • "You cannot make a single balance payment for this group of items. Pay each item individually." The items are paid to different payment gateways (associated organizations). Take one payment per item.
  • "The Primary Account Holder must have an email address to process this payment." Add an email address to the primary account holder, then try again.
  • Check and Cash aren't in Payment Method. That's expected for balance payments. Record checks and cash with Add Transaction.

Good to know

  • The email check box is unchecked until you check it once; after that it keeps the choice you made on your last order. Look at it every time.
  • Adding a balance payment replaces anything else that was in the cart.
  • The balance warning on the Cart page is a notice, not a block: you can still place other orders for the account. It shows whenever the balance is above $0, for example when a refund was recorded without canceling the registration. If the customer doesn't owe that amount, add a Misc - Credit with Add Transaction to bring the balance to $0.
  • There's no minimum amount for a balance payment you take here. (Families paying online with Pay Balance must pay at least $5, or the whole balance if it's less.)
  • If the payment pays off a registration that's on a payment plan, the plan's remaining payments are canceled.
  • If your site passes the processing fee on to customers, a Processing Fee is added to the card payment and shown at checkout.
  • If your card gateway has a card reader set up, you can choose Terminal in Payment Method instead of typing the card.
  • Families can pay their own balance online with the Pay Balance button when Enable Pay Balance is Yes on Programs > Configurations > General.
  • Balance Block: when Balance Block ("Block new orders when an Account owes an existing balance") is Yes on the same page, a family who owes can't check out on your website until the balance is paid. Taking the payment here lets them register again. Amounts still scheduled on a payment plan don't count, and Balance Block doesn't stop admins from placing orders.

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