Collecting conference fees by direct debit

Can conference fees also be collected by direct debit?
If so, how can I activate this?

(A German version of this article is available.)

ConfTool Pro offers the possibility to receive payments via SEPA Direct Debit.
This requires a contract with your bank, which acts as a financial service provider for you and collects the funds from the accounts of your customers/participants. You also need a Creditor Identifier (CI). The customer/participant can then issue a SEPA Direct Debit mandate via the ConfTool system to the conference organizer. The organizers will have to transmit the corresponding bank data of the customer (essentially manually) to their bank in order for it to collect the fees for the organizers.

Since this process is relatively time-consuming, in most cases direct debit is not the best option for conferences (with a one-time fee collection). In addition, participants usually have 6-8 weeks to revoke the direct debit. Such chargebacks cannot occur when participants transfer the fees directly to the account of the organizer.

To activate direct debiting, please go to the following settings page:
Overview=> Settings=> Manage Payment Options
Please activate the expert settings first (at the bottom right in the footer of the page) and then scroll down to the section "Direct Debit".

For the option "Enable Direct Debit Payments?" please select the setting "Yes, enabled for participants of all countries, where the method is available".

After activating, further input fields become visible.

For the option "Country for Direct Debits", you can for example activate the Direct Debit payment option for all countries in the SEPA area (you can find information on the countries belonging to SEPA here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area ). Alternatively, you can also activate the Direct Debit for a single country only, for example if you wish to collect fees by direct debit only from Germany. For countries outside the SEPA area you would have to ask your bank how exactly the conditions and procedures for direct debits in your country look like and whether they can be mapped by the ConfTool system.

In the field "Address of Payment Recipient", enter the address of the creditor to whom the participant's payment is to be credited.

In the field "Creditor Identifier (CI)", enter the number to be identified. This number is usually made available to you via the banking institution that collects the amount for you. In Germany, creditor identification numbers are issued by the Deutsche Bundesbank.

The following text is usually entered in the field "Mandate Information":
One-off SEPA direct debit ("direct debit authorisation")
...because you will only collect the participation fee from the participants once (and it is not a recurring payment). The mandate reference in combination with the creditor identifier number clearly identifies the mandate on which the direct debit transaction is based.

Please test your settings after activating the direct debit option.

You can find further information here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_debit
https://www.sparkasse.de/unsere-loesungen/firmenkunden/konten-karten/sepa-lastschrift.html (in German)
https://www.haerting.de/neuigkeit/das-schriftlichkeitserfordernis-der-sepa-lastschrift (in German)