Payments - Frequently Asked Questions

What types of Payments can be made through Pay Advantage?

Pay Advantage allows clients to receive payments through BPAY, Direct Debit, Visa & Mastercard for one off payments, recurring payments or through BPAY.

To accept a Visa or Mastercard payment through BPAY you need to give your customer a BPAY Biller Code & Reference Number which can be generated from the secure client service from the "Customers" tab. Your customer can then make a payment using these details from their internet or telephone banking from any linked Savings, Visa or Mastercard account.

Credit card payments received via BPAY are more secure and are not subject to the normal charge-back criteria and risks that are associated with traditional merchant processing.

 For more information on making a BPAY payment visit the How to pay a bill using BPAY demo.

 

Can a BPAY or Direct Debit payment be dishonoured?

BPAY

Once a customer makes a BPAY payment it is generally considered processed and can not dishonour. Generally the only time a BPAY payment can be unwound is in the event of illegal activity or a dispute is raised by a customer that the payment was made in error. If a request is received from a customers bank requesting the BPAY payment be returned we will advise you by email requesting your instructions. If you believe the payment was made correctly, the request will generally be declined and no reversal will take place. 

Any reversal is done in accordance with your account terms and conditions in addition to the terms and conditions of operating your BPAY service.

BPAY is considered one of the safest methods of payment available. More information is available on the BPAY industry website at http://www.bpay.com.au/billers/bpay_billers/biller_benefits.aspx

Direct Debit

Direct Debit is the simplest and most effective method for controlling ongoing payments. Once a request is sent to your customers bank the payment is generally deemed accepted unless the customers bank advises otherwise. Payments can dishonour for any number of reasons such as:

• Refer to customer (Insufficient Funds)
• Invalid BSB Number
• No account/incorrect account #
• Payment Stopped
• Account closed
• Customer deceased
• Technically Invalid

 

How we handle refunds

To properly refund a customer we need to settle and clear money between the merchant's account and the customer's account. The process of appropriately handling and moving this money can take up to 10 days. 

When a payment has settled into a merchant's account we request a chargeback and the money moves back to Pay Advantage where we wait for the chargeback monies to settle and clear. We then process the chargeback to the customer's bank so that the bank can verify the chargeback and the refund is considered valid.

Please be aware that as a merchant you can issue a refund before a payment has been processed properly. In some situations a payment could fail but also be refunded. In these situations Pay Advantage can not recover your refunded monies. As a merchant you should ALWAYS wait for a payment to be processed properly and be determined successful or failed before processing a refund.

 

How to view a breakdown of Settlement

When customer payments are received either by BPAY, Virtual Terminal or Direct Debit you will see an individual transaction for that payment in your Payments Tab. 

Once a payment has cleared (refer to payment clearance times) it is grouped together with any other payments that are ready to settle and one deposit is made to your nominated financial institution. 

We will send you an email to notify you have a new settlement. To view each individual payment:

Navigate to Reports in the side menu and select Settlements. 

Select a report from the list based on the time frame. Select any individual payment in the reports breakdown to view a summary of that individual payment.

From here you can print a report or download a CSV file containing a list of all the payments relating to a settlement.

 

What name appears on my customers bank statement?

Credit Card & Direct Debit

A special Remitter Name will appear on yours customers bank statement along. Depending on the payment type your company location and a reference number may also appear.

The Remitter Name is a shortened version of your business name.

Your Remitter Name can be found by accessing the secure client portal under setup options. You can request a change to your remitter name by contacting customer support however the name can only be changed if your requested shortened names accurately reflects your business name.

BPAY

If you are using our generic Biller ID the name "INVOICE PAYMENT" or a name similar to this unless you have ordered and are using a custom Biller ID. In this instances your name will appear.

 

Understanding the MSF (Merchant Service Fee)

Some transaction type's include a MSF in addition to the per debit fee. This is calculated as a percentage of the transaction amount. In many instances this fee can be on-charged to your customer allowing for fee free processing.