How your customers pay

Your customer opens the pay link from your invoice email, a QR code or the Pay button in their portal. They see the invoice and its balance, enter a card, tick an authorisation, sign, and pay. Today a customer pays by card only. Paying from a bank account is not offered.

What the customer sees

The pay page shows your business name, logo and colours, the invoice number, who it is billed to, the due date and the amount due. The line items sit underneath unless your pay page theme hides them.

If the email went to an address nobody has confirmed yet, the customer first sees who sent what, with one View invoice button. Tapping it confirms the address and shows the invoice.

The card form asks for:

• An email address. It is optional and goes to the card processor with the card details.
• Card number, expiry and security code.
• Name on card and postal code.
• The amount to pay. It starts as the full balance.

If your workspace has the customer card fee, the page shows the fee and the total charged to the card before the Pay button, and the button shows the total.

Part payments

A customer can type a smaller amount than the balance. The page and the server both refuse zero and any amount above what is due, so a customer never pays more than the invoice owes. After a part payment the invoice shows Partially paid with its remaining balance.

What happens when they pay

1. They fill in the card, check the amount and tick the authorisation. It names your business, the exact amount charged to the card and the invoice number.
2. They press Pay. The page checks the card, and a mistake is shown next to the field.
3. A signing step opens. They draw or type a signature and choose Sign and pay.
4. The page confirms the payment and shows the processor's transaction ID. The confirmation shows the amount credited to the invoice.

They can also tick Save this card for future payments. The card is saved only after the payment succeeds. See Autopay and saved cards.

Receipts

For an invoice, a receipt email goes to the customer's email address on file, but only if that address is confirmed. It normally carries a PDF that shows the amount paid, any card fee, the total charged and the remaining balance, and prints the authorisation and signature. The email box on the form does not decide where the receipt goes. If your workspace turned on receipt texts, the customer also gets one.

A payment link works differently. Its receipt goes to the optional address the payer types on the payment form, and nowhere else.

When something goes wrong

What the customer sees	What it means
The card was declined, nothing was charged	The processor said no. They can try another card.
Too many attempts, try again in a while	A rate limit stopped the attempt before any card was charged.
Payments on this link are paused	See below.
This link has expired	The link ran out or was replaced. They contact you for a new one.
Card payment is not set up yet, or pay by other means	Your merchant account is not ready, or card is not offered for this invoice. Your contact details are shown.
Test mode banner	Your merchant account is not approved for live payments, so no money moves.
The processor did not confirm this payment	They should not pay again. The business sends a new link if it did not go through.

Five declines on one invoice link within a day pause that link for a day, and you are told. The invoice stays readable. Making a new pay link for the invoice also ends the pause.

A pay link stays valid for a long time after the due date. The invoice's Pay link card shows the link, a QR code and the end date, and offers Make a new link when there is no link, or once it has expired or been turned off.

Note: Payments by card, and the optional customer card fee, are set up for each workspace by BillingMart. Until your merchant account is approved, customers see the test mode banner.