The problem
Livery owners pay by bank transfer when they remember. A yard with 20 horses at livery spends time each month matching payments to owners and chasing the late ones, and an owner can be 2 or 3 months behind before the awkward conversation happens. If matching takes 5 minutes an owner and 5 late payers take 20 minutes each to chase, that's 100 plus 100 minutes, over 3 hours a month.
What the AI does
GoCardless collects payments straight from customers' bank accounts by Direct Debit. Its pricing page lists Standard at 1% + 20p per UK transaction, capped at $5£4€5A$8C$8 with no setup costs and prices excluding VAT. Set up a monthly Direct Debit for each owner's base livery fee as written in their livery agreement, and collect extras that change month to month, such as hay or clipping, as one-off payments after you've sent the owner the breakdown. You check failed payments each month and speak to those owners. Standard doesn't include automatic recovery of failed payments; Success+ comes with Advanced and Pro at higher fees.
A worked example
A livery yard in Cheshire has 20 horses: 8 on DIY at $239£180€214A$346C$338 a month, 8 on part livery at $599£450€536A$864C$846 and 4 on full livery at $931£700€833A$1,344C$1,316. Owners pay by bank transfer, and about 5 are late each month.
Before
20 payments matched at 5 minutes and 5 late payers chased at 20 minutes: 200 minutes, about 3.3 hours a month
After
Fees collected by Direct Debit, with about 30 minutes a month checking failed payments and extras
What it's worth
About $94£71€84A$136C$133 a month in time saved, against about $85£64€76A$123C$120 to $102£77€92A$148C$145 in fees, so the time alone roughly covers the cost. That is 170 minutes a month (200 down to 30), about 2.8 hours, at an assumed $33£25€30A$48C$47 an hour. Fees on Standard at 1% + 20p, capped at $5£4€5A$8C$8: 8 DIY × $3£2€2A$4C$4 + 8 part × $5£4€5A$8C$8 + 4 full × $5£4€5A$8C$8 = $85£64€76A$123C$120 or about $102£77€92A$148C$145 with VAT if you can't reclaim it. The bigger gain is fees arriving on time: one part livery owner 3 months behind is $1,796£1,350€1,607A$2,592C$2,538 owed.
How to set it up
- Check each livery agreement states the monthly fee, payment date and notice period, and update any that don't.
- Open a GoCardless account on Standard and send each owner a request to set up a Direct Debit, testing with one owner first.
- Set up the monthly base fee for each owner, and collect variable extras as one-off payments once the owner has the breakdown.
- Each month, check for failed payments and speak to those owners the same week.
- When fees go up, give the notice in the agreement before changing the amount.
What goes wrong
- The $5£4€5A$8C$8 cap makes part and full livery cheap to collect, but DIY owners on small fees still cost the full 1% + 20p each.
- Failed payments aren't recovered automatically on Standard; Advanced includes Success+ at 1.25% + 20p, capped at $7£5€6A$10C$9.
- Direct Debit doesn't settle what happens when an owner stops paying; your livery agreement does, so get it right first.
- If you also use a yard app that bills through Stripe, decide which one collects each charge so owners aren't charged twice.