In WHMCS, a Pay Method is a payment method that belongs to a client, like a credit card or bank account.

Clients can choose any of their available payment methods during checkout for new orders and for payment of invoices. Each individual payment method has an associated payment gateway and can have a different billing address.

Configuring Pay Methods #

The following settings in the Security tab at Configuration () > System Settings > General Settings affect payment method behavior:

• Allow Client Pay Method Removal
• Delete Encrypted Credit Card Data
• Delete Encrypted Bank Account Data

Default Pay Methods #

Clients must always have a default payment method. This is the payment method that all new automatic recurring payment attempts use by default.

In some scenarios, the default payment method may not be valid for a specific invoice (for example, when the default payment method is tokenized with a specific payment gateway and the invoice’s payment method uses a different payment gateway). If this occurs, the system uses the client’s first applicable payment method.

Managing Pay Methods #

Clients can manage their own payment methods in the Client Area and shopping cart. Admins can also manage payment methods for individual clients from within the Admin Area.

In the Client Area #

Clients can view and manage payment method at Billing > Payment Methods in the Client Area.

Clients can view all of their saved payment methods, update their descriptions and expiry dates, delete them (if you enable this), and change the default payment method for automated recurring payment attempts.

If you use tokenized and non-tokenized payment gateways, customers can choose the desired payment method when adding one via the Client Area. This determines whether to store the card locally, encrypted in the WHMCS database, or remotely, with the tokenized payment gateway.

Shopping Cart Options #

An option to store card details displays on the shopping cart checkout page.

Users can toggle this to Off to prevent storing their card details after payment processing.

In the Admin Area #

You can manage client payment methods from the client profile’s Summary tab.

Processing Payments #

The system attempts recurring charges for capture automatically using the client’s default payment method. If no payment method exists for a client, the client will receive an email informing them that the system could not attempt an automated payment and that they must log in and pay the invoice manually.

Changing Payment Methods #

To use a different card, clients can log in to the Client Area and pay the unpaid invoice manually.

Capturing Payment Using a Stored Payment Method #

Admins can also attempt to capture payment at any time using a stored payment method.

To do this:

1. Find and view the desired invoice at Billing > Invoices.
2. Click Attempt Capture.
   If Attempt Capture does not appear or is disabled, check the invoice’s assigned payment method in the Options tab.
3. Choose the desired payment method to use.
4. Optionally, enter the CVV number for the card.
5. Click Attempt Capture to attempt the payment.

Last modified: October 30, 2024