# The customer portal

> How your customers sign in without a password, what they can see and do in the portal, and what it never shows them.

Source: https://support.billingmart.com/clients/customer-portal
Updated: 2026-10-23 · Applies to: Web · Section: Clients

The customer portal is where your customers see everything you have sent them in one place, pay it, answer estimates and manage a saved card. There is no password. They sign in with the email or phone you have on file for them and see only the records held under that contact.

## How a customer signs in

Customers sign in at billingmart.com/portal. An estimate email links straight to the estimate there. An invoice email links to the pay page instead, so tell customers about the portal if you want them to use it.

1. They choose **Email** or **Phone**.
2. For email, they enter the address and select **Email me a sign-in link**, then open the link on the same device. If they open it on another device, the page asks them to type the address first.
3. For phone, they enter the mobile number, select **Text me a code**, and type the code.

If the contact belongs to a BillingMart account that has a second factor, the portal asks for it before it finishes.

Signing in proves the address or number, so it also verifies that contact on the client record. See [Verified contacts and why a send is blocked](https://support.billingmart.com/clients/verified-contacts.md). Marking a contact verified yourself does not open the portal for anyone. The customer still has to sign in with it.

"No bills yet" usually means they signed in with a contact you do not have on their record, or the setting below applies.

> **Note:** In **Settings**, then **Security**, an owner can turn on "Customers need a verified email to open the portal (a phone alone is not enough)". A customer who signed in with a phone only then sees nothing from your business.

## What they see

| Page | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| **Bills** | Every invoice you have sent, what is due in each currency, and a **Pay** button on open ones. Drafts are never shown. |
| **Estimates** | Estimates you sent. They can **Accept estimate** or **Decline**, each with a confirm step. See [Create, send and convert an estimate](https://support.billingmart.com/invoices/estimates.md). |
| **Payment plans** | Installment plans, read only. Any explanation you published appears above the parts. See [Installment plans](https://support.billingmart.com/invoices/installment-plans.md). |
| **Payments** | Payments made, and refunds or returns beside them. |
| **Saved methods** | Cards they saved, and autopay for recurring invoices. |
| **Security** | Their second sign-in step. |
| **Profile** | Their contacts and the businesses that bill them. They can delete their own account here. |

Your logo and colours show when only your business bills that customer. Internal notes, references and history never leave your side.

A bill page shows the status, dates, total, amount due and payments. The full invoice with its lines opens on the pay page.

There is no statements page. You send a [client statement](https://support.billingmart.com/clients/client-statements.md) by email.

## Paying, saved cards and autopay

**Pay** opens the invoice's pay page in a new tab. The portal never takes a card number itself. See [How your customers pay](https://support.billingmart.com/payments/how-customers-pay.md).

On the pay page a customer can tick "Save this card for future payments". From then on a bill offers **Pay with a saved method**, and a recurring invoice can have **Turn on autopay**. Autopay asks them to tick the agreement first. Turning it off always works. Removing a saved card also turns off any autopay that used it.

Paying with a saved card, turning autopay on or off and removing a card can ask the customer for a second sign-in step. If they have none, the portal sends them to **Security** to set up an authenticator app. A text message is not offered for this. Just looking never asks.

If your workspace has the optional card fee, a bill paid with a saved card in the portal includes it: the portal shows the balance, the fee and the total before the customer confirms, and the button shows the total. Autopay adds the fee only when the customer agreed to the autopay wording that names it. The receipt lists the fee and the total charged.

A bill paid with a saved card or bank account in the portal is never charged more than the total the customer confirmed. If the balance or the card fee went up after the page loaded, the payment is not made and the page shows the new total; if the balance went down, the lower balance is charged and the portal says so.

## Estimates and your side

When a customer accepts or declines, the portal says you have been told. Today the answer only shows in your Estimates list and your activity log. No email or notification goes out, so check the list.