Repeat Customers Optional Upgrade
(Bundled with Recurring Payments Upgrade)
Unlike recurring payments, which are payments for a specific amount that will be automatically generated on a specific day of each month, the Repeat Customer feature allows you to quickly create new checks from repeat customers by supplying just a new check number, check amount, and information that will appear in the Memo field of the check, such as an Invoice or Order Number.
New Upgrade: Every Repeat Customer is issued a unique, private link that will allow them to quickly submit new checks by providing just a check amount, number and optional memo. Additional data you have set for that customer will pass through to the special check form.
Use the "Check Form" link for a customer to confirm the information as it will appear on the form. Then you may copy the form URL/Location and provide it to the customer. Optionally, you can just right click on the "Check Form" link in the Repeat Customers table and your browser should offer an option similar to "Copy Link Location" which will copy the appropriate URL to your clipboard to paste into an email to your customer. If you have an email address set for a Repeat Customer - their name will be hyperlinked to launch an email to them in the Repeat Customer table.
The unique link for each customer will end with something like ?=AbcD. The links are Case Sensitive! Make sure your customers know that.
Private Link Security: Although the unique private links can only be used to make payments to the merchant that created them, there is an extra layer of security whereas anyone using a private link will have to enter the full checking account number associated with repeat payments. After 10 failed attempts, the link will be locked for 24 hours. This will prevent brute force attempts to "guess" the account number. See the section at the bottom of this page for more details.
NOTE: In the Banking system, check numbers are not critical. They are used only for tracking purposes. In other words, if a Repeat Customer doesn't want to use/void/waste a real check just to keep his check numbers in sequence - you can use pretty much anything for the check number. We usually start recurring or repeat checks at the number 8000 and go up from there. It would be a rare case where the customer is actually using checks in the 8000 range at the same time.
There are two ways to setup a customer as a Repeat Customer. First, if they have submitted a check via the system that still appears in the list of new checks on the main control panel screen, you can click on the Make Repeat Customer under the Options button to the right of each check in the Waiting Checks table as shown in the right sidebar. The second method is to use the Customers - Manage Repeat Customers link and then the Add New Repeat Customer button at the top of the Your Repeat Customers Table as shown below.
Customers - Manage Repeat Customers
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ACH ACCOUNTS: The customer's check account number is NOT stored by Vcheck for ACH transactions. Therefore, you will have to obtain that number and manually enter it to setup of a recurring payment or as a repeat customer.
You can manager existing Repeat Customers, add new ones, or create a new check for a Repeat Customer via the Customers - Manage Repeat Customers link in the left navigation.
The screenshot above shows that screen. Some merchants have hundreds of Repeat Customers. To make it easier to find a specific customer, you may use the customer name keyword search at the top, or sort the Your Repeat Customers table by any of the columns. As shown, the Options button reveals the options of Create Check, Edit and Delete Repeat Customer.
If you use the waiting check Options - Make Repeat Customer, the Edit Repeat Customer or the Add New Repeat Customer, you will end up on the Repeat Customer Details page of which the main section is shown below:
All the fields except Email Address, Next Check Number and Default Memo are required. If you click on the Options - Make Repeat Customer link on a new check, all the required fields will be populated for you.
If you provide a customer Email Address, then every time you create a new check for this customer the system will send them a receipt. If you have the Multiple Payees upgrade option on your account - you must select the Payee the checks will be made payable to.
Next Check Number is optional but can be used to start with a check number series the customer will recognize as being created by you. We usually start in the 8000 range because it is not likely someone has actually written that many checks and therefore the system won't create a check with a duplicate check number the customer may have written on their own. Each new check you create will increment by one.
Default Memo is also optional. Normally, when you create a new check for a Repeat Customer, you have the option of supplying a memo field. The Default Memo (if supplied) will be populated on the Create New Check screen (along with the check number if you set a Next Check Number).
Creating a New Check
The Create New Check screen is shown below. Once you create a new check for a Repeat Customer, it will appear in your Waiting Checks table on the Merchant Home Page.
Private Link Security:
As noted above, anyone using a private link will have to enter in the full checking account number associated with their repeat payment link. 10 failed attempts will locked the link for 24 hours. Below are screenshots of what your customers will see during this process.
