Sending a Card Payment Link
Send a customer a secure link to pay what they owe by card or PayPal, change or cancel it, ask them to save a card, and add Pay now links and QR codes to invoices.
A card payment link lets a customer pay what they owe by card on a secure page, on their own phone or computer, without you ever handling their card details. From Accounts > Debts, click Pay (or Pay / Charge) on the customer's row, then choose Card payment link in the Select Payment Method popup.
The same popup opens from Send payment link when a payment with Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android, or a card reader, doesn't go through, and from Send card payment link when a saved card can't be charged, so the customer can still pay in their own time.
Before You Can Send One
Card payment link only appears in the popup when all of these are in place for the business the debt belongs to:
- Plan: Card payments are included on the Pro and Team plans. On other plans, add the Card Payments bolt-on from the Bolt-Ons screen.
- A way to pay online: Stripe, Square or PayPal chosen under Online (pay links and saved cards) on the Payment Providers screen, or PayPal connected. When PayPal is connected as well, the customer can pay by card or with PayPal. Zettle only takes payments in person, so it can't be used for links. Connecting each provider is covered in Card Payment Provider Settings.
- Permission: Your role needs Take Card Payments for that business.
Choosing the Amount
- What they owe when they pay: Selected to start with. The link asks for whatever the customer owes on the job at the moment they open it, and the popup shows what that is right now. Anything they pay another way first comes off, so they are never asked to pay twice.
- A set amount: Asks for exactly what you enter in Amount to ask for, such as a deposit or a part payment. It has to be more than 0. A set amount stays the same even if the customer pays some other way in the meantime, so cancel the link if they settle up before using it.
- Description (optional): Shown to your customer on the payment page, and saved as the description of the payment once it is made. Leave it empty to use Payment for and the service name, or Card payment when the job has no service.
Below the fields, a line for each way the customer can pay gives roughly what that provider takes on the amount and what reaches you, such as one for Stripe and one for PayPal. The same lines show once the link is made. Cards from abroad cost more, and if you have agreed other rates with the provider, those apply.
Click Create payment link to make the link. Nothing reaches the customer until you send or share it.
When the Link Is Ready
- Payment link ready: Confirms what the link asks for and the date it works until. Links work for 60 days.
- Payment link: The address of the customer's payment page. Copy puts it on your clipboard, ready to paste into a message of your own.
- Send via email: Opens the Send Email popup for the customer, with the subject Payment link for and the service name, and a short message containing the link. Change the wording before sending if you like.
- Send via text: Opens the Send SMS popup with a short text containing the link.
- Open link: Opens the payment page in a new tab, so you can see exactly what your customer sees. Nothing is charged unless someone pays.
- Done: Closes the popup and takes you back to the payment choices.
Sending It Again or Changing It
A job has one card payment link at a time. Choose Card payment link on the same debt again and the popup brings back the link you already made, ready to copy or send again, so a reminder never leaves the customer with several links that all still work.
- Change amount: Changes the amount or description of the same link. Its address stays the same, so a link you have already sent asks for the new amount, and it works for another 60 days from the change.
- Cancel link: Stops the link working as soon as you confirm. A customer who opens it is told it is no longer available. You can create a new link straight afterwards, and it gets a new address.
When the Customer Pays
Work Planner records the payment as soon as the provider confirms it, even if the customer closes the page straight after paying, and Debts updates without you doing anything. The payment is recorded against the job and pays its open invoices, oldest first. Anything more than they owe is paid against the job. It shows with the payment method Card (Stripe), Card (Square) or PayPal, and the provider's fee is recorded as a separate Payment Fee expense.
If the provider is still processing the payment, it shows in Transactions as pending until it settles, and the link can't be used to pay again in the meantime. If the payment fails, the link works again.
Links That Stop Working
- Expired: After 60 days the link stops working, and a customer who opens it is asked to get a new one from you.
- Locked: A link locks after five declined attempts on the payment page, such as a card Square declines or a payment PayPal refuses, so it can't be used to test stolen card numbers. Cards declined on Stripe's own checkout page don't count towards this. The customer is asked to get a new link from you.
- Paid: Once a payment has gone through, the link is finished. Opening it again shows the payment confirmation.
- Nothing to pay: When a link that asks for what they owe is opened after the job has been paid up another way, the page tells the customer there is nothing to pay.
For an expired or locked link, choose Card payment link on the debt again and create a fresh one. It gets a new address, so send it to the customer as before.
For an expired, locked or cancelled link, the page also shows your telephone number, email address and website from Organisation Information, so the customer can get in touch for a new one. Card Payment Page shows what the customer sees in each case.
Asking a Customer to Save a Card
Set up card payments appears under Card payment link when the customer has no saved card that can be charged. It opens the same popup, but the link asks the customer to save a card for future payments and charges nothing, so you can charge the card later with Charge saved card.
You don't have to wait for a debt. The same Set up card payments popup opens from Send card set-up link in the Saved Cards section on the customer's screen, whether or not they owe anything, and from a saved card charge waiting for your approval, in the bell or on the Automations screen, when the customer has no card that can be charged.
- What it saves: A card with your online card provider, and the customer's PayPal account too once PayPal saves payment methods for your account. PayPal can only save a card once it takes your card payments. Without a way to save either, the popup says what to set up first.
- Create link: There is no amount to choose. Once the link is made, the popup confirms that nothing is charged when the customer saves their card and shows the date it works until, with the same Copy, Send via email, Send via text and Open link actions.
- One link per customer: A customer has one open set-up link at a time, wherever it was sent from. Open the popup again from Debts, the customer's screen or an approval and it brings back the same link, ready to copy or send again. Cancel link stops it working, and you can create a new one straight afterwards.
- The customer's agreement: The customer has to tick a box agreeing to save their card, or their PayPal account, with your business. Once they have, the card appears under Saved Cards on the customer, and Charge saved card takes this option's place on Debts.
Customers can also choose to save their card while paying through an ordinary card payment link. Charging and removing saved cards is covered in Saved Cards.
Pay Now Links on Invoices
When Add a Pay now link to invoices is ticked on the Payment Providers screen, each invoice with something left to pay gets its own card payment link, which can be printed as a QR code too. It asks for whatever is left to pay on the invoice when the customer opens it, and the payment is recorded against that invoice.
- Printed invoices and PDFs: Use the Pay now link field in your invoice template to place the link, and the Pay now QR code field for a QR code the customer can scan with their phone. When the template uses neither, a Pay online box is added at the end of the invoice, with the QR code and the link. See Drag and Drop Editor.
- Invoice emails: The attached PDF carries the link the same way as a printed invoice, and the email itself has it too once you add the Pay now link variable to your Invoice email template. See Email Flow.
- One link per invoice: Emailing or printing the same invoice again uses the same link, and each time keeps it working for another 60 days.
- No link: Invoices that are paid, written off or cancelled, or have nothing left to pay, get no link or QR code. An invoice also needs at least one job on it, because the payment is recorded against a job.
Related articles
- Card Payment Page: What your customer sees when they open the link, and what each message on it means.
- Saved Cards: Charging a card a customer has saved, and removing it.
- Taking a Payment: The other ways to take a payment from the Debts screen.
- Card Payment Provider Settings: Connecting Stripe, Square or PayPal so customers can pay online.
- Refunding a Card Payment: Giving money back after a customer has paid by card.