Send a payment link
By the end of this article you will be able to get an invoice paid by a customer who is not in front of you, and know what each link’s status is telling you.
A payment link is an email with a Pay now button for one invoice’s outstanding balance. The customer pays by card on a page of ours; the payment lands on the invoice and, if it covers the balance, the invoice turns Paid without anyone touching it.
When a link is sent for you
Sending an invoice already includes one. If card payments are set up, the customer has an email address and the invoice has a balance, the invoice email carries Pay now, and the link is listed under Payment Links on the invoice with the status Sent. You only need the steps below for a second link.
Send one yourself
- Open the invoice from Billing › Invoices and find Payment Links below the invoice.
- Click Create payment link. The email goes out at once and the list shows “Payment link created and sent.”
- The new row shows the amount, the address it went to, and Expires with the date.
A link is refused when the invoice has no balance, the customer has no email on file, or card payments are not set up — the message says which.
What each status means
- Sent — emailed; not yet paid.
- Paid — the customer paid. The row shows Paid with the date, and the payment is under Payment Records.
- Expired — two days passed. The button still works for the customer as far as the email goes, but the page refuses the payment. Resend issues a fresh link with a new expiry.
- Revoked — you cancelled it. It cannot be revived; create a new one.
- Pending — created but not yet emailed; you will rarely see it for more than a moment.
Resend or revoke
- Resend sends the same link again with a fresh two-day expiry — for a customer who says they never got it.
- Revoke stops a link from being used, after a confirmation. Use it when the invoice was voided, or the customer paid another way and you want no chance of a second charge. A paid link cannot be revoked; the money already moved.
Good to know
- Amount. The row shows the balance when the link was made, but the page the customer opens charges the balance as it stands then. Record a cash payment in between and the link asks for what is left; if nothing is left, it refuses politely.
- From the field. On the phone, the collect-payment screen offers to email the customer a link when there is no usable card. It is the same link, listed here.
- Card payments must be set up — see Get set up to take card payments.
- Who. Creating, resending and revoking need billing edit access — Admin and Accounting. Anyone with billing access can see the list.