Marinas will require the capability to efficiently charge multiple customers simultaneously by utilizing our auto-pay feature. The following steps outline how to achieve this functionality. Autopay functionality only becomes operational when the following conditions are met in combination.
Default Saved Payment Methods
See our documentation on setting up payment methods for more detail
A customer must have a “Default Saved Payment Method” as the first step to run auto pay
You can turn on/ off default payment methods for specific customers via CRM > Customers
You may also run a report in the CRM section of reports to see which customers have a default payment method. This report can also show if the method is ACH or Credit Card
Customers can have a saved payment method and it NOT be default. This would be best utilized if a customer wanted their info saved but did not opt into Auto Pay
Auto Pay Flags
There are auto pay flags in various areas of Sharper. Having these flags enabled is what marks if an invoice can be auto paid.
Auto Pay on the reservation - On each reservation in the accounting section there will be a flag called “Auto Pay” turn this flag on if you wish for all future invoices generated from that reservation to be an auto pay candidate.
Auto Pay on individual invoices - There is an auto pay flag on ALL invoices. When creating or looking at an invoice via CRM > Invoices you will see the flag located on the top right of the invoice. This flag will already be turned on if the invoice was generated from a reservation that had auto pay turned on
Auto Pay in Module Defaults - In Company Settings > Outlet Defaults > Scroll to Auto Pay. By turning on the marina auto pay flag for example will ensure ALL NEW reservations and meter reads will have auto pay turned on by default in the marina module. By turning on the POS flag will ensure all house account charges have auto pay turned on.
To summarize, it is essential for an account to have a default payment method and auto-pay enabled on their invoices in order to enable automatic payments. To guarantee that auto-pay is activated by default on invoices, you need to ensure that the flag is enabled on their reservation and meter read.
Just because Auto pay is enabled on an invoice does not guarantee automatic payment. Similarly, merely having a default saved payment method does not ensure that an invoice will be automatically paid. Auto pay functionality only becomes operational when both conditions are met in combination.