Howto? Receiving payment via bank transfer offline

[funk_mco]

Hello

I have searched a lot ... but found nothing:

What is the best practice to handle an order if the payment is received via bank transfer?

There is no connection between ebanking and magento.

The item will be picked up, so no shipping.

And I ask the way without extension

Best Regards

[Robert Rand]

Best Practice would be to 

1) Turn on Bank Transfer Payment as an option in the Magento Admin at Stores --> Settings --> Configuration --> Sales --> Payment Methods --> Bank Transfer Payment

Enable this payment method.

You'll notice by default, the New Order Status is "Pending".

2) When an order comes in, the order status will be listed as Pending. Since bank transfers are offline payments, it will be up to you to view the order in your admin, and take the next step to Generate an Invoice, which will change the order status to Processing. In other words, until you've acknowledged payment, you shouldn't be fulfilling the order.

Bank transfers are not instantaneous, so you should not release the item until you have confirmation from your bank that payment has been successfully received into your account (not just that it's pending). You should always be careful about fraud. Think of it like a shopper paying with cash. Until the cash is in your hand, they can't leave the store with your merchandise. You might also want to require that the shopper show an ID that matches the person that submitted the payment, and to sign acknowledging receipt of the goods when they pick up the order. Feel free to ask your bank for suggestions. Some of this depends on whether this is a random order, or an order from a regular, reputable client.

Your other option is to use a payment method that allows for ACH / eCheck. Instead of just accepting credit cards, you can process funds directly from a shopper's checking account with an Online Payment. Here are examples of M2 extensions that support this with various payment gateways / processors:

https://marketplace.magento.com/paradoxlabs-authnetcim.html

https://marketplace.magento.com/vantiv-payment.html

https://marketplace.magento.com/ccbill-module-ccbillpay.html

Best of luck!

[funk_mco]

Thanks

We will also use Braintree and PayPal in the future, but still also bank transfer.

I was not sure if "Invoice" is the correct next step. Because in case of "Pick up by costumer" the Invoice should be created with the date the costumer receives the item.

Maybe the creation of a additional order state is necessary.

[Robert Rand]

Braintree supports ACH, so you may want to chat with them about it. If you're using a hosted version of Braintree, it may be relatively easy to enable. I'll leave it to you to discuss with their team, as I'm not up to speed on their latest M2 integration.

Are you using a particular extension or feature set to manage Store Pickup? There's a pretty natural flow for such orders, including (in some cases) letting the customer know that the order is ready for pickup. This is different than other physical goods that get shipped. Big Box retailers typically follow this format - they receive the order, pull the order, and let you know you can swing by to pick it up. In some cases, they need to route items from a warehouse or vendor to their location prior to the order being ready for pickup.

[funk_mco]

At the moment we are using no extensions. We try to leave magento "out of the box" as much as possible.

Which natural flow?

[Robert Rand]

Let me pose a few questions back to you...

A shopper adds a product to the cart. The shopper wants to pick up the item from your store. What option do they see in the Cart / Checkout that allows them to do this? What mechanism in Magento have you set up to provide them with this option?

Are you expecting the payment to be received via eCheck / ACH, or do you expect to be waiting for an offline Wire Transfer?

Once they place the order, how do you notify the shopper that their order is ready for pickup? or is the assumption that once the order is placed, that the order will be ready for pickup rather instantaneously, so they can arrive at any time to collect their goods? 

The answers to these questions should help define the flow.

[funk_mco]

Our solution is not the solution which we should use forever

We use "Bank Transfer" with title:

Payment in advance / bank transfer or cash on pickup

So the shopper has this options:
- Pay via Bank Transfer, shipping

- Pay via Bank Transfer, pickup

- Cash on pickup

- Cash and shipping (theoretically)

In the moment I have an order in Status Pending.
Shopper has already paid via Bank Transfer days before.

I used the comment function to inform the shopper.

Pickup will be tomorrow. Invoice will be created on day of pickup.

I know the status will be completed if I press "Invoice".

But I see no "Payment Received" in case of Bank Transfer.

Maybe I should create a new status and change the status as I write the comment.

It is not planned to connect the bank account to magento!

For Credit Cards and PayPal Braintree is planned.

[Robert Rand]

Keeping in mind that your stated goal is to avoid extensions...

When you invoice an order and record payment, it will typically move from an order status of "Pending" to an order status of "Processing". Typically, it won't move to "Complete" until it is shipped.

https://docs.magento.com/m2/ce/user_guide/sales/order-status-workflow.html

As these are physical goods that are going to be picked up, the order should not be marked as completed until it's picked up, in which case you can create the "shipment" in Magento.

There are store pickup extensions that will differentiate store pickup from shipping, but I suppose it's really Semantics to some extent. You could rename a shipping method like Flat Rate or Table Rate with a label of "Store Pickup" and charge $0 for it. Then, when a customer picks up, the order would still be "Processing" until you mark it as shipped, in which case you can add a shipment note explaining that it was picked up at the store.

Alternatively, if they're going to pay in person when they pick up, the order could still be Pending, and you can invoice and ship while they're their in your store (or after they leave if that's more convenient).

You should be able to continue to use the order notes as you have been to suggest when the order is ready and waiting for pickup so that shoppers know when to come to your physical store to collect their items. You should also be able to focus on invoicing as money is received, and "shipping" as the order is picked up. 

Does that make sense for you?

Additionally, I'd recommend trying to integrate an eCheck / ACH solution as previously described in order to get away from dealing with offline bank transfers, but that's a business decision for you to make. If Braintree can handle it, I'd think that it would be much more convenient for you and your shoppers.

[funk_mco · Accepted solution]

Thanks

Sorry, my mistake, yes its completed after shipping. In the last times I "Invoice" und "Ship" without delay.

We already use the Shipping Method "Free Shipping" for "Pickup".

So my question ist answered with "there is no out of the box solution to set the order to paid manually without extension" Which of your messages should I set as "Solution"? *g*

Maybe I try with additional order states.

I am confused about the moment to "Invoice".

I have read our (national) law so, that the invoice must be dated when the item is picked up (or shipped), not when its paid. Thats for example important if it is payed on 30th of December 2019 and picked up on 2nd January of 2020, but also for beginning of the warrenty I think.

[Robert Rand]

Magento has multiple offline payment methods available off-the-shelf with no extensions needed. These include Check/Money Order, Bank Transfer Payment, Cash on Delivery, and Purchase Order. Each of these can also be renamed with a label. 

If a payment is received, and you don't create an invoice, how is the payment recorded? How would the customer or your employee know that it was paid for? 

For me, it would seem unnatural to receive a payment and to not record it in a timely fashion. If you have someone's money, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to provide them an invoice showing that monies were received. Not creating the invoice would appear to be very bad record-keeping.