How do I Receive and Record Payments?

HomeGauge offers numerous ways to record payments received, giving you seamless ways to manage your business within our platform. To take payment you first need to have an invoice; for more information on How to Manage Invoices on the Dashboard (click here). The following article will explore three ways to handle transactions and have them recorded on the Dashboard:

• Taking credit card payments online
• Manually Taking an Online Payment
• Entering payments manually
• Allow REPS to pay for inspections
• Taking payment anonymously

Online Credit Card Payments

Giving customers the ability to pay for inspections online is the most convenient way to handle payments. Once HG Payments has been set up and connected with your HomeGauge profile, a customer will be prompted to pay after they log in.

1. The customer will log into their Customer Dashboard.
2. They will locate the specific property that requires payment and click Inspection Details.
   
3. If there is an open invoice, there will be a banner notifying the customer of the amount requested. They will click Pay Now.
   
4. They will fill in a valid credit card.
   
5. Scroll to the bottom and click Submit.
   
6. They will receive confirmation that the payment was successful. You will receive a notification email about the payment.

Manually Taking an Online Payment

If the customer or REP gave you credit card information to take payment, say at the inspection or over the phone. You can take their payment by Taking an Online Payment.

1. To Take Payment, first follow the steps above to view the invoice.
2. Once viewing the invoice, click Take Online Payment. This will take you to the Online Payment screen.
3. Enter the fields for Card Billing Information. All fields are required; however, you can save time by clicking Fill from Contacts and selecting the contact you to enter information for. The address needs to match the billing address for the card.  
4. Enter the Credit Card Payment fields. All of these fields are required. 
5. Click Make a Secure Payment to record the payment

Manually Entering Offline Payments

If you don't have HG Payments setup or favor other payment methods, you can record payments manually on the Dashboard.

1. Locate the property on the Dashboard. Click the red dollar amount due.
   
2. You will be taken to the online invoice. Click the Record Online Payment Button.
   
3. Click the Payment Method drop down and selected the most appropriate payment method.
   
4. If you would like the information of the payer to display on the receipt fill in the optional Payer Information fields. To save time, you can Fill from contacts.
5. Click Record Payment. This will take you back to the Payment Information Page, and the invoice will now show a green check mark and green text showing the amount paid.
   
6. The report will now be marked as paid.
   

Allow REPS to pay for inspections

Any Real Estate Professional (REP) associated with the Appointment will be able to view the invoice(s) and complete payment by default. You can disable this feature under Company Settings.

1. Log onto your Dashboard and click Account Settings (on the left) > Company Options.
2. Locate the box titled Payment Settings.
3. Uncheck the box next to Allow REPS to Pay for Inspections [Default]
4. Click Save Company Options at the bottom.

Anonymous Payments

It is possible to have payments sent to you without having a customer log in to do so. Situations, where this need may arise, are rare. Enabling this feature can allow a customer to pay for a report without it being released. It's for this reason that we are not recommending the use of this feature and to seek other ways to take payments. In order to use this feature:

1. Log onto your Dashboard and click Account Settings (on the left) > Company Options.
2. Locate the box titled Payment Settings.
3. Check the box next to Allow Anonymous Payments.
4. Click Save Company Options at the bottom.

If a customer is making an anonymous payment to you:

1. Verify that your profile is listed in search results. Click Profile (on the left) > Profile Contact Info. Scroll to the bottom and click the box for Show Profile in Search Results. Click Save Changes.
2. Have the customer find your HG profile by clicking this link for our inspector finder.
3. Click on your company name to go into your profile.
4. Click on the button Pay Online Now.
   
5. Here, they can log in to make a payment or click Make Other Payment to make an anonymous payment.
   
6. They will then fill out their card info and click Make a Secure Payment.