Invoicing

Note that you can optionally set up a direct payment link for all of your invoices. With a direct payment URL, anyone can make a payment for an outstanding invoice on an account without logging in.  To undertake the one-time setup process, see instructions on this page under Allow User to Pay Invoice without Login (Direct Payment Link).

1. Open the member’s account in MembershipWorks
2. From the member’s Timeline click “Create New Entry”
3. Change “Type” to “Invoice”
4. In the first row of the invoice enter a description for the membership dues and the full amount of the membership dues in the Each column
5. Check the box “On payment update membership as follows:”
6. In the settings “Set membership level as” and “Set membership expiration date as,” you can adjust these as needed. These will be actions that will apply automatically upon payment of the invoice.
7. Click Save
8. You will now see an unpaid invoice entry in the members Timeline.
9. Click on this entry to view/print/email the invoice to the member.

Label & Membership Actions

You can have labels/folders added or removed upon payment of the invoice. In addition, you can setup invoices to update membership details for a member upon payment.

If you setup membership actions, here are some important notes:

1. Upon payment, members will be set to “Manual Billing”. If a member is on Automatic Recurring billing, the automatic billing will be cancelled. (Double check your renewal notices to make sure you have notices set to send to those on Manual Billing so that the member will be reminded to renew in the future.)
2. If an open invoice with membership actions exists, the member will not be able to use our normal membership billing box to upgrade, downgrade or renew. Instead they will be shown their open invoices with the ability to view, print, email or pay for those invoices. So when you create an invoice with membership actions, you are overriding our regular membership billing system.

Note that you can optionally set up a direct payment link for all of your invoices. With a direct payment URL, anyone can make a payment for an outstanding invoice on an account without logging in. To undertake the one-time setup process, see instructions on this page under Allow User to Pay Invoice without Login (Direct Payment Link).

1. Open the member’s account in MembershipWorks
2. From the member’s Timeline click “Create New Entry”
3. Change “Type” to “Invoice”
4. In the first row of the invoice enter a description for the item, Category (Membership, Events, Donations, Cart, Other or Handling) and the amount in the Each column
5. Add other Lines of items if appliable
6. Note that if tax needs to be included in the invoice it must be entered manually
7. Click Save
8. You will now see an unpaid invoice entry in the members Timeline.
9. Click on this entry to view/print/email the invoice to the member.

Once an invoice has been created an invoice number will be assigned automatically (starting from 10,000).

Note: Once an invoice has been created and paid, the line items and amounts cannot be edited, however you will still be able to edit the tags or notes associated with the invoice.

Label & Membership Actions

You can have labels/folders added or removed upon payment of the invoice.

With a direct payment URL, anyone can make a payment for an outstanding invoice on an account without logging in. This allows your members more flexibility in making payment arrangements, reducing obstacles in getting your invoices paid.

To enable direct payment URLs for your invoices:

• Update the URL to your member manage account page under Organization Settings > Integration > Website Integration
• Add the tag [dpl] for the direct payment URL to the Invoice template under Customization > Emails > Invoice

The URL will now appear in your invoices. You can then email invoices to anyone (or the member could share it) and they can go to that URL to pay for the invoice without logging in.

Option A – Direct Payment URL You can add a [dpl] tag to the invoice template (see next section) and update the URL to your member manage account page under Organization Settings > Integration > Website Integration. The [dpl] tag will embed a direct link on the invoice where users can go to and pay for the invoice without having to log in.

Option B – Create Manage Invoices Page If you prefer that members login or if you want to allow members to pay for multiple invoices at once, you can create a dedicated “Member Manage Open Invoices” page on your website. Members can sign in and view, print, email and pay for invoices that are open on their account on this dedicated page. Create the page with your content management system (WordPress, Webbly, SquareSpace, etc), then add the appropriate shortcode or HTML snippet (see Basics & Setup) to the page.

Once a member is signed in, from this page they will be able to view, email or print the open invoices, as well as pay for their open invoices using their credit card.

Option C – Invoices On Member Manage Page Alternatively you can add a “Payment/Invoice” history box to the Member Manage template under Customization, which will allow members to see their invoices as well pay for any open invoices from the Manage Account page.

Once you set this up in your membership level(s), members will be able to select the option to be emailed an invoice when they join or renew their membership. They can then pay by credit card online or directly to your organization through other (offline) methods.

How to enable the pay by invoice feature

1. Go to MembershipWorks > Labels & Membership
2. Click on a membership level to open it
3. Go to the Billing Options tab
4. Click on an “Offline” billing option to open it
5. Enable “allow members to request/generate invoice” 
6. Click “Save”

A few important notes about how invoices affect membership billing

Invoices are “static” so once an invoice is generated it will be fixed to the membership dues at the time the invoice is generated.

As a consequence the member can no longer upgrade/downgrade their membership, change their membership add-ons or change their billing option until the invoice is paid. In addition, dynamic past due period billing calculations will no longer apply – past due charges that have incurred at the time of the invoice’s creation will be included when the invoice is created. If the member generates the invoice before they are past due, the invoice will not change to include or forgive the past due period if the invoice is still not paid after the member goes past due. 

If you have set a late payment fee for the membership level, the late payment fee will be setup in the invoice so members will be charged the corresponding late fee automatically if they pay the invoice late.

Members cannot update or remove the invoice once generated, an admin would need to take action.

Additional notes

• Member initiated invoice requests can be enabled for offline billing options only. If you do not have existing offline billing options for your membership levels and want to allow members to be able to request invoices, you can create new offline billing options accordingly and give them an appropriate description (eg. “Pay by invoice”).
• Discount codes can be used with the pay by invoice feature.
• After the invoice is generated the member can still pay for the invoice by credit card.

How to setup your invoice template

The invoice templates can be found under Customization > Emails:

1. Invoice – this is the template that is used to display, print or email the invoice. We recommend that you customize this template to include an URL so any user can pay for the invoice without logging in (see next section).
2. Invoice Payment Receipt – this template is used when an invoice payment is made.
3. Invoice Refund Receipt – if a refund is issued for an invoice payment, this is the email template used.

Please note these templates will be used for invoices that are manually created in the members’ timelines as well.

Allowing members to pay the invoice by credit card

Members can log into their account and pay the invoice by credit card at any time from the manage account form.

You can also add a direct payment URL in the invoice so anyone with the URL can make a payment for the invoice without logging in – use the [dpl] tag in the invoice template to embed the invoice URL. For the invoice URL to work properly, make sure that the correct URL to your member manage account page is configured under Organization Settings > Integration > Website Integration.

1. Go to the member’s account Timeline
2. Click “Create New Entry”
3. Set the date to the appropriate date (eg. date of receipt of payment)
4. Under “Type” select “Invoice Payment”
5. Under “Action” select “Record payment received”
6. Make sure the correct invoice is enabled 
7. Enable “Send payment receipt email” if you want to trigger an invoice payment email to the member
8. Click Save

Need to record a payment that’s not related to an invoice? Learn how here.

The templates can be found under Customization > Emails:

1. Invoice – this is the template that is used to display, print or email the invoice. We recommend that you customize this template to include an URL to the page on your website where members can pay for their invoices. Note that if you customize this template, you should use responsive HTML and CSS and test accordingly to ensure the invoice appears correctly on any display (desktop to mobile), in emails as well when printed.
2. Invoice Payment Receipt – this template is used when an invoice payment is made.
3. Invoice Refund Receipt – if a refund is issued for an invoice payment, this is the email template used.

Email Templates – Invoices

The following are tags supported in the invoice template. Note that not all account fields listed here may be applicable if they are not being used on your membership forms.