Setting up automated payment methods for your members and visitors is a great way to quickly and easily receive payments. We offer several integrations with some of the most popular Payment Gateways.
After your members have added their payment method, their payment will run automatically in the background without any action needed from you.
Available Payment Methods depend on your region. So before you begin, check your region's availability. Go to Setup » Automated Payments » Add Payment Method. If the payment method is listed, you can use it. Set up a merchant account with your chosen provider before connecting it to Cobot.
Apple Pay and Google Pay
Every space on Stripe automatically offers Apple Pay and Google Pay when members or visitors choose how to pay.
Credit Card Payment Gateways
Stripe
Stripe offers credit card payments and also supports Apple Pay and Google Pay through its payment element, giving your members and visitors flexible checkout options.
Click here to read more on what payment methods are available through Stripe
Do you already have members in Stripe? We can import their data. Contact us.
Authorize.net
With Authorize.net, you can accept credit card payments. Before using this, you must sign up for an authorize.net account with CIM (customer information manager) enabled.
Adyen
Adyen operates worldwide and lets you accept credit cards and many local payment options. You must process a minimum of 5 Million Euro/Dollars per year to use Adyen. Please reach out to Sascha Schwägele before you sign up on their website to ensure you meet their requirements.
Veritrans
Veritrans operates in Japan and lets you accept credit cards, direct debit, and many local payment options.
Direct Debit (ACH/SEPA) Payment Gateways
Check your region's availability: go to Setup » Automated Payments » Add Payment Method. Set up a merchant account with your chosen provider before connecting it to Cobot.
Adyen
Adyen operates worldwide and lets you accept credit cards and many local payment options. You must process a minimum of 5 Million Euro/Dollars per year to use Adyen. Please reach out to Sascha Schwägele before you sign up on their website to ensure you meet their requirements.
Authorize.net eCheck
Authorize eChecks are based on bank accounts/ACH and have lower fees than credit cards. Before using this, you must sign up for an authroize.net account with CIM (customer information manager) enabled.
Troubleshooting Common eCheck Payment Issues
If eCheck payments are not being processed, one common issue is incorrect API login details for the payment gateway.
Verify the API login details provided by Authorize.net.
Re-enter the correct login credentials into Cobot.
Save the updated details and test the payment process again. If the issue persists, consider reaching out to authroize.net's support team for further assistance.
Fidelity
Fidelity provides ACH payments, withdrawing money directly from bank accounts instead of using credit cards. They offer much lower fees compared to credit cards and next day payouts. For a custom quote, contact Fishel Goldstein (fishelg@fidelitypayment.com or call 1-718-801-4543).
GoCardless
Cobot integrates with GoCardless to support direct debit payments in the following regions: EU, Switzerland, UK, Canada, U.S., and New Zealand.
How It Works
When a member pays through GoCardless, Cobot creates an invoice and initiates a direct debit.
GoCardless groups payments into scheduled payouts that are transferred to your bank account. Each payout may include multiple invoices.
In the GoCardless dashboard, you can see exactly which invoices are included in each payout. This helps you keep track of what’s been paid and when.
Cobot assigns consecutive invoice numbers to make it easy to reconcile payouts with specific invoices in your records.
GoCardless Fees and Payment Attempts
GoCardless charges a processing fee for every payment attempt, regardless of whether the payment is successful.
By default, Cobot will try to collect payment up to three times before marking it as failed.
To avoid extra charges from repeated failed attempts, you can request that we block recurring charges after the first failed attempt. This stops further retries and prevents additional fees.
Important Notes
If you choose to block retries, this applies to all payment methods in your space, not just GoCardless.
Cardless sets a default limit of 5,000 EUR per transaction. If you try to collect a larger amount, you'll see an error message. Contact GoCardless to request a higher limit.
Veritrans
Veritrans operates in Japan and lets you accept credit cards, direct debit, and many local payment options.
Stripe
Stripe offers credit card payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay – but also bank debits (ACH in the U.S., SEPA in Europe).
Stripe ACH is a reliable option for processing eCheck payments efficiently and securely. This integration allows you to handle ACH payments with ease, making it a preferred choice for recurring payments or large transactions.
Stripe offers additional payment methods and buy-now-pay-later options like Klarna, but Cobot can't guarantee compatibility with all of them. Stripe's available methods vary by country, currency, and how the integration is built.
If you want to offer a payment method beyond credit cards, bank debits and Apple or Google Pay, set it up in Stripe first and run a test payment in Cobot before rolling it out to members. If a method appears during checkout, it will work, as Stripe filters out incompatible options automatically.
Setting up Stripe in Cobot
In your Stripe account, activate the payment methods you want to offer.
In Cobot, go to Setup » Automated Payments » Add Payment Method and select Stripe.
Give the payment method a name your members will see at checkout.
💡 Cobot displays this name you give instead of "Stripe," so make sure it is descriptive for your members and visitors.
If you're offering multiple payment methods via Stripe – e.g. credit card payments and ACH payments, something like "Credit or Debit Card" tells members exactly what to expect.
When a member selects this option at checkout, they see the payment methods you've activated in Stripe, filtered to what's compatible with their country and currency. From there, recurring payments are debited automatically.
For a full breakdown of which payment methods support recurring and off-session payments, see Stripe's payment method support page.
Once Stripe is connected, invoices also include a Pay Now link, giving members and visitors a way to pay directly. Read more here on how Pay Now links work on Cobot invoices.
PayPal
PayPal allows your members to pay with any payment methods that PayPal supports, including credit cards, bank accounts, etc.
Cobot invoices include a Pay Now link so members and visitors can pay through PayPal directly, on top of whatever automatic charging is already happening in the background. This is what we call a semi-automated payment. Read more on how Pay Now links work on Cobot invoices here.
Important Notes
You need to have PayPal Business or Website Payments Pro in order to connect Cobot to PayPal.
Invoices processed with PayPal require manual reconciling when refunding or cancellations are present. See this guide for more details.
To read more on how to set up PayPal, as well as how to convert PayPal to a fully automated payment method, check out this guide.
Adding Additional Payment Integrations
If you want to offer other payment methods, you can integrate them using our API and web-hooks. Check out our API here and our relevant guide here.
Manual Payment Methods
Manual payment methods are those which you need to reconcile manually, such as cash or manual bank transfers. Click here to learn how to set these up.
Automatic Invoicing & Payment Collection
When an automated payment gateway is connected successfully, your member will be asked to enter their credit card or bank account details on registration. We show you the last four digits on the member profile for easy reference. This data is captured and stored on the Payment Gateways secure servers and not on Cobot.
When an invoice is due, Cobot communicates with the payment gateway, and they charge the member's payment method. The payment status is then returned to Cobot and posted on your member's invoice. Cobot never charges processing fees; these will only be charged by your payment gateway directly, usually as a deduction from your overall collected payments.
Click here to read more on how automated invoicing works in Cobot.
Failed Payments
After a failed payment, the member is notified by email, and the payment is retried up to three times. If the payment fails the third time, your member will receive a "Permanently failed" email, and administrators will also be notified.
You can edit the admin notifications for these under Setup » Administrators » Edit.
You can edit the emails that are sent to members under Customize » Emails.
Editing/Removing Member Payment Methods
You can edit or remove a payment method on a member's account by going to Manage » Members » Click on the member name » Payment Method » Remove Payment Method.
Removing Automated Payment Methods
Go to Setup » Payment Methods » Remove to remove a payment method.
Important Notes
Removing an automated payment method only affects new members – existing members keep their current payment method unchanged.
To disconnect existing members from a payment method, or to transfer members from one method to another, contact us. If you are migrating members, hide the old method rather than deleting it until the transfer is complete.
Turning Off Automatic Invoicing Charging
If you want to turn off automatic charging of your invoices, go to Customize » Features and activate "Don't Charge Invoices Automatically."
Once active, your invoices will still be generated, but no automated charge of the member's payment method will occur. This way, you can review the invoice and click "Charge" when you are ready to collect payment from your member.
When activating this feature, you may also want to automatically stop your members from receiving their invoices by email. To do this, go to Setup » Invoice Settings » and uncheck the box "Send members' invoices by email."
If you would like to turn off automated invoicing altogether (so no invoices are created at all), just let us know, and we can do this for you.
How Payment Method Names Appear on Invoices
When you reconcile an invoice and record a payment, choose which manual payment method the member or visitor used from the drop-down. Cobot then posts that method's name to bottom of the PDF invoice.
The name you give a manual payment method is what shows up on the invoice. For example, if you name a method "Credit Card", any invoice paid using that method shows "Paid with Credit Card". This makes it easy to see, invoice by invoice, exactly how each payment came in.
Important Notes
If you rename a manual payment method later, the new name only applies going forward. Invoices that already show the old name stay as they are. Cobot doesn't update past invoices retroactively.
The payment method only appears on the PDF invoice that is emailed to the member or downloaded from your admin portal. The web invoice does not show this information.
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