Frequently Asked Questions related to VendorPay, WorkSpace's digital payment platform.

FAQ Guide

General Information:

What is the overall process? 

Vendors are paid in five simple, traceable steps:

What is our objective?

• Pay vendors with virtual credit cards. Automatically generate a secure credit card number sent to each vendor as a “single-use” payment, all over email.
• Stick with familiar tools. Set up accounts, process payments, add vendors, and report on spending from within WorkSpace. Records are automatically saved on the platform.
• Encourage vendors to accept credit card payments. Aside from convenience, cost, security, and cash flow, suppliers will face increasing demands to accept digital payments. 30% of US-based companies plan to decrease their use of checks over the next 3 years (Wall Street Journal).

What is a virtual card?

Virtual credit cards (VCCs) are pretty much what they sound like – virtual versions of physical cards. 

Virtual cards can be processed by anyone who accepts traditional credit card payments, which typically includes the vast majority of your vendor community.

They have expiration dates, security codes, and multi-digit card numbers that can be entered and claimed by any vendor who accepts traditional credit cards. Unlike physical credit cards, VCCs are unique and pre-funded for the amount of the transaction.

• A virtual card is an automatically generated, single-use 16-digit card number that exists electronically, rather than on a physical card
• The virtual card is pre-funded and can only be claimed for the amount approved by the payer
• Any firm accepting traditional cards can accept VCCs by simply “swiping”, or claiming, the card with their existing credit card partner- no new infrastructure required

Is it secure?

All Virtual Credit Cards (VCCs) are unique and are only funded for their designated transaction amounts. Unlike ACH, which requires sharing sensitive bank information, VCCs are significantly more secure as they only contain the funds to exactly cover the invoiced amount. Recent data shows that over 60% of domestic firms have been targeted by financial hackers in 2020 alone!

Why are we doing this again?

Today, paying vendors involves printing and stamping checks, sending via physical mail, scanning records, storage in filing cabinets, and painful reconciliation to make sure payments get made on time. There is also an increasing security and fraud risk.

Digital Payments eliminates these burdens and allows you to pay vendors directly via one-time, virtual credit cards, all managed in a cloud-based system.

• Improve cash management and collections: dramatically reduce the timeframe from issued invoice to received payment
• Remove operational burdens: eliminate time spent chasing late or missing funds and eliminate trips to the mailbox
• Reduce exposure to check fraud and lost or stolen checks

Wait...why would a vendor sign up to be paid by virtual cards?

Great question! Virtual credit cards are rising in prominence in the B2B world, and there are several reasons why: 

Security: All Virtual Credit Cards (VCCs) are unique and are only funded for their designated transaction amounts. Unlike ACH, which requires sharing sensitive bank information, VCCs are significantly more secure as they only contain the funds to exactly cover the invoiced amount.

Speed: vendors want to get paid, quickly and on time. With cumbersome check processes and the challenges of physical mail (especially in a pandemic), vendors are often cashing checks for services rendered months in the past. VCCs are received within days of clearing the approvals process. Research shows most businesses spend up to 2 weeks a year chasing late payments and still write off 5-10% as bad debt.

Controls: VCC payments come with more transaction details and are tied directly to the invoice rendered. Mystery, lump-sum payments no longer require decoding. Currently, the cost to process an invoice is $10-12 dollars…. Digital Payments help streamline this unnecessary expenditure.

As long as the vendor accepts credit cards today, VCCs are applicable: no new payments infrastructure is required. Transactions fall under the same terms and conditions that govern traditional card payments

Navigation And Views:

What do all the statuses mean on the VendorPay page?

Each transaction will go through multiple states as a Virtual Credit Card (VCC): from funding to fully processed. The state of each transaction can be found on the right side of the VendorPay page next to each respective transaction. 

The transaction states flow in the order below: 

Pending - The card hasn't been funded yet

Funding - This status would indicate that the VCC is in the process of being funded.

Funded - This status would indicate that the VCC has been successfully funded from the bank account.

Notifying - This status indicates that the VCC is in the process of being sent to the vendor's payment remittance email.

Issued - This status indicates that the VCC was sent to their payment remittance email. (the preferred vendor email to receive VCC payment)

Processing - The vendor has cashed the VCC and the cased is still processing.

Processed - This status indicates that the full payment was "swiped" processed and funds have cleared.

Voiding - This status indicates that the VCC is in the process of being deactivated.

Voided - This status indicates that the VCC is deactivated.

Is the payment linked to the original invoice inside WorkSpace?

Yes, you can! Each transaction will have a hyperlinked invoice number you can click on regardless of the status of the digital payment!

Can I filter the virtual card payments by Company?

Yes, you can! By selecting the company in the left panel you can filter the digital payment transactions by the company you have chosen.

Can I filter the virtual card payments by a certain time range?

Yes, you can! By selecting the time range in the left panel you can filter the digital payment transactions by the time range.

Where do I go to see the payment remittance address for each check?

You can verify the payment remittance address for each check under the check details under each transaction.

Workflow:

What does the property team do versus the accounting team to issue virtual cards?

• Properties receive invoices for services rendered by vendors (can be one-time or recurring)
• Property managers enter the invoice information in WorkSpace
• Payments go through their typical approvals and release process, between WorkSpace and the customer’s accounting software
• When payments are approved, INSTEAD of triggering a check printing process, Digital Payments directly emails a virtual credit card directly to the vendor
• The vendor receives a Virtual Credit Card in their email, and “swipes” it into their payments terminal, just like a credit card, to receive funds

Can I set up bank accounts and vendors?

No, the bank account set up and vendor activation will be done by someone with VendorPay Admin role permissions. Contact your property's admin to set up your property's bank account and activate each respective vendor.

What does the vendor need to be able to accept digital payments?

As long as their business accepts credit cards today, Virtual Credit Cards (VCCs) are applicable: no new payments infrastructure is required. Transactions fall under the same terms and conditions that govern traditional card payments

If they are able to process credit cards then by providing the below we can activate the vendor for VendorPay!

1. Acknowledge that they are opting in for VendorPay
2. Provide a payment remittance email
    

These steps can be done by the vendor here.

I have a vendor that is interested in getting paid through VendorPay. How do I set them up?

You can provide the vendor this link to read more and opt-in.

The vendor activation will be done by someone with VendorPay Admin permission. Once the vendor has submitted their information their account will be activated by the property's admin.

What documentation or paper trail is created from the issued payment/card through to vendor swipe?

Each Virtual Credit Card (VCC) will have an associated transaction record under VendorPay. 

You have the ability to filter the transactions by Company and time range.

You will be able to view:

• Vendor Name
• Company
• Check Details
• Invoice(s)
• Card Details
• Status of Payment

For more information on how to view and filter transactions please visit the Navigation And Views section.

Can I block a vendor from being paid, is there a fail-stop?

Yes, you are able to block a vendor from being paid through digital payments by contacting someone with VendorPay Admin permission. Contact your property's admin to stop vendor payment.

How does the vendor "swipe" the Virtual Credit Card (VCC)?

1. From the Digital Payment Advisory Email, click on the here link to access the virtual credit card information for payment.

Generate a verification code that will be sent to the same email their virtual credit was sent to.

1. Enter the verification code.
2. Click Submit.

Virtual Credit Card(VCC) will be displayed and ready for processing through their Credit Card processor.

Note: They need to be sure to save their VCC information as they will not be able to re-display their VCC information.

After their virtual card is displayed, enter the 16‐digit account number, the CVC, the amount, expiration date, and ZIP Code into your point of sale terminal.

Issue Remediation:

Where does the vendor go if the card doesn’t work?

The vendor will contact you first for issue remediation. The first step will be to verify with the vendor that they properly entered in the correct Virtual Credit Card (VCC) into their payments terminal.

• The 16‐digit account number
• The CVC
• The amount
• The expiration date
• The ZIP Code

The next step will be to contact your property's accountant or admin.

The vendor’s email is wrong / has changed. How do I adjust it so they can get paid?

Please submit a ticket to WorkSpace Support with the following information from the vendor:

• Current remittance email address
• New remittance email address
• Confirmation that the new email address is for a specific property/properties or if the change request applies to all properties serviced by the vendor

In this new process, what do I need to communicate to the vendor?

1. They should expect a Digital Payment Advisory Email from the email address: update@from.workspace.cc
   Note: We recommend that they add this address to their Contacts to ensure these emails do not get sent to their spam folder.
2. The invoice number will show up in the email – easier to reconcile their invoices to the payments. Simpler record keeping.
3. If they have any other questions, you can point them to the Vendor FAQ.

What happens if we sent the payment to the wrong email?

In the case that a payment was sent to the wrong email, please enter in a Support Ticket.

What happens if we need to reissue a payment?

You have the ability to resend a remittance email by clicking on "Resend Remittance Email" for each transaction within VendorPay.

By resending the remittance email, the previously generated virtual credit card link will expire. The vendor will receive a new email and virtual credit card link, which will expire in 30 days.

Can I void a payment?

You will need to contact your property's accountant or admin to start the voiding process.

How long does the vendor have access to the virtual card?

The link to the Virtual Credit Card (VCC) will expire after 30 days from the date the Virtual Credit Card was issued. If the link has expired, please resend the payment remittance email following these instructions.

A vendor has contacted me about an incorrect payment amount, what do I do?

You will need to contact your property's accountant or admin to investigate.

What do I do if a vendor is requesting balance information on a VCC?

If a vendor is contacting you for balance information on a VCC, please create a Support Ticket. 

How long does it take for a transaction to be voided? 

Once a transaction has been voided it can take up to 5-10 business days to see the refund in the user’s account.

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