The payment type is the method by which a payment was received. Cash, check, wire transfer, PayPal, and credit card are all examples of payment types.
Payment types were previously known as payment tenders.
Using payment types allows you to classify payments, making reconciliation and reporting easier. The payment report, for example, displays a summary of payments broken down by type.
For online payments, the type is recorded automatically (for example, Online - Authorize.Net credit card payment). For manual payments, you select the type when you record the payment.
You can customize the list of payment types by adding, removing, and renaming types.
Selecting a payment type
When you record a manual payment, you can select the payment type from the list.
Customizing payment types
To customize the list of payment types, hover over the Finances menu and select the Payment types option.
From the screen that appears, you can add or modify payment types.
To add a payment type, click the Add new payment type button. To modify an existing type, click on it within the list.
After you are finished modifying your payment types, click Save all changes.
Using payment types for credits or discounts
You can also use payment types to track special cases such as credits or discounts.
If you want to apply a credit to someone’s account so they can use it towards future invoices, you record the credit just like a new payment. Using a custom payment type such as “Credits for volunteer work”, you enter the credit amount as the payment amount, resulting in an overpaid balance.
The balance can later be applied to one or more open invoices.
Similarly, you can record a payment to act as a discount towards membership fees or any other charge. In this case, you could use a payment type such as "Discount coupon". The discount payment can be settled to the invoice for the membership fees, resulting in a lower outstanding balance.
You can also provide a discount towards membership fees using discount coupons. Discount coupons are used to reduce the invoice balance rather than apply a partial payment against the full invoice.
Filtering the Payments screen by type
You can filter the Payments & refunds screen by payment type, so that only those payments and refunds that used the selected type will be displayed.
To filter the list by payment type, click the Filter by drop-down and choose a type.
Payments report broken down by type
The payments report displays a summary of payments, donations, and refunds broken down by payment type.
The report is further broken down by invoiced payments, donations, and refunds.
To generate a payments report, follow these steps:
- Hover over the Finances menu and select the Reports option.
- Click the Payments link.
- Select a date range – when the income was recorded or received.
- Select the invoice/payment type(s) you are interested in. You can filter the report by online vs offline payments, by invoices, donations, and refunds, and by payment status – fully paid, partially paid or unpaid.
- Click Generate report.
