Wire Transfer payment option - what is it good for?


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Using Wire Transfer payment method to mimic invoicing

When we first launched eCommerce, we found that there was no option that would allow us to BILL our customers. We had a look at the Wire Transfer method and found that with a little tweaking, we could use this to mimic the invoicing process. 

when a user checks out and selects the WT option, the transactions and access to the course remains in a “pending” status until the admin marks it as PAID. We use the eCommerce Transaction report to export our transactions and send them over to accounting system via ftp (this part is optional and requires an accounting system that allows this type of connection or some kind of import tool). 

The Tweaks:

  • added some Additional Fields to the user profiles to capture information needed by the accounting system
  • updated WT labels in Localization with language that better fits and invoice method
  • created an internal process to regularly manage pending transactions and mark them as PAID
  • Using the WT notifications to alert users of their transaction status; same for admins (they are alerted that a new transaction is pending). This also provides the user with a temporary invoice until the actual one is sent from the accounting system

The Pro’s:

  • able to give users the same general feel of buying on “credit” without having to implement a whole new external. manual payment/charge system or using the Shopify integration provided by Docebo (this licks you into only using Shopify unfortunately so it becomes another site to manage and cannot be undone)
  • has created a smooth process that users like overall
  • eCommerce report is quite complete and has lots of details

The Con’s:

  • you need someone to stay on top of pending transactions and these can only mark as PAID manually (there may be an API for that??)
  • it is not a true billing system so you need a place to send the data (whether using an automated or manual solution)
  • There is no ability to charge sales tax; not an issue for us as we are a non-profit. depending on what and how you are selling content, you local government may not require you to charge tax on learning materials

Overall, it has been quite successful so far.

If you’d like to know more or have questions, please feel free to reach out.

Thank you.


22 replies

Userlevel 7
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Thank you so much for sharing this information!  We are in a similar situation, so it’s great to see other’s workarounds for this.

 

This is exactly what I needed to know - I am configuring our ILTs to have just this option (invoicing and pay with a credit card). Thank you!

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@kyetter great to hear...make sure to test thoroughly as we had a few rough patches when we first got started…Also note that if you are also using Admin Approvals for your course purchases, there is no “link” between payments and approvals; it’s one or the other meaning, if you have this option enabled on a course and the user buys the course using the WT method, you would normally need to approve the transaction before they could access the content...however if the approver gets to the request first, the user will get access to content even if the WT transaction is not marked as PAID...a painful lesson we learned when testing...We are hoping Docebo will eventually fix this gap...

@lmlab Thank you. Question: Which specific “notification” did you use to send what looked like an invoice? I see a handful among the options that could work. 

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Hi @kyetter we use the “New wire transfer transaction” template and configured it with a table to look like this:

I could share the code if you need it but I’ll need to remove some of the proprietary parts in the code (so it might need a bit of extra work on your part)

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...however if the approver gets to the request first, the user will get access to content even if the WT transaction is not marked as PAID...

I anticipate utilizing wire transfer in this way as well.

I must be missing something though, as I do not quite follow this statement. Do you mean that someone other than the person marking transactions as PAID can approve the learner for the course in a different way and it won’t matter if it is marked as paid or not…? 

Userlevel 7
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...however if the approver gets to the request first, the user will get access to content even if the WT transaction is not marked as PAID...

I anticipate utilizing wire transfer in this way as well.

I must be missing something though, as I do not quite follow this statement. Do you mean that someone other than the person marking transactions as PAID can approve the learner for the course in a different way and it won’t matter if it is marked as paid or not…? 

HI @gstager yes, we have power users who have the ability to “approve” a course so if they approve the user request BEFORE it is marked as PAID by the superadmin, the user WILL have access to the course...You see, Course Approvals and eCommerce are not linked in any way; that is in fact one of our issues with eCommerce.

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If only we can use the Wire Transfer app for when someone is purchasing a Subscription Plan.  🙄

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If only we can use the Wire Transfer app for when someone is purchasing a Subscription Plan.  🙄

of course you can...we use it for mostly that...

Userlevel 7
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If only we can use the Wire Transfer app for when someone is purchasing a Subscription Plan.  🙄

of course you can...we use it for mostly that...

@lrnlab  Explain your ways!!  I have been testing the subscription purchase option for purchasing within the platform, and it won’t offer Wire Transfer as an option even though I have it enabled. When I have tested it only the Stripe payment is an option. 

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@Annarose.Peterson there could be several reasons but it’s hard to say without actually seeing your sert-up...we didn't do anything special. We use both Payflow and Wiretrasfer (renamed to “invoice me” and when an PU or user checks out, both options appear. You cannot test subscription purchases as a super admin though. Maybe you can tell me a little more about what the issue is?

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@Annarose.Peterson you had me doubting myself so I went back to check and indeed the WT option is available to a PU and user when purchasing a subscription plan

 

Userlevel 7
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Hmm, that’s strange, I don’t get the option for wire transfer on my screen. Hmmm… I will work with support to see what configuration I need to get that to show up!

I’m super appreciative of your help @lrnlab because now I see that is in an option! 

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hmm, almost looks like eCommerce is not on...very strange...if you need more detailed info, please DM me.

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We figured it out!  The subscription plans need to to have the auto-renewal set to “None”.  I had them set to “Manual”.

Thank you so much for your help with this @lrnlab!

 

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LOL, yup, been there...the auto renewals only work with Stripe payment gateway...glad you got it working

We are implementing this setup in our tenant too and it's wonderful that you have paved the way and shared with us. Thank you! 
Can you explain how you capture the PO number for the invoice? 

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@RoxzannDavis there is no way to capture information from the user during the purchasing process…

Only way I know off would be to create an Enrolment Additional field that requires users to enter a PO # before they can access the course once the payment has been approved. Not the greatest but maybe give it a go and see if that work for you.

Thanks, I will give that a try. 🤞

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Thanks, I will give that a try. 🤞

make sure to make your field ‘mandatory’ for users to fill out during the enrolment process...it should pop-up when they launch the course after it has been paid or approved (wire transfer).

Userlevel 1

Hi, I’m very new to all this.  I am wanting to set up a invoice to external users of our LMS who will need to pay for eLearning content prior to having access.  Additionally, hopefully this is an automated process.  Can the invoice that is sent to the user also be sent to our org’s finance dept (or would it be better to run a weekly report) to reconcile payments.  L&D would need to know that payment has been made prior to the user having access to the module.

 

Thanks for any help. 

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Hi @Suzy_q please note that the Wire Transfer payment method is just that...it’s a manual way of allowing your suers to check out with actually paying. IN our case, all these transactions are exported to an accounting system where the invoices are generated. You cannot generate an invoice from within Docebo. You will need an external tool to bill those transactions.

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