Instalment sales
What it is for
Instalment sales let a customer pay one order in several card payments. They pay the first instalment when ordering; Doubleros charges the rest automatically to the same card on a schedule. Instalments are switched on on a particular sales form — not on the product and not for the whole organization.
Instalments can be paid by card only. They are not offered for bank transfer or cash.
Where to find it
The setup lives in several places:
| What | Where |
|---|---|
| recurring payments permission at the gateway | Organization → Integrations → Payment Gateway |
| switching instalments on, counts and interval | form editor: Content → Projects → project → in the tree on the left the Forms group → the form → the Instalment sales card |
| instalment emails | Organization → Settings → Transactional emails → the Instalments group |
| how a particular order's instalments go | Sales → Orders → the order → the Instalments card |
Before you start
- A payment gateway with card payments — see Payment Gateway. In the Payment methods section, card payment must be on for the currency; otherwise instalments are not offered to the customer.
- Recurring payments enabled at the gateway:
- Stripe — nothing to arrange or confirm.
- GoPay — GoPay must enable recurring payments for your GoID. Then, in the Payment Gateway panel, switch on Recurring payments are enabled on my GoPay account. GoPay also recommends getting the recurring-payment wording approved and the Account updater service.
- Comgate — Comgate must enable recurring payments for you. Then switch on Recurring payments are enabled on my Comgate account.
- A product with a price — see Products.
- A sales form (type Sales form) with the product — see Forms. A Reservation form never offers instalments, because nothing is paid on it.
- Permissions — Content → Forms → Edit to switch instalments on; Organization → Settings → Edit to confirm recurring payments at the gateway.
How to switch instalments on for a form
- In the left menu click Content → Projects.
- Open the project that holds the sales form.
- In the content tree on the left, in the Forms group, click the form.
- In the form settings find the Instalment sales card.
- On the right of the card header switch on Allow payment in instalments. If the switch is disabled and the card shows Get your payment gateway's approval first, see step 2 in Before you start; the Open Settings → Integrations link opens the gateway settings in a new tab.
- In Offered instalment counts pick the counts the customer chooses from (3, 6 and 12 by default).
- In Instalment interval enter a number and in Unit select days, weeks or months.
- In How to sell select Instalments and one-off payment or Instalments only.
- Click Save at the bottom of the form editor.
| Field | Required | What it means | Limits / default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allow payment in instalments | — | turns the instalment offer on for this form | disabled with GoPay/Comgate without confirmed recurring payments |
| Offered instalment counts | yes | the counts the customer chooses from at checkout | 2 to 24; at most 10 different counts (with more the form is not saved); 3, 6, 12 by default; with none picked instalments are not saved (Pick at least one instalment count, or instalments will not be saved.) |
| Instalment interval | yes | the time between two instalments | 1 to 31; 1 by default |
| Unit | yes | the unit of the interval | days, weeks, months; months by default |
| How to sell | yes | whether the customer may also pay at once | Instalments and one-off payment (default) or Instalments only |
Instalments only
In Instalments only mode the customer is offered card payments alone and the one-off payment is never shown. If you take no cards in the currency, though, the form falls back to the one-off payment — otherwise nobody could pay at all.
What the customer sees
In the form (also in a funnel the form is embedded in), paying by card shows a Payment plan choice:
- Pay in full — pays the whole amount at once (not in Instalments only mode),
- In 3 recurring payments, monthly and so on — one option per offered count.
The amount is split to the cent; any remainder goes on the first instalment (The first instalment is …, each of the rest …). Below the choice is the mandatory notice Recurring card payment: the maximum amount of one payment, the frequency, the number of payments, the date of the last instalment, a contact, and how to cancel the recurring payment (by writing to the seller).
If the customer picks a method other than card, the instalment choice disappears. With a total of 0 (for example after a 100% discount code) instalments are not offered.
Instalments are offered only in forms (also those embedded in funnels and pages); buying in the shop cart in instalments is not possible.
What happens after the order
- The customer pays the first instalment by card at the gateway. The gateway stores the card for the next instalments.
- The order turns Paid — the customer gets access to the course or product right away, like any purchase. In the order list the status shows how many instalments are paid, e.g. Paid 1/3.
- Every hour Doubleros checks for instalments that are due and charges them to the card.
- After each successful instalment the customer gets the Instalment received email (if on) and the instalment gets its own document in the invoicing tool.
- If an instalment cannot be charged, Doubleros retries 2 days later; 3 attempts in total. Between attempts the instalment keeps the status Scheduled in the Instalments card.
- If all 3 attempts fail, the instalment becomes Failed, the instalment plan ends and the customer gets the Instalment failed email (if on).
What does not happen automatically
- When instalments fail, the customer's access to the course or content is not revoked. To take it away, do it by hand in the membership area.
- The customer has no page of their own to see the schedule, change the card or cancel the instalments. They arrange cancelling with you by email and you do it in the order detail.
Instalment statuses
In the order detail, in the Instalments card, each row shows Instalment N/M, the amount, a date and the status:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Scheduled | waiting for its due date (the row shows Due and the date) |
| Paid | charged or confirmed by hand (the row shows Paid and the date) |
| Failed | the charge failed even after retries; the row shows Failed attempts: N |
| Paused | automatic charging was cancelled (Cancel instalments), the order stays valid — you can settle the instalment by hand |
| Cancelled | the order was cancelled, the instalment will not be collected |
How to handle instalments on an order by hand
Open the order in Sales → Orders; the Instalments card offers (with the Sales → Orders → Edit permission):
| Action | Where | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Send proforma | button on the instalment row | mails the customer a proforma for this instalment with bank transfer details; FAPI only, with the Proforma invoice email on; once per instalment |
| Mark as paid | button on the instalment row | confirms the instalment was paid outside the system (bank transfer, cash); its document is issued and the plan moves on |
| Cancel instalments | button in the card header (live plan only) | the remaining instalments stop being charged and are marked as paused; the order stays paid and the customer keeps access; cannot be undone |
| Change status → Cancelled | button top right in the detail | cancels the whole order and stops charging; access is not revoked automatically |
The detailed steps are in the Orders chapter.
How to set up the instalment emails
- In the left menu click Organization → Settings.
- In the tabs click Transactional emails.
- Click the Instalments group.
- Switch Instalment received (After every successful instalment charge.) and Instalment failed (When an instalment cannot be charged after repeated attempts and the plan ends.) on or off.
- Optionally edit the text and click Save.
The Instalments group shows only if the organization can sell in instalments (Stripe, or GoPay or Comgate with confirmed recurring payments). Until you change Instalment received, it follows the on/off state of Payment confirmation.
How to check it works
- Put the gateway in test mode (see Payment Gateway).
- Open the published form as a customer, choose card and, in Payment plan, one of the instalment options.
- Pay with a test card.
- In Sales → Orders the order shows Paid 1/N and the detail has an Instalments card with the first instalment Paid and the rest Scheduled.
- If you use a short interval (for example 1 day), check the next day that the next instalment was charged.
Who can do this
| Action | Required permission (permission matrix) |
|---|---|
| confirm recurring payments with GoPay / Comgate | Organization → Settings → Edit |
| switch on and set up instalments on a form | Content → Forms → Edit |
| see an order's instalments | Sales → Orders → View |
| Send proforma, Mark as paid, Cancel instalments | Sales → Orders → Edit |
Common questions and problems
The “Allow payment in instalments” switch is disabled. The organization pays through GoPay or Comgate and Recurring payments are enabled on my GoPay account / Recurring payments are enabled on my Comgate account is not on in the Payment Gateway panel.
Instalments are on, but the customer does not see them in the form. Check that: the customer chose card payment; card is switched on in Payment methods for their currency; the form is a Sales form; the order total is not 0; and the form is saved and published.
The customer got the error “The gateway refused the recurring payment. …” The gateway has not enabled recurring payments on your account, even though you switched the toggle on. Arrange the permission with the gateway; until then switch the toggle off. In this case the order is cancelled at once.
Error “This form does not offer … instalments” or “This form sells in instalments only — please choose a number of instalments”. The customer sent a count the form does not offer, or picked none in Instalments only mode. Choosing one of the offered options is enough.
The customer wants to change the card. There is no self-service card change. Agree with them to pay the rest by bank transfer (Send proforma, then Mark as paid) and stop the automatic charging with Cancel instalments.
The customer stopped paying. Do they lose access? Not automatically. Remove the access by hand in the membership area.
Related
- Payment Gateway — enabling recurring payments
- Invoicing — documents for each instalment
- Orders — the Instalments card and manual actions
- Forms — the form editor
- How to sell in instalments — the whole path from zero