Introduction
Payment Plans functionality allows eligible sales to be paid for with a specified number of payments to purchase an access or pass item. Future payments are processed through Web Sales Host and passes are voided if payments are declined. This is a separately licensed product however. Specific functionality includes:
• Sales can be placed on payment plans through Salesware module at the point-of-sale and/or through E-Commerce module online sales
• An item is finalized to an account specified in the setup; full revenue is recognized; invoice is generated - similar to the In-House Cards functionality with the description of the invoice being the guest name that has the card on file in their guest record
• Must be a card on file in the guest record so all monthly payments are charged using the card on file and charged thru Web Sales Host
• During the initial sale, records are generated in the ww_sales table with a future charge date for each future payment
• If I finalize a sale that has five future payments, all five records are written immediately to ww_sales, with charge dates that match each payment processing date. Web Sales Host handles both regular E-Commerce sales as well as Payment Plan charges, because they are using different transaction types
• At 12:01 AM on the date of the charge date Web Sales Host processes a payment
The number of payments can be established based on the end date/month of the program and the purchase date or on a set number of months.
Example:
For instance, a payment plan is configured for June – November. A purchase in June generates six payments, a purchase in July generates five payments, a purchase in August generates four payments, etc., until the payment plan is no longer an option (November).
A configurable purchase cut-off day is set for determining when the first payment begins and the number of payments in the plan.
Example:
The plan has a cut-off date of the 25 day of the month. Any payment plans initiated June 1 through 25 pay their initial payment at the time of the sale and their first payment is due on the first of August. A payment plan initiated on June 25 – June 30 also pays their initial payment at the time of sale, but their first scheduled payment is not until September 1.
An account must be configured for this program and selected as part of the Payment Plan setup. This allows the finalization of all Payment Plan purchases at the time of sale (recognizing revenue at the time of purchase), with only a partial payment up front. Automated payments then decrement the invoice balances.
Items must be configured as eligible for the plan. When a sale is finalized that includes a Payment Plan, the total to be collected in Sales or E-Commerce module are 100% of the non-eligible items and the first portion of the Payment Plan eligible items based on the number of payments.
Example:
Five passes in a single sale are purchased on June 1. All of the pass items are Payment Plan Eligible and total $1200 (six payments of $200). Also included in the sale are five Pass Insurance items totaling $100 that are NOT Payment Plan eligible. The total due at the time of sale is $300. $200 for the Payment Plan items (one-sixth of the total) and the full amount ($100) of the non-eligible pass insurance items.
Note: Modifiers must be configured for the program and selected as part of the Payment Plan setup. Modifiers do not inherit eligibility.
Automated processing of the payments is performed by Web Sales Host. The email messages sent to customers have static text appended to the sp_log info based on the approved/declined status. The Subject line is static for these emails. So, similar to our static text for emailing Reservation confirmations, the Subject line is defined for payment plan emails and static text to append for approved and declined payments.
Example:
“Thank you for your payment!” (approved text) or “Your pass has been voided. Please contact our ticket office at (123) 456-7890 to resolve this issue and provide updated credit card information.” (declined text).
Failed payment can be re-processed using our standard Web Sales Host option to resubmit errors. Sales with Payment Plans can be refunded and exchanged.