Schedule a future payment

Set a date for Nova to charge a customer's saved card for an invoice, or to create an invoice and charge it, and watch it succeed, retry or need attention.

In the sidebar, open Sales & Billing, then Getting Paid, then Scheduled. The page address is /payments/scheduled. The page heading reads Scheduled Payments.

Use this when a customer agrees to pay on a set day: the balance once the work is finished, the second half of a deposit, or an invoice you want created and charged on the first of the month.

Before you start

• Nova Payments has to be set up. See Set up Nova Payments.
• Scheduled payments has to be on under Payment options on the Nova Payments page. To charge a card on the date, Saved cards and Charge saved cards automatically have to be on there too. See Check on Nova Payments after launch.
• The customer needs a saved card with future charges allowed. See Save a customer's card for future charges.
• Your role needs permission to manage scheduled payments.

Steps

1. Press Schedule billing. A panel opens.
2. Under Account, search for the customer and pick them.
3. Choose the Billing mode:
   • Charge existing invoice: pick the Invoice and the Saved payment method, and set the Amount to collect and Charge at date.
   • Generate invoice and charge: pick the Recurring subscription the invoice belongs to, the Saved payment method and, if you have one, an Invoice template; set Generate invoice at, Charge at and the Amount to collect.
   • Generate invoice only: pick the Recurring subscription. Nova creates the invoice on Generate invoice at and does not charge a card.
4. For a template, choose the Template mode: Freeze current version keeps the template exactly as it is today; Follow latest active template picks up later edits.
5. Check the Currency and set Max retries, the number of times Nova tries again after a declined charge.
6. Press Schedule billing. The item appears in the list as Scheduled.

What you see

• The list shows each item's Account, Status, Amount, Charge time and when it was Updated.
• Under Filters, pick a Status: Scheduled, Confirming payment, Processing, Retrying, Succeeded, Needs attention, Skipped or Canceled, or All statuses. The choices are the same words the rows show. Needs attention also finds items marked Needs review, and Succeeded also finds invoices Nova created on schedule.
• A row's menu offers Open scheduled billing and Cancel.
• Open an item to change it and press Save scheduled billing, or press Cancel scheduled billing to stop it before it runs.

When a charge cannot go through

• Nova Payments is paused or closed: the charge waits instead of failing. It keeps its status, its note starts with "Waiting:" and says why, and Nova looks at it again every hour. It goes through on its own after payments are resumed (or, when closed, only if they are reopened).
• Card payments are off for a reason you did not choose (Stripe needs information, Stripe is reviewing the account, or Nova has stopped card payments while it looks into a problem): the charge waits the same way, and Nova tries again every day. It goes through on its own once card payments are back on. If charges have waited a week, everyone who manages Nova Payments gets a message titled Automatic card charges are waiting; its button opens this list.
• Your business turned Scheduled payments or Charge saved cards automatically off under Payment options on the Nova Payments page, or your plan no longer includes scheduled billing: the charge does not wait. It reads Skipped and is not tried again; schedule it again once that is back on.
• The card is declined in a way that can clear on its own (not enough money on the card today, too many charges on the card today, a general decline, or the bank was busy): Nova tries again later, up to Max retries times (3 to start with), waiting longer each time, from about an hour up to a day. The item reads Retrying in the meantime.
• The bank refused the card for good (the card has expired, was reported lost or stolen, was flagged as fraud, the customer stopped or withdrew permission for the charge, or the bank declined without a reason, which banks call "do not honor"), or the customer's bank wants the customer to confirm the payment: Nova stops at once and does not try that card again, because only the customer can fix it and card companies penalize repeated tries.
• When a charge stops for good, everyone who manages Nova Payments gets a message that the payment failed (its button opens the scheduled payments list), and the customer gets an email asking them to update their card, with a link to the saved cards on their portal. The email is not sent when Ask customers to update a card that keeps failing is off in your Nova Payments settings, or to a customer who has opted out of invoice messages or who prefers texts.

If something looks different

• A notice at the top says "Scheduled payments are turned off for your business.": press Turn it on. The Nova Payments page opens on Payment options with the switch highlighted. If the notice says to ask an owner or admin instead, your role cannot change payment settings. If it says Not included in your plan, your plan does not include scheduled payments.

• The panel says charging a card on a schedule needs Charge saved cards automatically or Saved cards: that switch is off. Press Turn it on, or choose Generate invoice only, which does not charge a card.

• The Saved payment method list is empty: the customer's card is not authorized for future charges. Save it again with Authorize future charges ticked.

• An item reads Needs attention: every retry was declined, or the bank refused the card for good. Unless that email is off for them, the customer has already been asked to update their card; once they have, schedule the charge again.

• The panel will not let you change an item: Nova is still confirming the original charge. Wait a moment and open it again.

• You want the same charge every month instead of once: see Set up recurring billing.

Open Scheduled Payments