Why can't I just take a payment using an existing card on an invoice?

[SRMeloy]

I am a private music teacher and I invoice my students families around the 15th every month. I do not want to run their cards as soon as I invoice them, to me that is so strange. I want them to review the invoice, make sure they see the charges they were expecting, and then pay by the due date. If they were trying to decide whether or not to discontinue lessons, I'd like to know 2 weeks prior to the next month so that I'm not surprised. If I run their card at the same time as creating their invoice I run the risk of someone informing me last minute they had decided to discontinue and then I have to worry about refunds and so on. At least if they've had 2 weeks to tell me because the invoice is sitting there, I'm more likely to find out in advance. Anyway, my point is, I just want to invoice a student on the 15th, then run their card on the 27th. Why on earth do I need to create a whole new point of sale to do this? There is a "take a payment" button, but it does not connect with the "card on file." Seems pretty obvious to me. Anyway, I hope this can be set up. Another thing would be to set up automatic invoicing on a certain date within the month (like the 15th) and then auto-run cards on file on another certain date (like the 27th) rather than the "2 weeks later" or whatever. Just pick a calendar date, and leave off the 29th-31st as options so that all months work. 

Thanks! I have a lot of ideas for how a service like this can be improved to serve the private music lesson market, and probably a lot of microbusinesses. 

[ryanwanner · Accepted solution]

Hello @SRMeloy !

Quick question: are you using the Invoices section of the Point of Sale or just ringing in the lessons using the straight interface? You are correct that the straight interface is designed for quick sales. You can add the customer to the transaction there and then use the card on file when you're ready to charge them, but it will definitely take a few extra steps to do it the way you're describing.

If you're using the invoicing section (which I highly recommend for your setup), you can definitely set a date the card on file would run.

-From the Point of Sale, choose the three bars in the lower left then Invoices.

-Create Invoice

-Add the customer to the sale here plus the items they're being charged for.

-Under Payment Schedule, choose the Due line, then Custom, then the 27th (per your message here)

-Fill in anything else you care to on this screen, then hit the Continue button.

-On the next screen, tap the Share By Email line and choose the customer's card here.

-Send invoice.

Your customer will receive the invoice on whatever day you sent it, but their card won't be charged until the 27th. You can also set up payment reminders here warning them about the upcoming charge. With your scenario, I'd recommend doing this so that if they do decide to discontinue the lessons they have reminders to let you know.

Hope this helps!