What is autopay?
Autopay enables a buyer to automatically pay vendor invoices through Wholesail.
Autopay can be configured to charge a bank account or credit card automatically for open invoices. Invoices are paid off in chronological order (oldest first) up to a maximum amount. By default invoices are not partially paid, so the maximum charge amount will rarely be met.
Either a buyer or seller can initiate the process to configure autopay. In both situations an authorized representative of the buyer needs to connect their bank account or credit card and explicitly approve the autopay plan.
How can I use autopay as a seller?
Autopay is flexible and can be configured by a buyer to automatically pay open invoices daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or multiple times per month (Read more about how autopay works for a buyer).
There are 4 main ways a seller can use autopay to decrease risk and get paid faster:
Payment Plan - This is an automated, recurring charge to pay off past due invoices over time. This is a good option for customers that have a large outstanding balance and you require them to pay down that balance over time to be able to continue ordering. Requiring the buyer setup a payment plan is a good way to make sure you get paid.
Weekly auto-charge - If you do not want to offer long terms to a buyer, but COD is too restrictive, you can require that the buyer have a credit card or bank account “on file” to be charged automatically every week for open invoices. For extra security, you can require the buyer to use a credit card, which lowers the chances of a payment failure due to insufficient funds.
Immediate payment - This is the closest alternative to cash-on-delivery (COD). Every day, the buyer is charged for outstanding invoices created the previous day.
Farmers market pickups - If you sell to wholesale buyers at the farmers market, you can configure autopay to charge their credit card or bank account the day after the farmers market as an alternative to requiring cash or check in person. This will give you an opportunity to update the invoice with any new items added before they are charged.
Getting more information
- How to set up autopay for a customer
- Information for buyers regarding How autopay works