Implementing Payment Methods

We understand that most of your customers have more than one payment method. So, Chargent has a feature you can enable to offer customers a convenient and secure way to store and select all their card and bank account details for single and recurring payments. Your users simply select one of many payment methods for transactions with your organization, yet the details are only shared with your gateway. You can view a masked payment method name but are never liable for knowing any personal financial details.

Important: Once Payment Methods is enabled, it cannot be disabled. We recommend you test this feature in a sandbox to review how it works in your business process. 

How It Works #

Using Payment Requests

When customers make a payment via the Payment Requests feature, they have the option to save payment details for future use. If they choose to store their payment details, Chargent creates a record on the Payment Method object, linking it to the transaction. This payment method is masked, but a Chargent Payment Method Name distinguishes it from other payment methods by concatenating [the type of card (such as VISA and AMEX)] followed by [the last 4 digits of the card number] and [the cardholder’s last name], as shown in the example below.

• For example: VISA-1111-Blake

For bank account and routing number, the Chargent Payment Method Name displays [Bank Account Network Type] – [First 5 digits of account number] – [last 4 digits of account number].

• For example: ACH-54321-1234

In the Take Payment Component

Customers paying via the Chargent Take Payment component have the option to save the card or bank account as a Payment Method. Once saved, those customers can select the stored Payment Method for subsequent payments instead of entering the card or bank account details again.

Set Up & Configuration #

• Activate the Payment Methods feature in Chargent
• Configure payment method options
• Notify your users of the new options

Note: If you are installing Chargent for the first time, Payment Methods is enabled by default. If you update your Chargent package to the current version, activate Payment Methods using the instructions below.

Activating Payment Methods

As stated above, enabling the Payment Methods feature is an action that changes your data model and cannot be reversed. We recommend activating it in a sandbox environment first to test and monitor how it works with your business process.

1. Click the App Launcher icon at the top-left of your screen and choose Chargent.
2. Select the Chargent Settings tab and Payment Methods subtab.
3. Follow the instructions on the Payment Methods subtab to enable the feature.

Once you’ve enabled the feature in the Payment Methods subtab, you’ll receive an email from AppFrontier indicating that the feature has been activated. This process may take up to 24 hours.

Note: Make sure your gateway is configured to allow recurring billing. Check the gateway setup guide to ensure you have selected the Show Setup Recurring Button for your gateway.

Configuring Payment Methods

Select this option on your Payment Request Templates:

• Show recurring payments option on payment form. This is convenient if you don’t have a Salesforce community or Digital Experiences site page and want to enable your customers to securely enter payment information to be stored later as a Payment Method.

Select this option on your Take Payment Component:

• Save for future use. Authenticated users can now select a checkbox to save payment details from your Salesforce Digital Experience / Community.

Next, notify your users that they can select an existing payment method, create a new one, or remove an expired one using the New, Remove, and Select options available when logged into your Digital Experience / Community. 

Considerations #

• Chargent Payment Methods cannot be disabled. However, you can remove the checkboxes on your Take Payment Component and Payment Request Template if you don’t want to give customers the option to store payment methods.
• The new card information stored for a payment method will not be used for future payments by default. Instead, the cardholder must explicitly select it.
• Chargent keeps your customer’s payment information safe. Chargent administrators only see the masked Payment Method Name, such as VISA-1234-Smith.
• Chargent stores payment method details on the Payment Method object for both single and recurring payments, with a link to the associated transaction.

See Also

Understanding Payments
Setting Up Payment Requests
Take Payment Component
Recurring Billing