Handling non-immediate payment gateways (COD, Wire Transfer)

Tips on handling and syncing payments for WooCommerce orders paid by non-immediate WooCommerce payment methods, such as Cash On Delivery and Wire Transfer.

Written by the MyWorks Team

Updated at June 27th, 2023

When an order is placed in WooCommerce, most of the time it's with a payment gateway like PayPal, Stripe - or a different 3rd party gateway where the payment must take place as the order is being placed.

In cases like this, once the order is created, MyWorks Sync will automatically sync the order and payment over to Xero, normally as an Invoice + Payment (depending on what's chosen in Settings > Orders).

However, when orders are placed in WooCommerce where a payment is not immediately recorded for the order, then only the invoice (or quote) can be automatically synced to Xero - not the payment. Some example payment gateways that fall into this range would be:

  • Bank Transfer
  • Wire Transfer
  • Purchase Order
  • Cash on Delivery

Here's some guidelines for how to handle syncing if your WooCommerce store has gateways that don't have an immediate payment recorded.

You can set orders to sync over as Invoices or Quotes in MyWorks Sync > Settings > Order. 

For orders placed in WooCommerce where the payment isn't immediately recorded (like COD, Wire Transfer, Purchase Order, Bank Transfer), MyWorks can sync only the invoice (without payment) to Xero, or sync the order as a Quote to Xero. Here's a few tips on how to fit this well with your workflow!

  • You can keep the invoice open in Xero until payment is received, then simply record the payment in Xero to close the invoice out. This ensures accounting transparency by not recording a payment in Xero until it's actually received.
  • You can set what the "status" should be of this invoice we create in Xero: Draft, Submitted for Approval, or Approved - in MyWorks Sync > Settings > Order.
  • MyWorks can change the status of the Xero invoice / sync a payment into Xero for this invoice in the below ways:
    • When the WooCommerce order status is changed to a specific status, MyWorks can sync a payment for this invoice into Xero - by enabling this setting in MyWorks Sync > Map > Payment Methods.
    • In the widget in the WooCommerce order, the Xero Invoice status can be changed as desired.