Releventful Pay is powered by Payabli, our integrated payment-processing partner. Although transactions processed through Releventful ultimately appear in your Payabli account, Releventful and the Payabli dashboard provide two different payment experiences.
Understanding the difference will help ensure that your invoices, payment schedules, convenience fees, reporting, and automations remain accurate.
What is Releventful Pay?
Releventful Pay is the payment experience built directly into the Releventful platform.
Releventful manages the invoice, payment schedule, client-facing payment experience, convenience fees, automatic payments, and payment-related workflows. Payabli securely processes the transaction and deposits the funds into your connected bank account.
When a payment is completed through Releventful Pay:
The payment is automatically recorded in Releventful.
The related payment schedule is marked as paid.
The invoice balance is updated.
Convenience fees are displayed and calculated according to your Releventful settings.
Payment-triggered automations can continue.
The transaction also appears in the Payabli dashboard for funding and transaction reporting.
This provides one connected experience across your sales, billing, and event-management process.
What is the Payabli dashboard?
Payabli also provides a separate merchant dashboard for managing the processing side of your account.
The Payabli dashboard is especially helpful for reviewing:
Transactions
Funding batches and deposit timing
ACH returns
Chargebacks
Refund and processing activity
Merchant-account information
Payabli may also provide tools such as payment pages, a virtual terminal, and Payabli-generated invoices. However, payments created directly through those tools are separate from the Releventful invoicing and payment workflow.
Releventful Pay and Payabli at a glance
Capability | Releventful Pay | Payabli Dashboard |
Create event invoices | Yes | Separate from Releventful |
Create standalone invoices | Yes | Yes |
Create payment schedules | Yes | Not connected to Releventful schedules |
Automatically update Releventful invoice balances | Yes | No |
Mark Releventful payments as paid | Yes | No |
Trigger Releventful payment automations | Yes | No |
Manage Releventful convenience fees | Yes | No |
Review funding and deposits | Limited transaction visibility | Yes |
Review ACH returns and chargebacks | Contact support or review processing activity | Yes |
Use a virtual terminal or Payabli payment page | No | Yes |
Why we recommend collecting payments through Releventful
Whenever possible, we recommend creating and collecting payments through Releventful.
This keeps your client’s financial activity connected to the correct invoice and allows Releventful to automatically manage:
Invoice balances
Payment due dates
Payment schedules
Automatic payments
Convenience fees
Payment reminders
Payment-status reporting
Downstream automations
When a payment is created directly in Payabli, Releventful does not receive the invoice context needed to automatically apply that payment to a Releventful invoice or payment schedule.
The transaction will still be processed and funded through your Payabli merchant account, but it may need to be recorded manually in Releventful.
Important information about convenience fees
Releventful and Payabli each have their own convenience-fee framework.
Within Releventful, the convenience fee is calculated and presented as part of the Releventful invoice and payment experience. This allows the fee to appear clearly to the client and remain connected to the invoice total and payment schedule.
Payabli can also support convenience fees through its own system. However, Payabli’s fee configuration applies at the merchant-account level and is separate from the convenience-fee settings inside Releventful.
Because of this, convenience fees should not be enabled in both systems at the same time. Doing so could result in the client being charged both the Releventful convenience fee and the Payabli convenience fee.
If you would like Payabli to manage convenience fees instead of Releventful, please contact Releventful Support before making any changes. Our team will need to review and adjust the payment configuration in your Releventful account.
Can I create an invoice that is not connected to an event?
Yes. Releventful allows you to create a standalone invoice from the Billing area.
A standalone invoice is not connected to a specific event, but it still gives you access to the benefits of Releventful Pay, including:
Convenience fees
Payment schedules
Automatic payment options
Invoice tracking
Payment reminders
Payment reporting
This is generally the recommended alternative to creating a separate invoice in the Payabli dashboard.
To create a standalone invoice:
Open the Billing area in Releventful.
Select the option to add an invoice.
Choose to create a standalone invoice.
Add the invoice details and payment schedule.
Send the invoice or payment request to the client.
Can someone other than the primary client make a payment?
Yes. A payment link generated through a Releventful invoice can be shared with another authorized payer, such as a family member contributing toward an event.
The payer can securely complete the payment through the shared payment link without needing access to the client’s full Releventful portal or event-planning information.
This allows you to accept third-party contributions while keeping the payment properly connected to the invoice and payment schedule.
What happens if I use a Payabli payment page or virtual terminal?
Payments collected directly through a Payabli payment page, Payabli invoice, or the Payabli virtual terminal will still be processed through your merchant account.
However:
Releventful may not know which invoice the payment belongs to.
The Releventful invoice will not automatically update.
The related payment schedule may remain unpaid.
Releventful payment automations will not be triggered.
Releventful convenience fees will not automatically apply.
The payment may need to be manually recorded in Releventful.
For this reason, Payabli payment tools are best used for exceptional transactions that do not need to be connected to a Releventful invoice or workflow.
Which option should I use?
Use Releventful Pay when the payment relates to:
An event invoice
A client payment schedule
A standalone invoice
An automatic payment
A payment reminder
A payment that should trigger additional Releventful workflows
Use the Payabli dashboard when you need to:
Review deposits or batch funding
Review ACH returns
Review chargebacks
Research a processing transaction
Access merchant-account reporting
Process an exceptional transaction that does not need to update Releventful
Need assistance?
Before enabling convenience fees or changing payment settings within Payabli, please contact Releventful Support.
Our team can help confirm the best workflow for your business and ensure your payment configuration continues to provide a clear, reliable experience for you and your clients.