Payment GatewaysGoCardless

GoCardless

Connect GoCardless to PayLexer to accept Direct Debit, SEPA, ACH, and Open Banking payments globally.

GoCardless is a UK-based fintech company founded in 2011, specialising in bank-to-bank payments through Direct Debit and Open Banking. It is trusted by over 90,000 businesses worldwide and supports recurring and one-off bank payments without requiring card details. GoCardless operates across the UK, Eurozone, US, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

  • Supported Regions (Merchant Accounts): UK, EU, US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand - view full list

  • Supported Currencies: GBP, EUR, USD, AUD, CAD, NZD, SEK, DKK - view full list

Supported Features

  • Direct Debit payments (BACS - UK)

  • SEPA Direct Debit (Eurozone)

  • ACH Direct Debit (US)

  • BECS Direct Debit (Australia)

  • PAD Direct Debit (Canada)

  • Instant Bank Pay via Open Banking (UK)

  • Recurring and one-off payment collection

  • Real-time payment event notifications via webhooks

  • Sandbox environment for testing

Before You Start

Make sure you have:

Looking for a different payment processor? View all supported gateways →

Configuring GoCardless

You need a Live Access Token and a Webhook Secret from GoCardless for this integration.

Getting API Credentials

Log in to your GoCardless dashboard

Go to manage.gocardless.com and sign in.

For sandbox credentials, use manage-sandbox.gocardless.com instead.

Navigate to API Tokens

In the left sidebar, click Developers, then click Access token.

Create a new token

Enter a descriptive name such as "PayLexer", then choose Read-write access and click Create.

Copy the token immediately - GoCardless only shows it once. Store it somewhere secure before closing the page.

Adding Credentials to PayLexer

Open PayLexer Dashboard

Log in to your PayLexer dashboard and navigate to Payment Gateways → GoCardless.

Enter your credentials

Paste the Live Access Token and Test Access Token you copied from GoCardless.

Understanding Live/Production and Sandbox Settings:

EnvironmentPurpose
Live / Production (Mandatory)Used for real transactions. Cannot be empty, even when testing.
Test / Sandbox (Optional)Used for testing only. No real money is processed.

How PayLexer selects credentials:

  • Debug/Test mode ON → Test credentials are used

  • Debug/Test mode OFF → Live credentials are used

Test and save

Click Test Connection to verify your credentials, then click Save Configuration.

Configuring Webhooks (Mandatory)

Webhooks enable real-time payment updates and significantly improve reliability.

Benefits of Webhooks:

  • Instant payment status updates

  • Automatic refund processing

  • Dispute notifications

Go to Webhooks in GoCardless

In your GoCardless dashboard, navigate to Developers -> API settings. Click Create and then Webhook endpoint

Add a new webhook endpoint

Fill the Name and URL of the endpoint. Select Generate a secret for me

You can find this URL in your PayLexer dashboard under Payment Gateways → GoCardless → Webhook Settings.

Repeat this step in your GoCardless sandbox dashboard using the sandbox webhook URL from PayLexer if you want test events delivered during development.

Copy the Webhook Secret

After creating the endpoint, GoCardless displays a Webhook Endpoint Secret. Copy it.

This secret is only shown once. Copy it before navigating away.

Paste the Webhook Secret into PayLexer

Back in your PayLexer dashboard under Payment Gateways → GoCardless, paste the secret into the Webhook Secret field and click Save Configuration.

Integrate GoCardless to Your Website

If you have already added and configured your site, you can enable GoCardless in your existing setup.

Go to Websites

Navigate to Websites in your PayLexer dashboard.

Edit your website

Click the Edit Icon of your added website.

Enable GoCardless

Click the checkbox to enable GoCardless for the website.

If you haven't added a website yet, Continue to Add Your Website →

Troubleshooting

Best Practices

  • Test all payment flows in GoCardless sandbox mode before enabling live credentials

  • Set up webhooks before going live - Direct Debit relies on asynchronous events and will not update payment status reliably without them

  • Use descriptive names for API tokens (e.g. "PayLexer - Production") to identify them easily in the GoCardless dashboard

  • Monitor the GoCardless webhook log under Developers → Webhooks regularly during initial setup

  • Note that Direct Debit payments are not instant - set customer expectations accordingly on your checkout or confirmation pages

FAQs

Still Have Questions?

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