How Autopay works when it's processed in NetSuite

Autopay charges your customers' open invoices automatically with a saved payment method, on or after each invoice's AutoPay Date. This article explains how customers are enrolled, how invoices are marked for Autopay, how and when Autopay charges them, which emails are sent, and what to do when a charge fails.

How it works

Autopay works in three stages. Each one is controlled separately, so a customer can have a saved payment method and still not be charged.

1. Enrollment: your customer saves a payment method and agrees to Autopay, and the customer record shows they're enrolled.
2. Eligibility: a workflow marks the customer's invoices for Autopay. It sets each invoice's AutoPay Status to Eligible and fills in its AutoPay Date.
3. Payment: on a schedule set up for your account, Autopay charges every Eligible invoice whose AutoPay Date has arrived. The invoice's AutoPay Status then shows the result.

Enrollment: set up a customer for Autopay

A customer is enrolled in Autopay when they have a saved payment method (payment token) in NetSuite and their customer record shows they're enrolled.

1. Your customer saves a payment method. Your team sends them an email with a link to save a card or bank account, for example with Request Payment Method on the customer record. The email uses the template selected in Customer Token Email Template in Paystand Settings. Its standard text tells your customer that saving a payment method means they agree to Autopay from that date. You can reword it to match your terms.
2. NetSuite records the enrollment. The saved payment method appears in Paystand Payment Token on the customer record, and a workflow records the date your customer first saved a payment method for Autopay.
3. The customer is marked as enrolled. Paystand – Autopay Status on the customer record shows whether the customer is enrolled. Your account enrolls customers in one of two ways: - Automatic enrollment: a workflow checks Paystand – Autopay Status as soon as the customer has a saved payment method. - Manual enrollment: your team checks Paystand – Autopay Status on the customer when they should start using Autopay.

Contact Paystand Support to confirm which enrollment your account uses or to change it.

Eligibility: mark invoices for Autopay

The Mark Invoices for Autopay workflow decides which invoices Autopay charges. For enrolled customers with a saved payment method, it sets the invoice's AutoPay Status to Eligible and uses the invoice's Due Date as its AutoPay Date. It doesn't mark invoices while Disable Paystand Autopay is checked on the customer. Paystand can adjust the workflow's rules for your account, so yours may differ slightly.

To see which invoices Autopay will charge and which it has paid, use these saved searches in NetSuite:

• Paystand | Invoices to be paid by Autopay
• Paystand | Invoices paid by Autopay

Mark an invoice for Autopay by hand

To add an invoice the workflow didn't mark, or to charge it on a different date:

In NetSuite

1. Open the invoice and click Edit.
2. Set AutoPay Status to Eligible.
3. Set AutoPay Date to the date you want it charged. Use today's date to include it in the next run.
4. Click Save.

Result: the invoice is charged on the next scheduled run on or after its AutoPay Date, as long as the customer has a saved payment method in Paystand Payment Token, or one is selected in Paystand - Autopay Token. If there's no saved payment method, Autopay skips the invoice and doesn't charge it. The invoice stays Eligible and isn't marked Failed. For everything else Autopay checks, see What Autopay needs to charge an invoice.

Payment: how Autopay charges invoices

Autopay runs on a schedule that Paystand sets up for your account, typically once a day in the afternoon. Separate runs charge invoices, invoice groups and sales orders, and a later run sends your team the failure email (see Autopay emails). Contact Paystand Support to confirm or change when Autopay runs for your account. On each run, Autopay charges invoices oldest first.

What Autopay needs to charge an invoice

An invoice is charged only when all of these are true:

What	Where to check
AutoPay Status is Eligible	Invoice
AutoPay Date is today or earlier	Invoice
The invoice is open and has an amount remaining	Invoice
The customer has a saved payment method in Paystand Payment Token (or uses a parent customer's; see Sub-customers)	Customer record
Autopay disabled is unchecked on the customer and on any parent customer	Customer record
The invoice's subsidiary is connected to Paystand	Paystand Settings

If the customer has no saved payment method, Autopay skips the invoice without marking it Failed.

Which payment method Autopay charges

Autopay uses the first payment method it finds, in this order:

1. The invoice's Paystand - Autopay Token. *
2. The customer's default Autopay payment method. *
3. The customer's Paystand Payment Token.
4. The parent customer's Paystand Payment Token, when the customer has none of its own and the parent settings are on (see Sub-customers).

* Only when Enable Autopay Token Selection is turned on in Paystand Settings. Without it, Autopay always uses Paystand Payment Token.

Change the payment method Autopay uses

With Enable Autopay Token Selection turned on, you choose from a list of the customer's saved payment methods.

For all of a customer's new invoices — in NetSuite

1. Open the customer record and click Edit.
2. In Paystand - Autopay Token, select the payment method.
3. Click Save.

Result: new invoices and sales orders for this customer copy that payment method into their own Paystand - Autopay Token, unless the transaction's billing account has Autopay turned off. Invoices and sales orders that already exist keep the one they have.

For one invoice or sales order — in NetSuite

1. Open the invoice or sales order and click Edit.
2. In Paystand - Autopay Token, select the payment method.
3. Click Save.

If Paystand - Autopay Token doesn't appear when you edit the record, the customer may have no saved payment methods in Paystand, or the list couldn't load. Refresh the page and check the customer's saved payment methods.

Updating a payment method in Paystand doesn't change these fields. If your customer replaces their card, select the new one in NetSuite, on the customer and on any open invoice that still has the old one.

Stop Autopay for a customer

Your customer record can have up to three Autopay checkboxes. Only one of them stops charges right away:

Checkbox	What it does
Autopay disabled	Stops all Autopay charges on this customer's invoices, including invoices that are already Eligible. Checked on a parent customer, it also stops charges for all its sub-customers.
Disable Paystand Autopay	Stops the workflow from marking new invoices Eligible. Invoices that are already Eligible are still charged.
Paystand – Autopay Status	Shows whether the customer is enrolled in Autopay. Unchecking it doesn't stop charges on invoices that are already Eligible.

Disable Paystand Autopay and Paystand – Autopay Status come from your Autopay setup, so your account may not have them. Autopay disabled is in every account, but it can be hidden on your customer form. If you don't see it, ask your NetSuite administrator to show it on the customer form you use.

To stop all Autopay charges for a customer — in NetSuite

1. Open the customer record and click Edit.
2. Check Autopay disabled.
3. If your account has Disable Paystand Autopay, check it too, so new invoices aren't marked Eligible while Autopay is off.
4. Click Save.

Result: Autopay skips all of this customer's invoices until you uncheck Autopay disabled. The customer keeps their saved payment methods.

To stop Autopay for a single invoice instead, set its AutoPay Status to Ineligible.

AutoPay statuses

AutoPay Status	What it means
Ineligible	The invoice isn't set up for Autopay. If an invoice is already paid when Autopay runs, it changes to Ineligible.
Eligible	Ready to be charged on or after the AutoPay Date.
In Progress	Autopay started charging the invoice. If it stays In Progress, see Good to know.
Success	The payment posted.
Failed	The charge didn't go through. AutoPay Response on the invoice says why. Autopay doesn't charge it again until it's set back to Eligible (see When a charge fails).
Timed Out	NetSuite stopped the run before the result came back. Check the payment in Paystand before you charge it again.

When a charge fails

• The invoice's AutoPay Status changes to Failed, and AutoPay Response shows the reason. See Autopay failure reasons for what each message means.
• Autopay only charges Eligible invoices, so it doesn't retry a failed one on its own. The customer's other invoices keep being charged.
• When your customer saves a new payment method, a workflow sets their open Failed invoices back to Eligible with today's AutoPay Date, so they're charged on the next run after that. If your customer fixes the problem without saving a new payment method (for example, adds funds to their account), set the invoice back to Eligible yourself (see Charge a failed invoice again).
• If Disable Autopay When Fails is turned on in Paystand Settings, a failed charge also checks Autopay disabled on the customer, so none of their invoices are charged until you uncheck it.
• Emails: your customer receives an email for each failed invoice, with the reason and links to pay or save a new payment method. Your team receives a separate failure report. See Autopay emails.

The one exception: if NetSuite was too busy to process a charge and nothing was charged, Autopay sets the invoice back to Eligible and tries again on the next run. It doesn't check Autopay disabled in that case.

Charge a failed invoice again

In NetSuite

1. Read AutoPay Response on the invoice and fix the cause. The fix depends on the reason: for example, a declined card may need a new payment method, while insufficient funds may only need your customer to add funds. Saving a new payment method isn't the fix for every failure.
2. If Autopay disabled is checked on the customer, or on a parent customer, uncheck it.
3. Edit the invoice and set AutoPay Status to Eligible.
4. Make sure AutoPay Date is today or earlier, then click Save.

Result: the invoice is charged on the next scheduled run.

Autopay emails

Autopay can send these emails. Your customer's emails come from NetSuite workflows that Paystand sets up for your account, and you can edit their templates in NetSuite.

Email	Who gets it	When it's sent
Autopay opt-in	Your customer	When your team sends it from the customer record, to ask them to save a payment method for Autopay
Upcoming automated payment	Your customer	Three days before an Eligible invoice's AutoPay Date, once per invoice. It lists the invoice, amount, Autopay date and the payment method's last four digits, with the invoice PDF attached.
Payment confirmation	Your customer	When the payment is created. It's the same Paystand payment notification your customers get for any Paystand payment.
Autopay payment failed	Your customer	Once for each invoice that fails. It shows the reason and the payment method's last four digits, with buttons to pay now or save a new payment method. A customer with several failed invoices gets one email for each.
Autopay failure report	Your team	Each time the failure run happens, typically later the same day as the charges. It goes to the employee in Email From, using the Autopay Fails Email Template selected in Paystand Settings, and lists every open Failed invoice and sales order for each subsidiary, with the amount due. A failed invoice appears in every report until it's paid or fixed.

Your account may not use every email. Contact Paystand Support to confirm which ones are set up for you or to change when they're sent.

Charge amount and fees

• Amount: Autopay charges the invoice's amount remaining. If your account uses a custom amount field (set in Auto Pay Amount Field in Paystand Settings, for example for installments), Autopay charges that amount instead, up to the amount remaining. If that field is empty or zero on an invoice, the charge fails; it doesn't fall back to the amount remaining.
• Fees: Autopay applies the default fee plan set in your Paystand dashboard. A fee plan selected for a specific customer isn't used for Autopay charges. If Show Autopay-F&I Dropdown is turned on in Paystand Settings, invoices and sales orders have an Autopay F&I field: YES or empty applies your default fee plan to the Autopay charge, and NO charges the invoice amount only. Your Paystand account can also be set to never add fees to Autopay charges. Fees aren't added to multi-currency invoices.

Sub-customers

A sub-customer works like any other customer: Autopay charges its invoices with its own saved payment method.

To charge a sub-customer's invoices to the parent customer's saved payment method when the sub-customer has none, turn on both of these in Paystand Settings:

• Create Payments from Parent Customer lets Autopay pick up invoices of sub-customers that have no saved payment method. This setting also affects how other Paystand payments are created, so check with Paystand Support before you turn it on.
• Allow Autopay to use parent customer payment token makes Autopay charge those invoices to the parent's Paystand Payment Token.

Autopay looks only at the immediate parent. Autopay disabled checked on a parent stops charges for all of its sub-customers.

Good to know

• Several invoices, one payment: invoices for the same customer, payment method, subsidiary and currency are charged together as one payment. If that payment fails, Autopay tries each invoice on its own, so some can still succeed.
• Invoice groups are charged as one payment, as long as all their invoices use the same payment method and subsidiary.
• No double charges: Autopay sets an invoice to In Progress before charging it, and Paystand won't charge the same invoice twice within 21 days. A second attempt in that window is marked Failed with Consecutive Autopay attempted within 21 days window.
• Invoices that stay In Progress: an invoice is marked Success only when the payment posts. If a payment is still pending (for example, some bank payments) or the run was interrupted, the invoice stays In Progress and doesn't change on its own. Check the payment in the Paystand dashboard before you change the status.
• Projects (Jobs): invoices for a project are charged only when paying by project is turned on for your account. See Paying by Project or Job in NetSuite with Paystand.
• Closed periods: invoices in a closed accounting period can't be updated, so Autopay can't process them.
• Sales orders are charged by their own Autopay run, with the same Eligible and AutoPay Date rules. Failed sales orders appear in the failure email.

FAQ

An invoice is Eligible, but it wasn't charged. What should I check? Check that the AutoPay Date is today or earlier, the customer has a saved payment method in Paystand Payment Token, and Autopay disabled is unchecked on the customer and on any parent customer. For customers with more than one subsidiary, check that the saved payment method is set up for the invoice's subsidiary. If it still isn't charged after the next run, contact Paystand Support.

An invoice was never marked Eligible. Why? Mark Invoices for Autopay marks invoices only for enrolled customers with a saved payment method, and not while Disable Paystand Autopay is checked on the customer. Check Paystand – Autopay Status and Paystand Payment Token on the customer. If they're set, contact Paystand Support to review the workflow's rules for your account.

Autopay stopped charging a customer. Why? Check Autopay disabled on the customer and on any parent customer. If Disable Autopay When Fails is turned on, a failed charge checks it automatically. Fix the cause shown in AutoPay Response on the failed invoice, then uncheck it.

I unchecked Paystand – Autopay Status, but the customer was still charged. Why? That checkbox shows whether the customer is enrolled. Unchecking it doesn't stop invoices that are already Eligible from being charged. To stop charges, check Autopay disabled.

My customer updated their card, but Autopay charged the old one. Why? The payment method selected in NetSuite didn't change. Select the new one in Paystand - Autopay Token on the customer, and on any open invoice that still has the old one.

Why do I keep getting the same failed invoices in the Autopay failure report? The report lists every open invoice whose AutoPay Status is Failed, every time it's sent. Fix each one and set it back to Eligible, or set it to Ineligible if it shouldn't be charged.

Does my customer know when an Autopay charge fails? Yes, if your account uses the customer failure email. Your customer gets one email per failed invoice with the reason and links to pay or save a new payment method. See Autopay emails.

How often does Autopay run? On a schedule set up for your account, typically once a day in the afternoon. Contact Paystand Support to confirm or change it.

How do I see which invoices Autopay will charge? Use the Paystand | Invoices to be paid by Autopay saved search. Paystand | Invoices paid by Autopay shows the invoices Autopay has paid.

Related articles

• Manage saved payment methods in NetSuite — add, request or archive a customer's saved payment methods
• Autopay failure reasons — what each failure message means
• Transferring Payment Tokens Across Subsidiaries in NetSuite — copy a saved payment method to another subsidiary with Sync Tokens
• How to review the Autopay Logs — collect logs for Paystand Support when a charge fails