Creating Customers
Required fields
Section titled “Required fields”| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Name | Full name |
| Valid email address |
Optional fields
Section titled “Optional fields”| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Reference | Your internal identifier — max 60 chars, unique per account |
| Business name | Trading name if different from contact name |
| Billing email | Separate email for invoices and receipts |
| Timezone | IANA timezone — defaults to account timezone if blank |
| Currency | ISO 4217 — defaults to account currency if blank |
| Phone (mobile) | With country code |
| Phone (home) | With country code |
| Phone (work) | With country code |
| Billing address | Country, line1, line2, city/suburb, state/region, postal code |
| Shipping address | Same structure as billing address |
Notification preferences
Section titled “Notification preferences”These decide which of your automation rules’ messages the customer gets.
| Preference | Description | Starts |
|---|---|---|
send_payment_emails |
Your automation rules’ emails. A customer who uses the unsubscribe link in one turns this off | On |
send_sms_reminders |
Your reminder rules’ SMS | Off |
send_sms_failures |
Your failure rules’ SMS | Off |
The two SMS preferences need a valid mobile phone number. SMS reminders and failure notices are sent only by your automation rules: with none, the customer gets none. Over the API, an update changes only the preferences it names.
Fee preferences
Section titled “Fee preferences”| Preference | Description |
|---|---|
customer_pays_transaction_fees |
Pass transaction fees to the customer |
customer_pays_setup_fee |
Charge a setup fee on plan creation |
These override the account-level fee settings for this customer.
Consent
Section titled “Consent”The Authorised checkbox records that the customer has given consent for direct debit or recurring payments. Checking this field sets the consent_authorised_at timestamp. This timestamp is set once and is never overwritten on subsequent edits.
Collecting a payment method
Section titled “Collecting a payment method”When creating a customer you choose how to collect their payment method:
- Customer is with me — collect the card or bank account immediately via the hosted payment form.
- Email the customer — send the customer a secure link to enter their own details.
In sandbox, the email only reaches people in your team, so use your own email address for a test customer (Emails in test mode).
If the method isn’t collected during creation (you chose Email the customer, or deferred), the customer is placed on hold with the reason waiting for payment method. You can collect it later from the customer detail page with Collect Payment Details. Once a method is successfully collected, the customer returns to active automatically.
Adding a payment plan on creation
Section titled “Adding a payment plan on creation”Enable the Set up payment plan toggle during customer creation to add a plan and collect a payment method in the same flow. The plan is created in draft state; if the payment method is deferred, the plan activates automatically once the method is collected (see Creating Plans).
Custom attributes
Section titled “Custom attributes”If your account has custom attributes configured (see Custom Attributes), they appear at the bottom of the form. Required attributes must be filled in before saving.