Get paid directly from your FreeAgent invoices, using GoCardless.
GoCardless works by taking direct debits from your clients bank account on a one-off or recurring basis, charging 1% of the transaction value up to £2.00.
You can also recieve invoice payments online using Paypal.
Setting up GoCardless in your Freeagent Account
Step 1: Enable GoCardless
Go to ‘Settings’ and select ‘GoCardless’ from the integration options.
Select ‘Enable GoCardless’.
Step 2: Sign in to GoCardless or create your GoCardless Account
Select ‘Sign in’ to connect your GoCardless account to FreeAgent. If you've never used GoCardless before, create a new account here.
Once you’ve created an account and/or signed in to GoCardless you’ll be taken back to the GoCardless screen in FreeAgent.
If you ever want to disable GoCardless in your FreeAgent account select ‘Deactivate GoCardless’ here.
Step 3: Create an invoice
When you create an invoice you'll see the option to accept online payments using GoCardless. When adding the invoice details select ‘Online payment options - GoCardless’ and then create the rest of your invoice as normal.
When preparing to email your invoice include an [online_payment_link] tag in the body of the email. This will embed a link to your invoice and GoCardless in the email that your client will receive.
How this works for your clients
When your client receives your invoice via email, they can follow the online payment link you previously added to your email copy. This will show them your invoice, along with the option to pay by GoCardless.
Receiving payments
As soon as a payment is made by your client you should receive a confirmation email from GoCardless. Payments made with GoCardless can then take up to 7 days to appear in your account. While payments are pending or being processed, FreeAgent will stop sending late payment reminders.
GoCardless Invoice Payment Status
As soon as your client has made a payment using GoCardless, viewing your invoice will show a payment status of ‘Payment Pending’ while FreeAgent waits for GoCardless to confirm receipt of the payment.
Once GoCardless have confirmed that they have received your payment this status will change to ‘Payment Processing’.
Finally, once the payment is transferred into your bank account you’ll see a ‘Payment Complete’ status. In order for your invoice to then show as paid in FreeAgent you need to reconcile your invoice with a bank transaction.
When you do this, remember that GoCardless may have deducted charges which you can account for like so.
In the event that the payment fails you will see a ‘Payment Failed’ status. In this instance your client hasn’t been charged and you need to get back in touch to ask them to attempt another payment.
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