Take invoice payments with Stripe
This article explains how to start accepting debit and credit card payments for your FreeAgent invoices using Stripe and how this works for your customers.
The benefits to using Stripe include:
- allowing your customers to easily pay invoices online by sending them a payment link
- allowing your customers to pay for invoices by debit or credit card
- optimised checkout options for your customers including Apple Pay, Google Pay and Stripe 1-click checkout
- ability to customise the Stripe checkout portal with your own branding
Find out about Stripe charges.
You can also collect invoice payments online using PayPal. Find out more about payment solutions in FreeAgent.
Setting up Stripe in your FreeAgent Account
1. Enable Stripe
Navigate to the drop-down menu at the top-right of the screen and select ‘Connections & Add-ons’.
Select 'Get started' in the 'Stripe' section.
Select 'Connect with Stripe'.
2. Sign in to Stripe or create your Stripe Account
If you've never used Stripe before, enter your email address, select 'Next' and follow the on-screen instructions to create a new Stripe account. If you already have a Stripe account you'd like to use, enter the email address associated with that Stripe account and select 'Next' to connect your Stripe account to FreeAgent.
Once you've created a Stripe account, or signed in to Stripe, you'll be taken back to the Stripe screen in FreeAgent. Please note that only one Stripe account can be connected to FreeAgent via this integration. It’s not possible to have multiple Stripe accounts connected to one FreeAgent account.
If you ever want to disconnect Stripe in your FreeAgent account, navigate to ‘Settings’, then 'Connections & Add-ons' and select 'Manage Stripe' in the Stripe section.
Step 3: Create an invoice
When you create an invoice, or recurring invoice profile, select the 'Stripe' checkbox in the 'Payments' section and create the rest of your invoice as normal. ou can use Stripe as a payment option to collect payments for invoices in various currencies, as long as the currency in question is supported by your Stripe account. If you are unsure on what currencies your Stripe account supports, please contact Stripe's support team directly to discuss this further.
If you'd like Stripe to be selected by default when creating future invoices, find out how to set up default payment settings.
When you are emailing your invoice, include an [online_payment_link] tag in the body of the email. This will embed an online payment link in the email that your client will receive. This link will let your client pay your invoice using a debit or credit card, via your Stripe account.
Please note that:
- the online payment link will only work if the invoice value is equal or greater to Stripe's current minimum fee.
- if a bank transaction is explained against the invoice before your customer makes the payment, when they select the payment link they’ll only be able to pay the remaining balance of the invoice, not the full amount.
- if you use Stripe’s Instant Payout feature for an invoice created in FreeAgent, you’ll need to manually explain the bank transaction as a payment for the invoice. Alternatively, you can share the payment link with your customer rather than sending them the invoice.
- Your customer will be prompted to pay the full amount of the invoice created. It won’t be possible for them to part pay the value of the invoice via Stripe.
How this works for your clients
When your client receives your invoice via email, they can follow the online payment link you previously added to your email. This will show them your invoice, along with the option to pay by Credit Card via Stripe. Any other payment options you enabled while creating your invoice, such as PayPal, will also be available here.
Receiving payments
Please note that your customer may need to go through 3D Secure 2 Strong Customer Authentication before they can make a payment for your invoice. As soon as a payment is made by your customer you should receive a confirmation email. This confirmation email will be sent to the email address of the registered FreeAgent account owner. Payments made with Stripe take seven days to appear in your bank account.
As soon as a payment is made by your client you should receive a confirmation email. Payments made with Stripe take 7 days to appear in your bank account. It's also worth noting that if a payment made with Stripe doesn't go through from your customer's account, it can be 5 days before Stripe are notified by the bank. While payments are pending or being processed, FreeAgent will stop sending automatic email reminders.
Stripe Invoice Payment Status
As soon as your client has made a payment using Stripe, viewing your invoice will show a payment status of ‘Payment Processing' while FreeAgent waits for Stripe to confirm that the payment has been transferred to your account.
Finally, once the payment is transferred into your bank account you’ll see a 'Payment Complete’ status.
Remember that even when you see this status you still need to feed in or upload the transaction from your bank and explain it as an Invoice Receipt against that invoice.
Within the Stripe payment status box, there will be a designated date for when the transaction relating to the payment of the invoice should be visible within your bank account which can then help you locate the relevant transaction in your FreeAgent account.
Failed payment
In the event that the transfer fails, you will see a 'Payment Failed’ status. This usually means that there was an issue with the bank account you have set up in Stripe. In this instance your client will still have been charged for your invoice. You should fix the issue with your bank account or get in touch with Stripe for more details. You can then retry the transfer from your Stripe dashboard.
How to account for Stripe fees in FreeAgent
For more information on how to account for automatically deducted Stripe fees in FreeAgent, find out how to split a transaction for commission or charges deducted.
For example, if you have created an invoice for £100 which has been paid by your customer via Stripe, after the fees have been deducted you would see an amount of £98 within your bank account as well as FreeAgent. To mark the invoice as fully paid, you would need to split the transaction within FreeAgent to account for the fees deducted which the above support article will walk you through.