Using Payment Plans in Pinch for Subscription Payments

*Payment plans cannot currently be edited once they are enrolled. If you need to change the recurring amount debited, you will need to cancel and enroll the client into a new Payment Plan.

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STEP 1: Creating the Payment Plan in Pinch

Log into your Pinch account.

https://app.getpinch.com.au/account/login
Click on Plans and Subscriptions from the left menu.
Click the Add Payment Plan button.
Under the Plan Type options, choose either Generate Invoice Per Payment (an Invoice will be generated in your Accounting Software for each Payment in the Plan) or Generate a Single Invoice (a single Invoice will be generated in your Accounting Software for the full value of the Plan and each Payment will be marked off against this singular Invoice).

IMPORTANT: Invoices will only be generated in your Accounting Software when the Payment(s) is processed (not in advance).
Choose if the Payment Plan should start immediately upon activation or on a specific day of the month in the Start Date area.
If your subscription has a Fixed Payment that differs from the Recurring Payments, click + Add Fixed Payment under the Payments section.
Enter the Amount (in $) for the Fixed Payment, choose whether the Fixed Payment should start on the Start Date set in step 5 or after a delay in the Schedule Payment area, and then enter a Description.
To add Recurring Payments to your Payment Plan, click + Add Recurring Payment under the Payments section.
Enter the Amount (in $) for the Recurring Payment, choose whether the Recurring Payment should start on the Start Date set in step 5 or after a delay in the Start Date area (this counts from the plan activation date), choose how often the Payment is to repeat in the Recurring Every area, enter a Description, and then choose when the Recurring Payments should end in the End After area (the option for Subscription Full Paid will allow you to enter a subscription value at the time you Subscribe a Customer to this Payment Plan).
Choose the Invoice Template Pinch should use in your Accounting Software when generating Invoices for the Payments, the Chart of Account that Pinch should use when generating Line Items on the Invoices. Next choose the Plan Name this Payment Plan will have for your reference inside Pinch and the Display Name your Customers will see it as. Finally, you can add a URL in the Terms Link to any Terms & Conditions you might want to include for your Customers to agree to when signing up to this Payment Plan (this is optional and can be left empty).
Click the Create Plan button.
You will now see the details of the Payment Plan shown.

STEP 2: Subscribing your Customers to the Payment Plan

You can Subscribe a Customer to a Payment Plan in Pinch from 3 different areas.

OPTION 1: From the Payment Plan page

Click on Plans and Subscriptions from the left menu.
Click on the Payment Plan you would like to Subscribe a Customer to.
Click on the Add Subscriber button in the Subscriptions area.
In the Add Subscriber dialogue box, click in the Search for a Customer box and select the Customer you would like to Subscribe to the Payment Plan, then click the Create Subscription button.

IMPORTANT: Customers who are not already on an Active Pre-Approval will be sent an email inviting them to Subscribe to the Payment Plan, the Subscription will commence from the date they enter their details).
You will now see the Subscription show as Pending in the Subscriptions area of the Payment Plan in Pinch. Clicking on the Subscription will allow you to see more details of the Subscription.
The Subscription details page shows the full schedule of Payments as well as the other details of the Subscription.
Your Customer will receive an email with an invitation link to Subscribe to your Payment Plan.
The Payment Plan details will be clearly shown to the Customer along with Payment options to sign up to the Subscription.
Selecting a Payment method will allow the Customer to enter their information and then Confirm Subscription.
Your Customer will receive an email confirming the Subscription Pre-Approval.
You will also receive an email confirming the Customer completed the Subscription Pre-Approval.
You will now see the Subscription show as Active in the Subscriptions area of the Payment Plan in Pinch. Clicking on the Subscription will allow you to see more details of the Subscription.
The Subscription details page shows the updated status of the Payments in the schedule.

OPTION 2: From the Customer's profile page

Click on Customers from the left menu.
Click on the Customer you would like to Subscribe to the Payment Plan.
Click on the Add Subscription button in the Subscriptions area.
In the Add Subscription dialogue box, click in the Search for a Plan box and select the Payment Plan you would like to Subscribe the Customer to, then click the Create Subscription button.

IMPORTANT: Customers who are not already on an Active Pre-Approval will be sent an email inviting them to Subscribe to the Payment Plan, the Subscription will commence from the date they enter their details).
You will now see the Subscription show as Pending in the Subscriptions area of the Payment Plan in Pinch. Clicking on the Subscription will allow you to see more details of the Subscription.
The Subscription details page shows the full schedule of Payments as well as the other details of the Subscription.
Your Customer will receive an email with an invitation link to Subscribe to your Payment Plan (Unless they have an active pre-approval already, meaning they don't need to agree to this in addition to their already active pre-approval)
The Payment Plan details will be clearly shown to the Customer along with Payment options to sign up to the Subscription.
Selecting a Payment method will allow the Customer to enter their information and then Confirm Subscription.
Your Customer will receive an email confirming the Subscription Pre-Approval.
You will also receive an email confirming the Customer completed the Subscription Pre-Approval.
You will now see the Subscription show as Active in the Subscriptions area of the Payment Plan in Pinch, as well as in the Subscriptions section of this customers Customer page. Clicking on the Subscription will allow you to see more details of the Subscription.
The Subscription details page shows the updated status of the Payments in the schedule.

OPTION 3: Using the New Customer Sign Up Link
1. Click on Plans and Subscriptions from the left menu.
2. Click on the Payment Plan you would like to Subscribe a Customer to.
3. Click on the New Customer Sign Up Link button in the Actions area.
4. This will open the open a new tab with the URL you can send manually to your new customer or even embed in a website behind a button.
  
  IMPORANT: This method is intended only for new customers that do not already exist as a Contact in your Accounting Software or as a Customer in Pinch. This will create a new Customer record in Pinch even if the customer already exists as a Customer in Pinch.
  
  The Payment Plan details will be clearly shown to the Customer along with Payment options to sign up to the Subscription.
5. Selecting a Payment method will allow the Customer to enter their information and then Confirm Subscription.
6. Your Customer will receive an email confirming the Subscription Pre-Approval.
7. You will also receive an email confirming the Customer completed the Subscription Pre-Approval.
8. You will now see the Subscription show as Active in the Subscriptions area of the Payment Plan in Pinch. Clicking on the Subscription will allow you to see more details of the Subscription.
9. The Subscription details page shows the updated status of the Payments in the schedule.

Having Issues? Check these things before raising a support ticket.

1. That you can see the plan in your Plan section of the Pinch Portal (This confirms the plan is created in the front end)

2. That the customer you have attempted to connect the plan to is active and not currently disabled

3. Log out and back into Pinch and see if the plan is now showing

4. Wait a few minutes. The Pinch system could be under heavy load (Most likely early morning and late afternoon) and taking a while to execute some back-end functions.

If you are still unable to see the associated plan in the Subscriptions section, or from the customer page there is a chance either our front or back end system has encountered an error. Please raise a support ticket with the relevant details so the team can investigate.