> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Total Volume, GoCardless > Total Volume for GoCardless stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Supporting Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Payment Gateway](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > Total amount that successfully **collected via GoCardless bank-debit** in the period across all schemes (BACS Direct Debit UK, SEPA Direct Debit EU, ACH Debit US, Autogiro Sweden, PAD Canada, Becs AU/NZ, Betalingsservice Denmark). Note: GoCardless is **bank-debit only**, not card. This number does not include any card payments. | | | | -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **What it counts** | Every payment on `/payments` where `status = confirmed`, summed by `amount`, in each `currency`. Includes all schemes. | | **API endpoint** | [`GET /payments`](https://developer.gocardless.com/api-reference/#core-endpoints-payments) on GoCardless API. | | **What GoCardless is NOT** | **Not a card processor.** GoCardless does not process Visa / Mastercard / Amex card payments. It debits a customer's bank account directly via the country's bank-debit scheme. Recurring billing focus. | | **Currency** | **Per-scheme currency.** BACS = GBP, SEPA = EUR, ACH = USD, Autogiro = SEK, PAD = CAD, Becs = AUD, Becs NZ = NZD. Multi-scheme merchants see per-currency arithmetic, no FX. | | **Fees / processing cost** | **Gross.** GoCardless fees (typically 1% capped at GBP 2 / EUR 2 / USD 2 per transaction) are NOT deducted. Materially cheaper than card. | | **Refunds** | NOT deducted. Refunds tracked on `/refunds` separately. | | **Indemnity claims (BACS) / Disputes** | NOT deducted. BACS DD Guarantee allows payer to claim back ANY debit indefinitely; SEPA SDD has 8-week + 13-month windows. Tracked in [`goc_chargeback_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/gocardless/chargeback-rate). | | **Failed / declined payments** | Excluded. Lifecycle: `pending_submission` → `submitted` → `confirmed` → `paid_out` → optional `charged_back`. This card counts `confirmed`. | | **Settlement timing** | **2, 5 business days** from creation to confirmation, scheme-dependent. NOT instant. The structural difference from card. | | **Mandate requirement** | Every payment references an active `mandate`. Setup is itself a 1, 5 day process per scheme. | | **Time window** | `30D vsP`. | | **Alert trigger** | `drop >15% vsP`, driven by `revenue_trend`. | | **Roles** | owner, finance, operations | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your GoCardless data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A UK B2B SaaS company ("Northstar Analytics") billing 380 customers monthly via GoCardless BACS Direct Debit, with EU customers on SEPA. The 30-day window covers 03 Apr 26 to 02 May 26. | Scheme | Mandates active | Confirmed payments | Amount | Notes | | --------------------------- | --------------- | ------------------ | ---------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | BACS Direct Debit (UK) | 312 | 308 | GBP 78,400 | Monthly subscription rebills, GBP 199, GBP 599 tier mix | | SEPA Core (EU) | 56 | 55 | EUR 14,200 | Same SaaS, EUR-denominated | | SEPA B2B (large enterprise) | 12 | 12 | EUR 9,600 | Annual prepayment in arrears | | Failed / pending | - | 9 | - | 4 BACS `INSUFFICIENT_FUNDS`, 3 SEPA mandate dispute, 2 still in flight | | Refunds | - | 3 | GBP 597 | Customer over-charge corrections | | Indemnity claims (BACS) | - | 1 | GBP 199 | Customer claimed unauthorised; refunded automatically per BACS DD Guarantee | ```text theme={null} GoCardless total volume (this card): GBP confirmed = GBP 78,400 EUR confirmed (Core + B2B) = EUR 14,200 + 9,600 = EUR 23,800 Multi-scheme arithmetic, no FX. Two currencies sit alongside each other. Net (after refunds and indemnity, GBP) = 78,400 - 597 - 199 = GBP 77,604 GoCardless fees (~ 0.95% blended) ≈ GBP 77,604 - ~ GBP 740 ≈ GBP 76,864 to bank ``` What the merchant might be surprised by: 1. **No card payments.** Northstar accepts both GoCardless DD and Stripe card on their billing page; \~70% of customers pick DD (cheaper for SaaS, set-and-forget). Card volume goes through Stripe, not here. 2. **Settlement timing is days, not minutes.** The 02 May 26 confirmed payments include amounts initiated on 28 Apr 26 (BACS D+3 working). Compare to Stripe / Square where customer-pay and bank-credit are roughly the same week; on GoCardless, "money moved" lags "customer charged" by 3, 5 days. 3. **The indemnity claim is the structural BACS risk.** UK BACS Direct Debit Guarantee allows a payer to claim "this debit was unauthorised" indefinitely. Card-style chargeback rules don't apply to BACS. 4. **Cost efficiency is the GoCardless thesis.** \~ GBP 92,200-equivalent at \~0.95% fee = \~ GBP 875. Same volume on Stripe at \~1.4% + GBP 0.20 per transaction would cost \~ GBP 1,366. **Saving \~ GBP 5,900 / year.** 5. **Mandate setup is a separate event.** The 312 active BACS mandates were each set up at customer-onboarding (4 working days for BACS). New customers this month who haven't completed mandate setup have NO confirmed payment yet; they show up next month. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`goc_total_transactions`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/gocardless/total-transactions) | Confirmed payment count over the same window. | | [`goc_avg_transaction`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/gocardless/average-transaction) | The per-payment value. SaaS subscriptions cluster around plan-tier prices. | | [`goc_volume_trend`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/gocardless/volume-trend) | Daily volume; DD volume is highly periodic (monthly billing-day clusters). | | [`goc_top_payment_methods`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/gocardless/top-payment-methods) | Scheme mix (BACS / SEPA / ACH / others), the GoCardless equivalent of "tender mix". | | [`goc_refund_volume`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/gocardless/refund-volume) | The amount to subtract for a net-of-refunds figure. | | [`goc_chargeback_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/gocardless/chargeback-rate) | Indemnity claims (BACS) and disputes (SEPA / others). DD chargeback windows are LONGER than card. | | [`goc_payouts_pending`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/gocardless/pending-payouts) | What's confirmed but not yet paid out. | | Stripe [`stripe_total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/stripe/total-charge-volume) / Viva [`viva_total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/total-revenue) | Same archetype on competing rails (card-based). Multi-rail merchants sum these for total payment volume. | | Chargebee [`cha_total_volume`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/chargebee/total-volume) | Chargebee is a billing layer; if Chargebee is the merchant's billing platform with GoCardless as one underlying processor, the Chargebee figure should be larger. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in the GoCardless Dashboard:** Sign in at [manage.gocardless.com](https://manage.gocardless.com) and the closest comparable view is: > **Payments → All payments** (filter by date; status "Confirmed" + "Paid out") Other GoCardless views: * **Payouts view** (Money out → Payouts). Post-fee, post-refund, post-indemnity settled balance. Always lower than this card. * **Mandates view** (Customers → Mandates). Per-customer mandate state, not payment volume. * **Failed Payments view**. Tracks `status = failed`, separately from confirmed. * **Charged Back view**. Tracks indemnity claims (BACS) and disputes. **Why our number may legitimately differ:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | ------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Time zone** | Boundary days | Dashboard renders in your account's TZ (UK = Europe/London); Vortex IQ uses UTC. | | **Confirmation lag** | Theirs lower for "today", ours catches up | Today's payments are `pending_submission` / `submitted`; confirm 2, 5 business days later. | | **Indemnity claim flips** | Both update | When a BACS indemnity is claimed, original payment flips to `charged_back`. | | **Multi-currency** | Same shape | Both show per-currency. No FX. | | **API rate limits** | Ours lower for very high-volume merchants | \~600 requests/min cap. | | **Refresh lag** | Ours lower for "today" | Periodic sync. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Comparison | Expected relationship | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `goc_total_volume` ↔ [`shopify.total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/total-revenue) | Often `goc << shopify` (most Shopify uses card primarily; DD rare for Shopify). | | `goc_total_volume` ↔ [`chargebee.cha_total_volume`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/chargebee/total-volume) | `goc ≤ chargebee` (Chargebee is a billing layer; GoCardless might be one underlying processor). | | `goc_total_volume` + [`stripe.stripe_total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/stripe/total-charge-volume) | `≈ total payment volume` (for SaaS / subscription merchants running both rails). | **Quick rule for support tickets:** if a merchant says "Dashboard shows GBP 100k, Vortex IQ shows GBP 90k", the most common cause is **confirmation lag** plus **time-zone** for boundary days. ## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **"GoCardless is bank-debit only, can I take card payments through it?"** No. GoCardless is purpose-built for direct debit / bank-to-bank payment schemes. There is no card option. If you need both, run GoCardless + Stripe (or another card PSP) in parallel. **"Why is GoCardless cheaper than Stripe?"** Bank-debit is a different rail. Cards involve interchange (paid to issuing bank), scheme fees (Visa / MC), and acquirer margin; total \~1.4, 2.9%. Bank-debit involves a small per-transaction fee from the country's central scheme, no issuer interchange. GoCardless fees are typically 1% capped at GBP/EUR/USD 2. For SaaS / B2B billing where typical payment is GBP 100, GBP 5,000 monthly, the cost saving versus card can be 50, 80%. **"What's the catch, why doesn't everyone use bank-debit?"** Three structural limitations: (1) **Settlement is slow.** 2, 5 business days vs instant for card. (2) **Setup requires mandate.** Customers must authorise the merchant to debit; this takes 1, 4 days the first time. (3) **No good for one-off / impulse purchases.** Cards are best for ecom checkout where speed matters; DD is best for recurring / B2B / SaaS. **"Mandate setup, how does it work?"** * **BACS (UK):** customer enters bank account + sort code on a GoCardless-hosted page; 0N (new mandate) message via BACS; 4 working days later mandate is "live". First debit cannot occur until mandate is live. * **SEPA Core (EU):** customer signs SEPA mandate (electronic accepted); live in 1, 2 business days. * **SEPA B2B:** stricter, requires customer's bank to confirm the mandate (B2B SDD has no chargeback right for the payer in exchange). * **ACH (US):** verifies via micro-deposits (1, 2 days) or instantly via Plaid. * **Autogiro / PAD / Becs / Betalingsservice:** scheme-specific, 1, 5 days. **"What's the BACS Direct Debit Guarantee?"** A consumer-protection scheme unique to UK BACS. Any payer can claim "this debit was incorrect / unauthorised" indefinitely; the payer's bank refunds them automatically and pulls the funds back from the merchant. Materially more aggressive than card chargeback rules. **"SEPA Core vs SEPA B2B, difference?"** * SEPA Core: consumer + business payers, 8-week no-questions chargeback right + 13-month unauthorised right. * SEPA B2B: business-to-business only, NO chargeback right for the payer in exchange for stricter mandate verification. Preferred for high-value enterprise SaaS. **"Confirmation status, what does it mean?"** GoCardless lifecycle: `pending_submission` → `submitted` → `confirmed` → `paid_out` → optional `charged_back`. This card counts `confirmed` (and `paid_out`). **"What about GoCardless's API rate limits?"** Production: typically 600 requests / min. For very high-volume merchants the engine paginates; freshest minute may lag. **"Multi-scheme merchants, do schemes share fees?"** No, each scheme has its own pricing. UK BACS is GBP-denominated; SEPA is EUR-denominated; ACH is USD-denominated. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Total Volume* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across GoCardless and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.