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ReCurr Tutorial Series — Part 5: Manual EFT Subscriptions

Welcome back to the ReCurr tutorial series. In Part 4 we explored the admin dashboard for managing subscriptions. This tutorial covers Manual EFT subscriptions — a feature designed for corporate and enterprise clients who pay via bank transfer (EFT) rather than credit card.

Before You Begin

Make sure you have:

Important: Manual EFT subscriptions are created by the store admin on behalf of the customer. They do not go through the standard checkout process. This is an admin-only feature.

How Manual EFT Subscriptions Work

Here’s the lifecycle of a Manual EFT subscription:

  1. Admin creates the subscription manually, selecting the customer and product
  2. ReCurr generates invoices automatically on the configured invoice day (default: 25th of each month)
  3. Customer receives the invoice via email with bank details and an EFT reference
  4. Customer pays via bank transfer using the EFT reference
  5. Admin verifies the payment in their bank account
  6. Admin marks the invoice as paid in the ReCurr dashboard
  7. The cycle repeats each billing period

Step 1: Verify Bank Details Are Configured

Before creating your first Manual EFT subscription, confirm your bank details are set up:

  1. Go to Subscriptions > Settings
  2. Click the Manual EFT tab
  3. Verify that all bank details are filled in:
    • Bank Name
    • Account Name
    • Account Number
    • Branch Code
    • Account Type
  4. Verify the Invoice Day is set (default: 25th)

These bank details appear on every invoice sent to Manual EFT customers. If they’re missing, you’ll see a warning notice on the settings page.

Screenshot 1: Subscriptions > Settings > Manual EFT tab with bank details filled in.

Step 2: Navigate to Add New Subscription

Go to Subscriptions > Add New Subscription.

Screenshot 2: The Add New Subscription page (full overview).

Step 3: Select or Create a Customer

At the top of the page, you’ll see the Customer section with two options:

Option A: Existing Customer

  1. Select Existing Customer (this is the default)
  2. Start typing the customer’s name or email in the search dropdown
  3. Select the customer from the results

Screenshot 3: The customer search dropdown with results showing (format: “Name (email)”).

Option B: Create New Customer

  1. Select Create New Customer
  2. Fill in the customer details:
    • Email (required)
    • First Name (optional)
    • Last Name (optional)
    • Phone (optional)

If a WordPress user with that email already exists, ReCurr will use the existing account. If not, a new customer account will be created automatically.

Screenshot 4: The “Create New Customer” fields expanded (Email, First Name, Last Name, Phone).

Step 4: Select a Subscription Product

In the Subscription Details section:

  1. Select a product from the Product dropdown
  2. Products are listed with their price and billing period (e.g., “Website Maintenance – R499.00/Monthly”)

Only products with subscription enabled will appear in this list.

Variable subscription products (Plus, v2.8.0): with Variable subscription products switched on, the list also offers variable products that have at least one subscription option. Choosing one shows a Variation dropdown — “This product is sold as variations. Choose the one the customer is subscribing to: its own billing period and price apply.” Choose the option; its own price and billing period apply. This screen has no field for an attribute an option leaves as Any, so the subscription records the option’s own attributes only. See Plus Tutorial 7: Variable Subscription Products.

The screen refuses a product it cannot add, with a notice and without creating anything (v2.8.0):

  • “”(product)” has no price, so it cannot be added as a subscription. Enter a price on the product (Products → Edit product) and try again – a Custom Amount does not replace it.” — enter a Regular price on the product first. (Before 2.8.0 such a product caused a critical error and left an Active subscription with no product behind; if you meet one on the Subscriptions list, it was left by such an attempt.)
  • “Variable subscription products are switched off (Subscriptions → Settings → General), so “(product)” cannot be added as a subscription at the moment.” — a variable subscription product while that setting is off.
  • “Please choose a variation of this product that is offered as a subscription.” — a variable product without its option chosen.

Screenshot 5: The Product dropdown showing available subscription products with prices.

Step 5: Choose the Billing Period

After selecting a product, the Billing Period dropdown offers the billing periods that product is sold on (v2.8.8):

  • A product with the billing-cycle choice (Plus): the cycles ticked on it (Month, Quarter, Year), each priced exactly as the cart charges it — its quarterly or annual price or discount included
  • Any other product: its own Billing Period only — a monthly product is invoiced monthly

The dropdown starts on the product’s Billing Period, and the Recurring Amount shows that period’s price. (Before 2.8.8 every product offered Month, Quarter and Year, and a quarter was priced as three months — for example R207.00 where the customer’s cart charges R196.65.) To invoice a client less often than its product’s period, use Bill Every (Step 5a) — each invoice is still one period’s amount.

The billing period determines how often the customer is invoiced.

Screenshot 6: The Billing Period dropdown with available options.

Step 5a: Bill Every (Optional) (v2.8.0)

Directly under Billing Period, Bill Every (1 to 12, default 1) invoices the subscription once every so many billing periods — for example a monthly product with Bill Every 2 is invoiced every second month:

  • Each invoice is one period’s amount — the Recurring Amount (or your Custom Amount). Bill Every only spaces the invoices; it does not add them up. The summary reads, for example, R550.00 every 2 months
  • A monthly subscription’s first scheduled invoice falls on the Nth invoice day after the day you add it; a quarterly or annual one’s on its anniversary N periods on
  • Pro-rata First Invoice is not offered when Bill Every is above 1 — the checkbox is hidden
  • The customer’s payment confirmation email and My Account word the term the same way (every 2 months)
  • At 1, the screen and its invoices behave exactly as before

Screenshot 6b: The Bill Every field under Billing Period, with the Recurring Amount reading “every 2 months”.

Step 6: Set a Custom Amount (Optional)

The Custom Amount field allows you to override the calculated price:

  • Leave it empty to use the standard product price
  • Enter a value to charge a custom amount (e.g., a negotiated corporate rate)

This is useful for enterprise clients with special pricing agreements.

Screenshot 7: The Custom Amount field with placeholder text “Leave empty to use product price”.

Price Summary

A summary box shows the final recurring amount based on your selections:

Recurring Amount: R2,999.99/month

This updates dynamically as you change the product, billing period, or custom amount.

Screenshot 8: The Price Summary box showing the calculated recurring amount.

Step 7: Configure EFT Details

EFT Reference

  • Enter a custom reference, or leave blank to auto-generate one (format: SUB-{ID})
  • This is the reference the customer will use when making their bank transfer
  • Each subscription should have a unique reference so you can match payments to subscriptions

Screenshot 9: The EFT Reference field with placeholder “Auto-generated: SUB-{ID}”.

Invoice Day

The invoice day is displayed here for reference (e.g., “25”). This is a global setting — to change it, go to Subscriptions > Settings > Manual EFT tab.

Alongside it is Payment Terms (v2.7.21, default 7 days) — how long the customer has to pay. It sets the Due Date printed on the invoice, and it is the point from which overdue reminders are counted. Both come from the one setting, so the date you give a customer and the date you start chasing them cannot drift apart.

Pro-rata First Invoice (Monthly Products Only)

For monthly subscriptions, a Pro-rata First Invoice checkbox appears:

  • It defaults to your store’s Pro-rata billing setting (Subscriptions → Settings → General, v2.4.30) — ticked when pro-rata is On, unticked when it’s Off — and you can override it per subscription.
  • If ticked, the first invoice is calculated for the remaining days in the current month. The description shows the exact calculation (e.g., “First invoice will be R249.50 (15 days remaining in 30 day month)”).
  • If unticked, the first invoice is the full monthly amount.
  • Subsequent invoices are always the full monthly amount.
  • It is offered only when Bill Every (Step 5a) is 1.
  • Quarterly and annual subscriptions are never pro-rated: their first invoice is the full amount (v2.8.0: and it is no longer labelled “(Pro-rata first invoice)”). (v2.8.8) They are invoiced on the last invoice day on or before their anniversary — ahead of the period they bill, as a monthly one is: added 9 October with invoice day 25, the next invoice goes out on 25 December, payment due 1 January.

Which months the first invoice carries (v2.8.8). An invoice raised on the invoice day is for the next month (the 25th’s invoice is paid around the 1st). So a monthly subscription added on or after the invoice day has a first invoice that carries the next month too — before 2.8.8 that month was never invoiced:

  • Send first invoice immediately ticked: the rest of this month and the next month in full (R550 a month, added 26 September: R641.67).
  • Unticked: the first scheduled invoice carries every month up to the one it bills (added 10 September: R935.00 on 25 September; added 26 September: R1,191.67 on 25 October).
  • Without pro-rata the first invoice is the full price, as before — but unticked and added on or after the invoice day, the first scheduled invoice also carries the month that would otherwise be lost (R1,100.00).

The line under Pro-rata First Invoice shows what the first invoice will be, with the next month or months it carries, and follows Send first invoice immediately. Subscriptions billed every 2 to 12 months are unchanged.

Screenshot 10: The Pro-rata First Invoice checkbox with the calculated amount description.

Step 8: Review the Sidebar

Send First Invoice

In the right sidebar, you’ll see a checkbox: Send first invoice immediately

  • If ticked (default), the first invoice is created and emailed to the customer as soon as you create the subscription
  • If unticked, the first invoice will be sent on the next scheduled invoice day — for a quarterly or annual subscription too (v2.8.8: before, its first quarter or year was never invoiced when this was unticked)

Screenshot 11: The “Send first invoice immediately” checkbox in the sidebar (ticked by default).

Payment Method Info

The sidebar also confirms the payment method:

  • Manual EFT Transfer
  • “Customer will receive invoice with bank details. Admin will manually mark payments as received.”
  • Your configured bank details are shown for reference

Screenshot 12: The Payment Method Info box showing “Manual EFT Transfer” with bank details.

Step 9: Create the Subscription

  1. Review all details
  2. Click Create Subscription
  3. You’ll be redirected to the subscription detail view with a success message

Screenshot 13: The “Create Subscription” button.

Screenshot 14: The subscription detail page after creation, showing the success message “Manual subscription created successfully.”

Managing Manual EFT Payments

Pending Invoices

When invoices are generated (either immediately or on the scheduled invoice day), they appear in the Pending Invoices section of the subscription detail view. This section only appears for Manual EFT subscriptions that have outstanding invoices.

Each pending invoice shows:

Column Content
Invoice WooCommerce order number (clickable link)
Date Invoice date
Amount Invoice amount
Status Order status
Action “Mark as Paid” button

Screenshot 15: The Pending Invoices section with one or more invoices showing the “Mark as Paid” button.

A red notice at the top of the subscription (v2.7.21) lists every unpaid invoice with its amount and age, turning red once past due. Check this rather than the Details panel: the Next Payment date moves forward when an invoice is raised, not when it is paid, so a subscription with an invoice three months in arrears still shows a comfortable future date. The notice is the only place on the screen that says otherwise.

What the customer is told (v2.8.8): the customer’s emails and My Account name the next invoice and when it falls due — “Next invoice: 25 October 2026 (payment due 1 November 2026)”, the invoice day plus your Payment Terms — instead of a “Next payment” date. Update Card is not offered on a Manual EFT subscription: it is paid by invoice and never charged to a card.

If an invoice shows Not sent beside it, its email did not reach the customer — use Resend.

Marking an Invoice as Paid

When you’ve confirmed the EFT payment has been received in your bank account:

  1. Open the subscription detail view
  2. Find the invoice in the Pending Invoices section
  3. Click Mark as Paid
  4. Confirm when prompted: “Are you sure this payment has been received?”
  5. The invoice status changes to Completed
  6. The payment is recorded in the Payment History
  7. The subscription’s licence key, if it has one, is extended
  8. The customer receives a payment confirmation email
  9. An admin notification email is also sent

Screenshot 16: The confirmation prompt after clicking “Mark as Paid”.

After marking as paid, the invoice moves from Pending Invoices to the Payment History section with a transaction ID in the format MANUAL-EFT-{timestamp}.

Screenshot 17: The Payment History section showing a manual EFT payment record.

If the customer pays through the Pay Now link

You do not need to do anything, and you should not mark the invoice as paid a second time. PayFast tells ReCurr the payment succeeded and the invoice settles itself, doing the same seven things listed above — the licence extension and the renewal email included (v2.7.22). The invoice will already be showing as Completed by the time you look at it.

If you do click Mark as Paid on an invoice the customer has already paid online, ReCurr recognises that it has been settled and does nothing further, rather than recording the payment twice (v2.7.22).

The Monthly Invoice Cycle

Here’s how the automated invoice cycle works for Manual EFT subscriptions:

Day What Happens
25th (default) ReCurr automatically generates invoices for all active Manual EFT subscriptions and emails them to customers
25th–31st Customer makes the EFT payment using the reference provided
1st Payment is expected to be received (aligned with SA billing cycle)
When received Admin verifies payment in bank account and clicks “Mark as Paid”

The invoice day is configurable in Subscriptions > Settings > Manual EFT tab (any day from 1 to 28).

Quarterly and annual subscriptions are invoiced on the same invoice day, but only when they fall due — not every month. (v2.8.8) That is the last invoice day on or before the anniversary, ahead of the period the invoice bills (a quarter starting 9 January is invoiced on 25 December, payment due 1 January), and it is the date shown on the subscription screen, in My Account, in the emails and in Change next payment date. A subscription added before 2.8.8 is invoiced on the invoice day before its date; until that first invoice, your subscription list and its screen still show the anniversary.

A missed invoice run is caught up (v2.8.8). If the morning’s invoice run does not run (a site with no visitor that morning, a scheduled task that failed), the next run catches up: every period is invoiced once — one invoice per subscription per run — and every date stays on the invoice day. A subscription set back to Active with its date behind is invoiced for every period not yet invoiced, one each morning, until it is current; to stop billing for a while, use Pause (Plus).

Moving the next payment date (v2.8.2): if you change a Manual EFT subscription’s next payment date (see Tutorial 4: Managing Subscriptions), the invoice still goes out on your invoice day — the form names that day.

If the invoice is not paid (v2.7.21)

ReCurr chases it for you rather than letting it go quiet:

When What Happens
On the due date Customer is emailed a reminder with the same bank details, reference and Pay Now link as the original invoice
A week later Second reminder
A week after that Final notice
Daily, while anything is outstanding You receive a summary naming each overdue invoice, what is owed, and how late it is

Nothing is suspended or cancelled automatically. Withdrawing service for non-payment is your decision, not the plugin’s. If you do want to stop a customer’s access, cancel or hold the subscription yourself.

Tips for Managing Manual EFT Subscriptions

  1. Use clear EFT references — Corporate clients may have multiple subscriptions. Use descriptive references like HOSTING-ACME-2025 instead of relying on auto-generated ones.

  2. Check your bank account regularly — Manual EFT requires you to verify payments manually. Set a routine to check and mark invoices as paid.

  3. Pro-rata for mid-month signups — Use the pro-rata option for monthly subscriptions created mid-month so the customer isn’t overcharged for a partial first month.

  4. Custom pricing for corporates — Use the Custom Amount field for negotiated rates rather than creating separate products for each client.

  5. Activity log for auditing — Every action is logged. Use the Activity Log in the subscription detail view to track when invoices were sent and payments were marked. Note that a log entry says an invoice was created; check Invoices → Unpaid for whether it was also delivered.

  6. Changing a customer’s email address takes more than one edit. The address is held in several places and they are not linked:

    • The WordPress user account email is where scheduled invoices and overdue reminders are sent
    • The individual invoice carries its own billing email — that is what Resend uses
    • The subscription holds the address that every future invoice is stamped with
    • The licence record has an Email field too, but nothing is ever sent to it

    Changing only the licence record looks like it worked and changes nothing that matters. Update the WordPress user account, and the billing email on any unpaid invoice, before resending.

  7. Leave “Retain pending orders” blank. In WooCommerce > Settings > Accounts & Privacy, that setting moves pending orders to the trash on a schedule. Unpaid ReCurr invoices are exempt from v2.7.21 onward, but the setting still applies to every other order on your store, and there is rarely a good reason to have it set.

What’s Next?

You now know how to create and manage Manual EFT subscriptions for corporate clients. The next tutorial covers what your customers see — the checkout flow and My Account subscription management.

Up next: Tutorial 6: Customer Experience — What checkout looks like and how customers manage their subscriptions.

Quick Checklist

  • [ ] Bank details configured in Subscriptions > Settings > Manual EFT
  • [ ] Invoice day set (default: 25th)
  • [ ] Customer selected or created
  • [ ] Subscription product selected
  • [ ] Billing period chosen
  • [ ] Custom amount entered (if applicable)
  • [ ] EFT reference set (or left to auto-generate)
  • [ ] Pro-rata option considered (monthly products)
  • [ ] “Send first invoice immediately” option reviewed
  • [ ] Subscription created successfully
  • [ ] Understand how to mark invoices as paid when EFT payment is received

Need Help?

This is Part 5 of the ReCurr Tutorial Series. All tutorials are available at cyberdummies.co.za/recurr.

Tutorial Topic
1. Getting Started Install, activate, and initial configuration
2. Creating Subscription Products Billing periods, pricing, and discounts
3. Configuring PayFast Gateway credentials, sandbox vs live, ITN setup
4. Managing Subscriptions Admin dashboard, status management, details
5. Manual EFT Subscriptions Corporate clients paying via bank transfer (you are here)
6. Customer Experience Checkout flow and My Account subscription management
7. Invoicing Invoice generation, PDF attachments, email delivery
8. Settings Reference Complete reference of all available settings

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