I vote for some sort of 'time-out' or disconnect email to let people know they haven't paid yet (either intentionally or by mistake).

We have a continual problem that people think they have paid online and haven't. It's because we use PayPal for our payment processing and they have a 'confirm' step in the payment process which a lot of people miss; they put in their details, click the button and then close the window without realising that PayPal has asked them to confirm. They've made the button larger but it still happens.

Then the person arrives to the event or receives a membership renewal reminder and insists that they've paid already... it gets uncomfortable.

Big multinational corporation PayPal isn't going to listen to us about their payment method, but hopefully small(er) friendly Wild Apricot team can develop an email to the customer that their payment has not succeeded AND receive a link to pay without logging on. And maybe even an option to cancel the registration if they simply changed their mind.

Moved to wishlist forum

Hi! I would like to suggest a feature for a future (but hopefully not to far out) release/update. Currently WA sends a registrant an email when a registration has been initiated but not completed, and the only time selection possible for this type of email is "Immediate." I suggest you change this to "x number of days out" where the organization can choose x." This would reduce the number of emails that a person just trying to get through the registration process (but who maybe had internet connectivity or simple distraction issues) receives, and would help the office staff manage their lists of people who legitimately may need to be followed up on -- people who partially completed registrations and may or may not believe that they are registered for an event. Allowing "x" to be selected by the organization would allow each organization to structure the email reminder schedule according to the specific needs of their staff and their clientele -- and perhaps even send out multiple reminders if necessary.

Thank you for your consideration.

- Kathryn

Currently we do not plan providing any ways to alter 15 minutes timeout - this time seems reasonable to make payment.

From the other hand, if we don't introduce any timeout, there will be no difference in online-only payment and both payment options available: if user clicked online and cancelled/failed payment - neither we, no you will be able to prohibit visitor sending check by regular mail.

As for making note about clicking "Pay later" - this seems reasonable. We will think of it carefully.

I'm so happy to see this issue moving forward! While this certainly looks like an improvement, two questions came to mind while looking at the design preview.

First, the 15 minute timeout for online payments makes me very nervous. Is there anyway that this could be admin base, i.e. with the ability to turn it off or lengthen the time frame.

Second, I like having the 'pay online' and 'pay later' options, but would be overjoyed if clicking the 'later' button could either mark the registration in some way or send the admin and email indicating that the registrant chose this option. I hate not knowing if an invoice is open because the registrant is planning to/ has mailed a check or if it is due to some kind of payment or communications error.

Thanks again!

Dayna

We have finished analysis of this problem and you can review planned changes in the presentation below.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1l9EXcK6HcKCbhKmufuHx_vFJZYdXbfG5lADMB8uh2jw/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

Basically, depending on event/level preferences http://forums.wildapricot.com/forums/308932-wishlist/suggestions/8825797-different-payment-options-for-events-membership and user's choice, we plan to significantly reduce number of emails sent.

For example for event with online-only payments registrant will get only 2-3 emails (registration confirmed and payment receipts from WA and payment provider)

Now issue is in development queue and you can always check current status in our roadmap http://help.wildapricot.com/display/DOC/Product+roadmap . Feel free to add your comments and suggestions to the forum thread.

Related wishlist threads:

Only complete registration once payment is received http://forums.wildapricot.com/forums/308932-wishlist/suggestions/8826850-only-complete-registration-once-payment-is-receive

Ability to set different payment options for different events and membership http://forums.wildapricot.com/forums/308932-wishlist/suggestions/8825797-different-payment-options-for-events-membership

Merged related threads together

You can disable some of those emails that go out to the registrant.

1. Invoice - Settings > Invoice > uncheck payer

2. Event registration pending - Events > name of Event > Emails > [Edit] > uncheck attendee

3. Payment receipt - Settings > Payment receipt > uncheck payer

4. Event registration confirmed - Events > name of Event > Emails > [Edit] > uncheck attendee

5. Email from PayPal - I believe you can disable this in your PayPal account.

PayPal should send their own copy of Invoice and Receipt, so you can uncheck the ones in Wild Apricot as they may be redundant.

I'm hoping for some help with the amount of emails that are sent out to my members when registering for events.

Right now, when someone registers and pays for an event, they get 5 emails.

1. Invoice

2. Event registration pending

3. Payment receipt

4. Event registration confirmed

5. Email from PayPal

I really wish that Wild Apricot treated registration and payment as one action, instead of two separate actions. This also causes problems with members registering for an event and missing the fact that they need to still click on a small "Pay Online" button. I'd rather not have their registration confirmed until the payment has gone through!

Are there any effective workarounds that anyone is using? I'm wondering if it would be better just to not have the invoice, pending registration, and payment receipt emails sent out as that information is unnecessary and redundant once the member has paid. Any other ideas?

You can switch off admin copies of invoices and receipts under Settings - or am I missing something?

As the administrator, I don't need to receive a copy of the invoice or a receipt of payment (other than what I get from PayPal). Event Registration - Pending and Event Registration - Confirmed copies ARE important to my work flow.

Dennis, thanks, much appreciate the ideas. I will move your comment to a current thread where we are discussing this.

Hey Chief,

I realize this is an older thread, but I think the original posting describes my issue/concern for our membership flow (which is same as events).

As an admin I have the choice to send users an invoice and/or a receipt with each membership application/renewal. But the choice applies to all users whether they pay now or pay later. I would be prefer that different payment methods be treated differently:
* users that chose immediate payment (CC or paypal) will get a receipt
* users that chose offline payment (mail check) will get an invoice

Currently, I'm sending an invoice for all transactions, but the invoice states that they have a balance due even thought they are seconds away from making a credit card payment. The user then gets a receipt from our payment processor. This has led to some user questions why their emailed invoice says they have a balance due if they've made a payment.

Some options that come to mind:
* send the invoice only after the user chooses not to pay online
* have a "pay later or manually" button on the user's invoice listing screen that would trigger the invoice to be sent

If you have other options/work around to this, I'd appreciate the suggestion.

Dennis

To switch emails - go into Event details or Membership level details, you will see checkboxes to disable/enable sending particular emails (you can also click on Help icon in the top right corner while being on a particular screen - this will suggest you relevant help articles).

To switch of invoices and payment receipts - go into Settings and then to Invoice or Payment receipt page. Again, you will see checkboxes and also can use Help icon.

About accepting only online payments - we have no settings to force accepting only online payments. This is just a matter of your payment instructions (you put a text that you accept only online payments). See also http://forums.wildapricot.com/forums/308923-service-notices-downtime-maintenance/suggestions/8820913-known-issues-with-version-4-3 for relevant comments

[quote user="Apricot Kernel"]

I'm working on this now - trying to analyse our workflows and reduce number of emails to send in total. There is no timeline for fix yet, sorry.

As a workaround: if you only accept onilne payments, you can switch off sending of pending emails and invoices. You can also switch off payment receipt in WA if you're sure that your payment processor sends one itself.

[/quote]Sorry for my double-post - I didn't know the first one got moved and posted again. Oops!

How do I switch off sending pending emails and invoices? I've looked for that setting but couldn't find anything. I also couldn't find anything to specify accept online payments only, which seems to be the starting point.

My members don't enjoy all of the emails they get in regards to transactions. For instance, if Joe Smith wants to register for an event, he gets an email telling him that he registered. Then he gets an email invoice. Then he gets an email receipt. It's confusing people because often, they go through each step all at once, then check their email and see something telling them they need to pay (not understanding it was sent before they did pay).

Is there a better way to handle this? Perhaps delay the invoice a certain amount of time (don't send instantly) so if they did pay in that moment, the invoice comes through as "Paid"?

I'm working on this now - trying to analyse our workflows and reduce number of emails to send in total. There is no timeline for fix yet, sorry.

As a workaround: if you only accept onilne payments, you can switch off sending of pending emails and invoices. You can also switch off payment receipt in WA if you're sure that your payment processor sends one itself.

I will merge your post with existing thread discussing this.

My members are complaining about the volume of emails they receive for one event registration. For instance, they register, and they get a pending registration notice. Then they get an invoice emailed to them. Then they pay online and get a payment receipt as well as a registration confirmation. It's annoying!

How can I set it so that they ONLY get the pending registration and invoice if they choose manual payment? Right now we use PayPal, I am thinking upgrading to PayPal Pro will help with this problem?

Thank you for comments, we will think what we can do here.

The key problem to us as the new payment workflow we do not know how member is going to pay - online or offline. Invoices are generated independently of payment option. Here I see that workflow should be different: for manual payments members need invoices but for online payment no invoice is required, only receipt from payment system.

Another problem is that event confirmed email is only sent when invoice is closed (paid). But if invoice is to be paid on-site then member will not receive confirmation email before event. You can use a workaround in this case: admin can close such invoices manually with a payment with a special tender (i.e. to-be paid on site) and then check such payments during event. The problem is that we do not know how to distinguish on site payments and check payments that come by mail. Also keep in mind that member can change his mind and pay online.

So in general it's not that easy to change current behaviour - it covers a lot of different scenarios and we cannot hurry here.