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Getting started with SOS Pay

What you’ll learn in Getting started with SOS Pay

• Discover the components of SOS Pay
• Set up SOS Pay in SOS Inventory
• Create payments using the different methods available in the system
• Change customer credit card and bank account information from that which is on file to process a payment
   

Video transcript: Getting started with SOS Pay

Welcome to SOS Pay! This video will introduce you to the components of SOS Inventory’s online payment system and the respective characteristics of those components; explain the SOS Pay setup procedures; demonstrate the different ways to add a payment in this system; and show how to remove stored credit card and bank account information that is on file.

Components of SOS Pay

SOS Pay is divided into two main areas. The first consists of Payment transactions and the Payments list. The second part includes MerchantTrack—which is SOS Pay’s online credit card and ACH payment processing portal—and the SOS Pay list. Let’s take a look at their distinguishing features and how these parts of SOS Pay work together.

SOS Pay allows payments to be made via credit card, ACH, and any other payment method accepted by your company. Payment transactions are the system’s records of all payments but those made via a sales receipt—an exception we will discuss later in this video. Saved Payment transactions are stored on the Payments list.

If the payment method on a Payment transaction, sales order or sales receipt is SOS Pay credit card or ACH, the saving of that transaction triggers the processing of the payment in MerchantTrack automatically. A record of the MerchantTrack transaction is then added to the SOS Pay list.

Now let’s compare how Payment transactions on the Payments list differ from the MerchantTrack transactions on the SOS Pay list. First, Payment transactions are editable. Transaction records on the Payments list have many options in the Actions Menu that are commonly used on other types of sales transaction records in SOS Inventory. By contrast, MerchantTrack transactions on the SOS Pay list are not editable. The only action available is Refund.

While Payment transactions sync to QuickBooks Online, MerchantTrack transactions do NOT sync to QuickBooks. And lastly, Payment reports are accessible in QuickBooks Online. Summary reports as well as details about individual credit card and ACH transactions are available in MerchantTrack.

SOS Pay setup procedures

To use SOS Pay, you need to prepare the system for handling Payment transactions along with MerchantTrack credit card and ACH processing.
 

1. The first step in that process is to grant the necessary privileges to SOS Inventory users who need SOS Pay access. Please note that user privileges can be granted only by a company administrator.
   1. To grant user access, go to the Company Menu and select User Administration.
   2. Now select Add New for a new SOS Inventory user or Edit for an existing user. Scroll to the bottom of the page and enable Process Credit Card or ACH Payments.
   3. If the user also needs the ability to view the Payments list, check View Payments Received from QuickBooks.
   4. When finished, Save and Close.
       
2. Next, establish your Payment Settings.
   1. Go to the Settings Menu and select Payment Settings.
      1. The AVS and CVV fields allow you to specify whether you require the zip code and the three- or four-digit security code provided by the customer to match those associated with the credit card account.
      2. The Prefix and Next Number fields deal with how you want your Payment transaction reference numbers to be set up. Specify a prefix for your transaction numbers, if desired.
      3. In the Next Number field, indicate the starting number for your next payment transaction.
      4. In the Company Name field, enter your business’s name as you wish it to appear to customers.
      5. For the Invoice Template, select from the dropdown list the template you want your customers to see if they make a payment online and download a copy of the invoice from the payment page.
      6. In the Notify Email field, you can enter one or more email addresses that are sent a notification whenever a customer pays an invoice online. If you have multiple addresses, use a comma between them as a separator.
      7. When finished, Save and Close.
          
3. The third step in the setup process is to designate the default deposit asset and liability accounts that you wish to use for sales orders. Please note that these accounts must be created first in QuickBooks Online and then synced to SOS Inventory.
   1. To specify the default deposit accounts in SOS Inventory, go to the Settings Menu and select Sales Settings.
   2. Open the General tab.
      1. Scroll down to the Default Deposit Asset Account and Default Deposit Liability Account dropdown lists, select the appropriate account for each.
      2. Then Save and Close.
   3. Whenever a payment is applied to a sales order, SOS Inventory sends a journal entry to QuickBooks Online that affects the deposit asset and deposit liability accounts that you have specified.
       
4. The next step is to set up the payment methods that you will accept, such as cash or check. SOS Pay includes by default two MerchantTrack payment methods: SOS Pay - Credit Card and SOS Pay - ACH.
   1. If you are a veteran SOS Inventory user, you may already have established your payment methods. But if you need to add any, go to the Company Menu and select Payment Methods.
   2. Select Add New, enter the name of the payment method you are adding, and then save.
       
5. If you want to provide your customers with the ability to pay their invoices online, configure your Tracking Email Settings for invoices. SOS Pay automatically creates a payment link and adds it as a field on an invoice transaction when that invoice is saved.
   1. If Tracking Email Settings are configured for invoices, this link will be included in the body of email messages when the Email option on the Actions Menu is used to send an invoice to a customer.
      1. The link goes to a secure site where the customer can choose to pay the invoice via credit card or eCheck by selecting the appropriate button and entering his or her card or bank account information.
      2. The Download button allows the customer to download a copy of the invoice before payment—or afterwards, as a record of payment.
          
   2. To configure your Tracking Email Settings:
      1. Go to the Settings Menu and select Tracking Email Config.
      2. Then go to the Invoices field and type your desired default text for the body of the email.
      3. Below the text box, copy the code PaymentLink—including the brackets around the code and then paste it into the message.
      4. Save and Close when finished.
          
6. The last step in the SOS Pay setup process is to add custom fields for Payment transactions, if desired.
   1. To add a custom field, go to the Company Menu and select Custom Fields.
   2. Then select Add New.
      1. Enter the Name and Description of the custom field and select the Data Type.
      2. From the Show On dropdown, select Payments.
      3. Then save.
   3. Please note that the maximum number of custom fields allowed depends on the number permitted for your SOS Inventory account plan.
       

Adding a payment

SOS Pay offers five different ways to add a new payment.

Adding a payment with a Payment transaction

1. The first one we will discuss, a new Payment transaction, can be used with any payment method your company accepts.
   1. To add a payment with a new Payment transaction, you can either:
      1. Go to the Add Menu and select Payment under the Sales section—or
      2. Go to Sales on the Operations Menu, select Payments, and then press the Add New button on the Payments list.
      3. Both methods will give you a blank transaction form, so you will need to populate the data fields manually.
          
2. Another way to add a payment is with a Payment transaction generated from an existing invoice. This also accepts any payment method.
   1. Go to the Sales section on the Operations Menu and select Invoices.
   2. On the Invoices list, locate the invoice record needed.
   3. And from its Actions Menu dropdown, select Receive Payment.

The fields on the Payment transaction will be populated with information from the invoice. As previously mentioned, whether you are adding a payment using a new Payment transaction or one that has been generated from an invoice, any payment method can be used. To show how MerchantTrack works, we will choose SOS Pay - Credit Card. When you press Enter, a popup window will appear that allows you to enter the customer’s credit card information.

Now let’s take a look at the Applied To column in the line item block. Because this Payment transaction was generated from an invoice, the invoice transaction number is applied to the line item. A payment can be applied to a sales order if SO is selected. If the Applied To field is left blank, the payment will sync to QuickBooks Online as an unapplied payment. When done, save your Payment transaction. MerchantTrack will process the credit card payment immediately.
 

On the Invoices list, the Pmts column includes a clickable link to the Payment transaction record on the Payments list. If we click on the number in the Payment transaction’s SOS Pmt column, it will take us to the corresponding MerchantTrack transaction on the SOS Pay list. The entire list is accessible by going to the Company Menu and selecting SOS Pay.
 

Let’s take a quick look at some of the information included on the columns of the SOS Pay list. The Date includes the date and time that the payment was processed in MerchantTrack and the payment method used. The Pmt Ref column on the SOS Pay list shows the payment transaction number as a clickable link, the Status column shows that the credit card transaction was approved, and the Auth Code column shows the MerchantTrack authorization number. As noted earlier in this video, the only action available on the SOS Pay list is Refund, which initiates a refund in MerchantTrack in the amount you specify.
 

Notice that in the upper right corner of the list page is a link to MerchantTrack, which will take you to its web portal. In MerchantTrack, you can obtain detailed information on specific credit card and ACH transactions as well as run a variety of reports.

Adding a payment transaction generated from a customer

Another way to add a new payment that accepts any payment method is a payment transaction generated from a customer. However, to use it, the customer must have credit card or bank account information that was used to process a prior payment via MerchantTrack and was stored in the system.

To get to the Customers list: 

1. We’ll go to the Operations Menu and select Customers under the Sales section.
2. By looking at the Card on File column, you can see a Visa is on file for customer 26 Health. So let’s look at its Actions Menu.
3. The presence of the option Charge Card on File is available only to customers with credit card or bank account information on file, which means I can generate a Payment transaction for this customer.
    

The new Payment transaction has been populated with the customer name, location, and billing address information. You can select from any payment method listed in the dropdown, so you do not have to use the card or bank account on file. Complete the rest of the information needed on the transaction form as you normally would, then save it.

Adding a credit card or ACH payment via MerchantTrack

We’ve discussed the ways that a payment can be added with a Payment transaction. Now let’s discuss the transaction types that accept payments via MerchantTrack only.

1. The first is a new sales order, for which a credit card is the only accepted means of payment. Open a new sales order. Complete the transaction as you normally would. For this demonstration, most fields have been pre-populated.
   1. In the Deposit area of the transaction, enter the amount or percentage of the payment and the credit card information. Please note that you cannot save the sales order at all—even with the Save and Keep Editing option—until you are completely finished entering all the data for the transaction form. The reason is that as soon as the order is saved, the payment will be processed in MerchantTrack.
   2. Once the sales order has been saved, the option to add credit card information will no longer be available. After the sales order is saved, the system automatically generates a Payment transaction from the sales order and adds it to the Payments list. The credit card transaction is processed and added to the SOS Pay list.
       
2. The other way to add a payment that is used for MerchantTrack transactions only is with a new sales receipt. This method allows you to make a payment using either SOS Pay credit card or ACH as the payment method.
   1. Let’s go to the Add Menu and open a new sales receipt.
   2. Like a payment added with a new sales order, a payment added with a new sales receipt requires that the receipt has not been saved in any way. The sales receipt is completed as usual, but in the Pmt Method field, select either SOS Pay - Credit Card or SOS Pay - ACH. Depending on the payment method selected, enter credit card or bank account information in the popup window.
   3. When the sales receipt is saved, MerchantTrack will process the payment and add the transaction to the SOS Pay list. Please note, however, that the system will not generate a Payment transaction on a payment made via a sales receipt. The receipt itself serves as the record of payment.
       

Changing customer credit card or bank account information for payments

To wrap up, please note that SOS Pay allows only one credit card or bank account to be stored in the system at a time. If a customer wants to make a payment with a card or bank account that is different from that which is on file, you will need to delete the stored information first:

1. Go to the Customers list, then locate the customer.
2. On the Actions Menu dropdown, select Remove Payment Info.
3. You can then enter a payment using the appropriate transaction and enter the desired card or bank account to process the payment.
    

This concludes our video on Getting started with SOS Pay. More detailed information about this product is available in the SOS Pay User Guide. Thank you for watching this presentation!