Automated Recurring Billing on WhatsApp
It is the 3rd of the month. You have sent 40 WhatsApp messages asking parents to pay school fees. Five have responded. You are checking your bank statement line by line, trying to match names to payments. It is 9pm and you are still not done.
You started a creche because you care about children. Instead, you spend the first week of every month being a debt collector. Asking people for money feels awkward. Asking them twice feels worse. Asking them three times feels like begging.
Landlords, gym owners, body corporate trustees, stokvel organisers. Anyone who bills the same people every month knows this life. The work is not the billing. The work is the chasing.
How Collect changes this
You set the billing day to the 1st. On the 1st at 8am, every parent gets a WhatsApp message with an invoice and a payment link. They tap, they pay. By lunchtime, 30 of 45 parents have paid. On day 5, the remaining 15 get an automatic reminder. Day 10, another. Day 15, the last few get a final reminder and you get a notification telling you exactly who has not paid.
You did nothing. You opened your dashboard and watched the money come in.
How to set it up
Create a group and add your members.
Name your group ("Sunflower Creche Parents" or "Block 4 Tenants"). Add each member with a name, WhatsApp number, and amount.
Set the billing day.
Any day from the 1st to the 28th. Pick the date your fees are due.
wabill handles the rest.
Invoices created. PDFs generated. Payment links made. WhatsApp messages sent. Reminders on day 5, 10, and 15. You get a summary of everything.
What you get
Slot-based groups
Fixed units like parking bays, rooms, or numbered positions. Each slot has its own amount. Track occupancy.
Open-list groups
Flexible membership for gyms, stokvels, creches. Custom amount per member or group default.
Automatic reminders
Day 5, 10, 15. Escalation notification to you on day 15. No more awkward follow-up messages.
Real payment options
Card, EFT, Capitec Pay, SnapScan, Apple Pay. Branded pay.wabill.co.za page, not a third-party redirect.
Live dashboard
Green means paid. Red means outstanding. Every member in real time. Partial payments tracked.
Team access
Add collaborators by phone number. They manage your billing groups from the dashboard.
Member statements. Generate a statement for any member showing every invoice, payment, and running balance across any date range. Send as PDF via WhatsApp.
CSV export. Download a CSV of the current month's payment status. Group, member, phone, amount, paid, outstanding, status. Hand it to your accountant.
Bank settlement. Connect your bank account via the dashboard. Payments settle directly to your account.
The cost of doing nothing
The first week of every month is spent chasing people. That is 12 weeks a year. Three months of your life, every year, spent asking people for money they already owe you. Meanwhile, your actual work waits.
Who uses Collect
A creche owner who spends the first week of every month chasing fees instead of running her school.
A landlord who dreads the monthly rent collection conversation.
A stokvel organiser tracking contributions in a notebook that is starting to cause arguments.
A gym owner where half the members "forgot" to pay this month.
Pricing
South Africa only. A processing fee applies per payment (2.9% + R1 card, 2% EFT).
FAQ
What happens if a member does not pay?
wabill sends automatic reminders. Day 5: first reminder. Day 10: second reminder. Day 15: final reminder plus an escalation notification to you so you know exactly who has not paid.
Can members pay by EFT?
Yes. The payment link supports EFT via Ozow, card payment (Visa, Mastercard), Capitec Pay, SnapScan, and Apple Pay. You can also manually record cash or EFT payments from the dashboard.
What is the difference between slot-based and open-list groups?
Slot-based groups have fixed units like parking bays, rooms, or numbered positions. Each slot has its own amount and you assign members. Open-list groups have flexible membership like gym members or stokvel contributors. Each member can have a custom amount or use the group default.
Can I add team members to help manage billing?
Yes. Add collaborators by phone number. They log into the dashboard and manage your billing groups. Remove access anytime.
How much does Collect cost?
Free trial: 1 group, 5 members, 30 days. Then Starter R99/month (10 members), Growth R199/month (25 members), Pro R399/month (50 members). A small processing fee applies per payment.