The Payment Methods screen decides which ways of paying are offered when you take money on an invoice or pay a bill as you enter it. You switch on the standard methods your location uses and add up to seven of your own, such as e-Transfer, Wire or Gift Card.
Settings apply to one location: the location this computer works in. A company with several locations sets each one separately.
Opening Payment Methods
- Lists ▸ Customer & Vendor Profile Lists ▸ Payment Method List
- Menu ▸ Admin ▸ Payment Methods (in the Settings section)
Your role needs the Payment Methods permission (on the Workspace tab of the role). Without it, a Manager Approval box asks an Admin or Manager to approve opening the screen this once.
The Payment Methods screen
The heading reads Payment Methods, with Methods shown on the payment screen for this location underneath.
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| Refresh (top right) | Reloads the methods from the server. |
| Standard | The built-in methods, each with an on/off switch. |
| Custom | Methods you have named, each with an editable name and an on/off switch. |
| Add Custom Payment Method | Adds a new named method. Reads All custom slots used (max 7) and is greyed out when all seven are in use. |
| Save Payment Methods | Saves every switch and name on the screen. Nothing is saved until you click it. |
Standard methods
| Method | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Cash | Notes and coins. |
| Card | Debit and credit cards. On SeroBooks invoices and bills, an enabled Card is offered as two choices, Debit and Credit, because paying by debit takes money from the bank the same day while paying by credit card raises a balance on the card account. |
| Cheque | Paper cheques. |
| Other | Anything that does not fit elsewhere. |
Custom methods
Custom methods are for the ways of paying your business uses that are not in the standard list — e-Transfer, Wire, Interac, Gift Card, Settled in cash at branch. The name you give is what appears on the payment choices, on the invoice and the customer's copy, and on reports. A company can have up to seven.
Switching methods on or off
- Open Payment Methods.
- Switch each method on or off.
- Click Save Payment Methods.
A Saving payment methods... message appears, then Payment methods updated successfully.
Adding a custom method
- Click Add Custom Payment Method.
- In the Add Custom Payment Method box, type the Payment method name (for example E-Transfer). The name is required.
- Click Add. The method appears under Custom, switched on.
- Click Save Payment Methods.
To rename a custom method, change its name in the Custom list and click Save Payment Methods. The new name shows everywhere the method appears, including on payments already recorded with it.
Custom method names belong to the whole company; the on/off switches belong to each location.
Where the methods appear
- Create Invoices — the ways of settling an invoice straight away. A SeroBooks invoice starts on account (the customer owes it) and is paid later in Receive Payments; the enabled methods are what you choose from when the money is taken on the invoice itself.
- Receive Payments, and taking a payment on a saved invoice — the same methods as Create Invoices, for money received later.
- Enter Bills and Pay Bills — the ways of paying a bill, after On credit.
- Everywhere a payment is shown afterwards — All Payments, payment receipts, split payment lines, deposits, customer and vendor ledgers, printed and emailed invoices and statements — the method appears by its name (a custom method by the name you gave it).
If a location has never had its methods set up, those screens show SeroBooks' own familiar list instead (on invoices and Receive Payments: Cash, Debit, Credit, e-Transfer and Cheque; on bills: Cash, Debit, Credit, Bank / e-Transfer and Cheque), so nothing disappears for a company that has never opened this screen.
Where each method lands in the books
Switching a method on does not decide which account its money goes to. That is set in Company ▸ Accounting Setup, in the card Where each way of paying lands. Left empty, cash goes to the Cash account and everything else goes to Bank — so cheques and gift cards would be reported as money already in the bank. Map each method you use to the right account (for example cheques to Undeposited Funds). Methods the company has actually used are marked there.
See Accounting Setup (posting accounts) and Undeposited Funds and the Deposit To account.
Permissions
Opening the screen needs the Payment Methods Workspace permission. Saving needs the Admin or Manager role, or the Business Settings access permission on the role's Web Access tab; otherwise the save is refused with Unauthorized action.
Tips
- Turn off what you never use. Fewer buttons means fewer wrong clicks on a busy day.
- Add e-Transfer as a custom method if customers pay you that way; it then appears by name on payments and statements.
- Map every method in Accounting Setup before you record payments with it.
Common problems
"No location configured on this device yet." This computer does not have a working location yet. Use Menu ▸ Sync DataBase, or sign out and back in, then reopen the screen.
A method I switched on does not appear on the invoice. Check you clicked Save Payment Methods, then close and reopen the invoice window. Also check you are on the computer for the location you changed: settings are per location.
"All 7 custom payment slots are in use". Rename a custom method you no longer need instead of adding a new one.
Cheques show as money in the bank. The Cheque method is not mapped in Accounting Setup ▸ Where each way of paying lands.