Netcash Setup Guide — for MyEncore Schools

Audience: School finance officers / administrators setting up Netcash to receive parent payments through the MyEncore app. Time: ~30 minutes of your time (in 2 sessions) + 3-5 business days for Netcash to verify your account. Result: Parents can tap "Pay" inside the MyEncore app and the money goes directly into your school's Netcash account → your school's bank.

Before you start

You'll need:

About your school: - CIPC registration (or equivalent — Section 21 incorporation, NPC docs, trust deed) for the school's legal entity - Tax clearance certificate (PIN) - School bank account details: bank name, account number, branch code, account type (current/cheque/business) - A copy of a recent bank statement (1-2 months old) confirming the account holder is the school

About the school administrator setting up the account: - Copy of ID (RSA ID or passport) - Proof of residential address (utility bill or municipal account, less than 3 months old) - Cellphone number (for OTPs during sign-up) - Email address (for Netcash communications)

Optional but helpful: - School logo (PNG or JPG, square aspect ratio works best) - Estimated monthly fee volume (rough — Netcash uses this for risk profiling)

Part 1Open the Netcash merchant account (~15 minutes)

Step 1.1Go to the Netcash sign-up page

Open: https://my.netcash.co.za/Account/Register

Click "Register for a Netcash account".

Step 1.2Choose your account type

Select "Business" (NOT "Individual"). Your school is a business / legal entity.

Step 1.3Business details

Fill in:

• Trading name: Your school's trading name (e.g. "Palm Templeton School")
• Registered name: The legal entity name as it appears on your CIPC / NPC docs
• Registration number: From CIPC (e.g. 2019/123456/07 for a private company; 2019/123456/08 for an NPC)
• VAT number: If registered (NPCs often aren't — leave blank if not applicable)
• Industry / business category: Choose "Education" or "Non-profit / NPC"
• Estimated monthly turnover: Best guess — this informs your risk profile, doesn't bind you to a number

Step 1.4Contact details

• Primary contact: The person who'll manage Netcash day-to-day (usually finance officer)
• Email: Use a generic school address if possible (e.g. [email protected]) so Netcash communications don't get stuck if one person leaves
• Phone: A landline if you have one; otherwise the finance officer's cell

Step 1.5Banking details

• Bank: Select from the dropdown
• Account holder name: Must match the legal entity name from Step 1.3 (Netcash will reject mismatches at KYC stage)
• Account number: The school bank account
• Branch code: 6 digits
• Account type: Usually "Current" or "Business"

Step 1.6Upload supporting documents

Netcash will ask you to upload:

1. CIPC certificate (or NPC equivalent)
2. Tax clearance certificate (PIN)
3. ID of the signatory (the person filling in this form)
4. Recent bank statement (showing the account name matches the registered name)
5. Proof of address for the signatory

All PDFs, max 5 MB each.

Step 1.7Accept Netcash's terms

Read them properly — there are clauses about chargebacks, dispute resolution, and what happens if Netcash suspects fraud. Tick the boxes once you're happy.

Step 1.8Submit and wait

Click "Submit application". You'll get an email confirmation.

Netcash typically approves school applications in 3-5 business days. Bigger volume estimates or complex entity structures may need an extra day or two.

While you wait: Section B below tells you what to gather for the MyEncore admin side.

Part 2While Netcash is verifying — prepare for the MyEncore side (5 minutes)

The MyEncore admin page that connects to Netcash is at:

https://admin.myencore.co.za/appginilte/custompages/fee_arrangement_policy.php?sid={YOUR_SID}

(Replace {YOUR_SID} with your school's MyEncore SID — your MyEncore contact will give you this if you don't know it.)

You'll see a three-section gated form. Section A is "Connect your Netcash account". You won't be able to fill it in yet — but it'll ask for four things from Netcash once your account is approved:

1. Netcash Service Key
2. Netcash Software Vendor Key
3. Netcash Cart Key
4. Mandate flow config (used for recurring debit-orders on fee instalment plans)

So when Netcash approves your account, you'll need to find these four values in your Netcash dashboard and paste them in.

While waiting, you can also decide: - Your instalment policy (Section B of the same page): max instalments, min deposit, plan-length tiers, settle discounts, late-payment surcharges. We have sensible defaults — most schools change very little. - Your parent-notification timing (Section C): when do you want to tell parents the feature is going live? (System enforces a 7-day grace period after you notify parents before the feature unlocks for them.)

Part 3When Netcash approves — get your credentials (5 minutes)

You'll receive an email from Netcash saying your account is live. Now to find the four credentials you need.

Step 3.1Log into the Netcash dashboard

Open: https://my.netcash.co.za/

Sign in with the credentials Netcash sent you.

Step 3.2Find your Service Key

Navigate to: Account Profile → Netcash Connector → Web Service Keys

Look for "Pay Now Service Key". Copy the value (it's a long alphanumeric string).

Step 3.3Find your Software Vendor Key

Same page. Look for "Software Vendor Key". Copy it.

Step 3.4Find your Cart Key (optional but recommended)

Navigate to: Account Profile → Netcash Connector → Pay Now Settings

Look for "Cart Key" or "Shopping Cart Settings". Copy the value.

(This is used so MyEncore can render a Netcash payment interface that looks like it's part of MyEncore, not a Netcash redirect.)

Step 3.5Enable Recurring Debit-Order Mandates

Navigate to: Account Profile → Services → Debit Order Manager (or similar).

You may need to specifically opt in to "Recurring Mandate Acceptance" as a feature — Netcash sometimes requires a separate activation step for this.

Once enabled, copy any "Mandate Service Key" or similar that appears.

Part 4Connect Netcash to MyEncore (~2 minutes)

Step 4.1Open the MyEncore admin Netcash setup

Open:

https://admin.myencore.co.za/appginilte/custompages/fee_arrangement_policy.php?sid={YOUR_SID}

You'll see Section A: Connect your Netcash account.

Step 4.2Paste in your four values

• Netcash Service Key → paste from Step 3.2
• Netcash Software Vendor Key → paste from Step 3.3
• Netcash Cart Key → paste from Step 3.4
• Mandate config → paste from Step 3.5 (or skip if you didn't enable mandates)

Step 4.3Accept the MyEncore Automation fee terms

Below the credentials fields, you'll see a checkbox confirming you understand the MyEncore Automation flat-fee:

"I understand MyEncore charges a flat monthly fee for the Automation tool — R500/month for schools under 1,000 active learners, R2,000/month for schools with 1,000 or more active learners. This is invoiced separately by MyEncore at month-end and is not deducted from collected payments. I authorise MyEncore to invoice the school for this fee while the Netcash automation is enabled."

Tick the box.

Step 4.4Save

Click "Save and verify". MyEncore tests your credentials by making a low-value verification call to Netcash.

• ✅ If verification succeeds: Section A locks. You can move to Section B (instalment policy) and Section C (enable for parents).
• ❌ If verification fails: Check that you copied the values exactly (no leading/trailing whitespace) and that Netcash has actually activated your account on their side.

Part 5Smoke test the first payment (5 minutes)

Before letting all your parents loose on it, do a small test transaction.

Step 5.1Make a R10 test invoice

In the MyEncore admin, navigate to a test learner (use a staff member's own child if possible, or set up a "Test Parent" account).

Create a R10 invoice marked as "Test - safe to delete after smoke test".

Step 5.2Log into the MyEncore app as the test parent

Open the MyEncore app on your phone, signed in as the test parent.

Tap Fees → see the R10 invoice → tap Pay.

The Netcash payment screen should appear, branded for your school.

Step 5.3Complete the test payment

Use a test card (Netcash provides test card numbers in their developer docs, or use your own card and refund yourself in Step 5.5).

After payment, the app should show: - Success screen - Invoice status changed to "Paid" - Receipt available

Step 5.4Verify in the school's Netcash dashboard

Log into my.netcash.co.za. Navigate to Transactions. You should see the R10 payment listed within a few minutes.

Step 5.5Refund (or settle if you used a real card)

If you used a real card, you can either: - Wait for it to settle to your bank account (1-2 business days) and treat it as donated R10, or - Refund it via the Netcash dashboard (free for refunds within 24 hours of the original transaction)

Step 5.6Delete the test invoice in MyEncore

Clean up the test data from the test learner's account.

Part 6Enable for parents

Back in fee_arrangement_policy.php:

Step 6.1Notify parents

In Section C, click "Send notice to parents". The system drafts a pre-launch notice (push + email + WhatsApp/SMS) explaining the feature. Customise the tone if you want.

Send it.

Step 6.2Wait the 7-day grace period

The system enforces 7 days after you notify parents before the feature unlocks for them. This gives parents time to ask questions.

Step 6.3Enable for parents

After 7 days, the "Enable for parents" button unlocks. Click it.

Parents now see "Make an arrangement" and in-app "Pay" buttons.

You're live.

Troubleshooting

"Verification failed" on the MyEncore side

Most common causes:

1. Credentials copied with whitespace — re-copy and re-paste each one
2. Netcash hasn't fully activated — wait 24h after their approval email, then try again
3. Cart Key not set up on Netcash side — go back to Netcash dashboard → Pay Now Settings → confirm Cart Key exists
4. VAT mismatch — if your CIPC registration includes a VAT number but you haven't entered one in Netcash, sometimes this trips the verification call. Update one or the other.

"My test payment goes through but doesn't reconcile against the invoice"

Check: 1. The parent profile in MyEncore has a parent_user_id linked to a real user 2. The fee invoice is Active and not Cancelled 3. The webhook URL on the Netcash side is set to https://app.myencore.co.za/api_web/photography/webhook/index.php (or the equivalent finance webhook — your MyEncore contact will confirm)

"Parents on iPhones get a 'session expired' error when paying"

Known issue with some iOS Safari versions when the Netcash payment screen redirects back. Workaround: tell the parent to use the latest version of the MyEncore app rather than Safari directly.

"I want to pause the Automation feature for a term"

Set netcash_is_active = 0 in fee_settings via MyEncore admin (or ask your MyEncore contact to flip it). Parents can no longer pay in-app; you stop being billed the flat fee at the next month-end. Re-enable at any time.

"I want to use my own Netcash account but NOT the MyEncore automation features"

That's fine — you don't have to enable the Automation tool. You can use Netcash directly via your own dashboard, on your own pricing relationship with Netcash. MyEncore only charges you the automation fee when netcash_is_active = 1 AND you're using it through the MyEncore app.

After you're live

• First monthly Automation invoice from MyEncore: end of the calendar month in which you went live (R500 or R2,000 depending on learner count).
• First batch of Netcash settlement to your bank: Netcash settles on a schedule (usually 1-2 business days after each payment).
• Your finance dashboard: the MyEncore admin shows "Unbilled processing fees", real-time MyEncore automation fee accrual, and Netcash transaction list.
• Parent communication: parents now have one-tap fee payments. Expect a small support uptick in the first 2 weeks ("how do I pay?", "I don't see the button") — most of it goes away once the cohort gets the hang of it.

If you hit anything not covered here, email [email protected] or call your MyEncore contact directly.

Welcome to Netcash automation. 🎯