Account Billing Activation
This page is a tutorial for activating Account Billing. For a full feature overview → Account Billing
Learn how to activate Account Billing on your DOKU Dashboard. Before the feature can be used, at least one compatible payment channel must be enabled and configured on your account — and this requires coordination with your DOKU Account Manager.
Prerequisites
Account Billing activation has two tiers of prerequisites with different owners and lead times.
Tier 1 — Platform (Self-Serve)
This step is self-serve and takes effect immediately.
Tier 2 — Payment Channel (Requires Account Manager)
Payment channel activation is not self-serve. It requires coordination with your DOKU Account Manager and may involve acquirer review. Allow several business days before the channel is active. Complete Tier 2 before starting the activation steps below.
Payment Channel Requirements
Credit Card
Account Billing requires two Credit Card payment types working together: one for the initial card tokenization (SALE) and one for all subsequent recurring charges (RECURRING or MOTO). Both must be active on your account.
Payment Types
SALE
Handles the initial card tokenization — the registration transaction that securely vaults the customer's card as a token. This is the void charge executed when a customer first registers.
✅ Always required
RECURRING
Processes all subsequent auto-debit charges against the stored token, using a RECURRING transaction flag.
✅ If your acquirer supports RECURRING
MOTO
Processes all subsequent auto-debit charges against the stored token, using a MOTO (Mail Order Telephone Order) transaction flag. Alternative to RECURRING for acquirers that use MOTO for card-not-present recurring charges.
✅ If your acquirer supports MOTO
Valid Combinations
The combination you need is determined by your acquirer — not a merchant preference. Both combinations always include SALE:
SALE + RECURRING
Your acquirer processes recurring auto-debit charges using the RECURRING transaction flag
SALE + MOTO
Your acquirer processes recurring auto-debit charges using the MOTO transaction flag
Not sure which combination applies to you? Ask your DOKU Account Manager: "For my Credit Card acquirer, should I request SALE + RECURRING or SALE + MOTO for Account Billing?" They will confirm the correct combination based on your acquirer's configuration.
Why SALE Is Always Required
SALE is the tokenization transaction. When a customer registers their card, Account Billing executes a SALE charge that is immediately voided — no money is collected. This step creates the secure token that all future RECURRING or MOTO charges are billed against. Without SALE, there is no token, and no subsequent charge can be processed.
→ See How Billing Dates Work for the full registration flow including the void charge behavior.
Direct Debit
Direct Debit enables automated balance deductions directly from a customer's linked bank account. There are no payment type variants — activation is straightforward. However, Direct Debit availability is issuer-specific: the bank issuers available to your account depend on your acquirer configuration.
Customer authorizes the debit mandate once during registration
Subsequent charges are pulled automatically from their bank account on each billing date
No card credential re-entry required for future billing cycles
Contact your DOKU Account Manager to confirm which bank issuers are available for Direct Debit on your account before requesting activation. Currently support MANDIRI and BRI.
Step-by-Step Guide
Open Account Billing
Log in to DOKU Dashboard, then navigate to FlexiBill → Account Billing from the left sidebar.
If Account Billing has never been activated, you will land on the activation page.
Verify Payment Channel Status
The dashboard displays the current activation status of your payment channels under the Cards, Direct Debit, and e-Wallet tabs.
Channel status states:
Active
The channel is live and ready to use for Account Billing. Proceed to Step 4.
Pending
A channel activation request has been submitted and is awaiting acquirer review. No action needed — wait for approval confirmation from your Account Manager.
No Data / Inactive
No compatible channel is active. An "Account Billing Cannot Be Used Yet" banner will appear.
If no compatible channel is active, click Request Activation to submit a channel activation request to DOKU.
If you are requesting Credit Card activation, specify the correct payment type combination for your acquirer (SALE + RECURRING or SALE + MOTO) when submitting the request. An incorrect combination will require a resubmission and extend the activation timeline.
Configure Bill Execution Preferences
Once at least one compatible payment channel shows Active status, click Next to configure your billing execution settings:
Time Execution
The daily time window (HH:MM WIB) when the scheduler attempts to process charges on each billing date. Default: 00:00 WIB.
Send One Bill/Month
When enabled, ensures a customer is only successfully charged once per calendar month — even if multiple billing dates or retry dates are configured. All subsequent attempts in the same month after a successful charge are automatically set to ALREADY_PAID.
Freeze the Card
When enabled, automatically bypasses cards previously flagged by the processor as Stolen, Frozen, or Restricted — avoids unnecessary transaction fees on cards that will not succeed.
URL Amount
(Optional) For dynamic billing amounts — provide an endpoint URL that the system queries just before each scheduled charge to retrieve the exact billing_amount for that cycle.
URL Notification
(Optional) Default fallback endpoint for receiving payment execution results for every automated charge attempt.
New Recurring Alert URL
(Optional) Default endpoint for receiving success callbacks when a customer's card is registered and tokenized.
Time Execution and Send One Bill/Month work together with calendar-based billing dates. If you configure retry dates (e.g., 5th, 6th, 7th) for a customer, Time Execution controls what time charges are attempted on each of those dates, and Send One Bill/Month ensures the customer is not charged again once a retry succeeds. → How Billing Dates Work
Click Save to apply the configuration.
What's Next
Once Account Billing is activated and configured, choose your integration model:
👉 DOKU Hosted Scheduler — Let DOKU fully manage the billing schedule and charge execution
👉 Merchant Hosted Scheduler — Control your own billing schedule and trigger charges on demand
👉 Connectivity & File Security (SFTP) — Set up secure SFTP access for bulk file-based billing operations
FAQ
Why is SALE always required even though Account Billing charges customers automatically?
SALE is the tokenization step — it creates the secure card token that all future auto-debit charges are billed against. Without an initial SALE transaction, no token exists and no RECURRING or MOTO charge can be processed. The SALE on registration day is immediately voided, so no money is collected — it is purely a technical prerequisite for tokenization.
What is the difference between RECURRING and MOTO for subsequent charges?
Both process auto-debit charges against a stored card token — the difference is in the transaction flag sent to the acquirer. RECURRING uses a recurring transaction flag; MOTO uses a Mail Order Telephone Order flag. The behavior for Account Billing is the same from the merchant's perspective. Which one you use is determined by your acquirer, not your preference — confirm with your DOKU Account Manager.
How do I know which Credit Card combination — SALE + RECURRING or SALE + MOTO — applies to my account?
Ask your DOKU Account Manager. The correct combination depends on which acquirer processes your Credit Card transactions and which transaction flags that acquirer supports for recurring billing. Your Account Manager will confirm the exact combination to request.
How long does payment channel activation take?
Payment channel activation requires acquirer review and is not instant. Allow several business days from the time you submit the request. Your DOKU Account Manager will notify you once the channel is active. You can check the current request status under the Cards or Direct Debit tabs on the Payment Method screen in the dashboard.
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