Payments and refunds
How invoices get paid, how to record a bank transfer, how saved cards are charged automatically, and how to refund a payment.
Money reaches an invoice in three ways: the client pays online, a saved payment method is charged automatically, or you record a payment yourself. Every payment and refund appears on the Payments page and on the invoice.
Online payment#
An open invoice shows a pay button for each enabled payment gateway, labelled with the amount and the gateway name (for example "Pay ... with Stripe"), on the client's invoice page and on the public link from the email. Gateway setup is covered in Payment gateways. Clients who are signed in and have a saved payment method also see Pay with saved method.
When the gateway confirms the payment, a payment is recorded and the client gets a "Payment received" email, with the invoice PDF attached if Attach the PDF to invoice emails is on. When the payments received cover the invoice total, it becomes Paid. A part payment leaves it Open with the balance still due.
Services ordered on the invoice are set up when it is paid, and a suspended service that was renewed is switched back on.
Record a payment by hand#
For bank transfers, cheques or cash:
- Open the invoice and click Record payment.
- Enter the Amount received. It starts as the balance due.
- Enter the Payment method, for example "Bank transfer", and optional Notes.
- Click Record payment.
It is recorded under the gateway name "Manual". You can record a payment on Open and Uncollectible invoices. Add your bank details under Settings → Billing → Payment instructions so they print on unpaid invoice PDFs.
Saved payment methods and automatic payment#
Clients add a card or wallet under Payment methods in the client area, using Add with and the gateway's name. Card numbers are entered on the provider's own page and are not stored by Tidemark Billing. Each saved method has an Automatic payment switch, Make default, and Remove.
Automatic charging is an hourly task. It only touches clients who turned Automatic payment on for a saved method. Settings are under Settings → Billing → Automatic payments:
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Charge saved payment methods automatically | On | Master switch. |
| Charge saved payment methods | 0 days before due | 0 charges on the due date. A higher number charges that many days earlier. |
| Charge renewal invoices as soon as they are created | Off | Charges renewals when the invoice is created instead of waiting. |
| Retry failed payments (days after the first attempt) | 1,3,5 |
Retries this many days after the first attempt. |
| Maximum attempts per invoice | 4 | The first charge plus retries. It never exceeds the number of retry days plus one. |
Invoices that are already due when they are created, such as a new order, are charged at once.
What happens after a charge:
- It works: the invoice is paid and autopay stops for it.
- It is declined: the customer is emailed the reason and told another try is coming. After the last attempt, autopay gives up on that invoice, and both the customer and your contact email address are emailed. The invoice then follows the normal reminder and overdue rules.
- The bank needs the customer to confirm: the customer is emailed a link to pay by hand, and autopay pauses for that invoice.
- The charge is still processing (some bank debits): Tidemark waits up to 5 days for the provider's confirmation before counting it as failed.
Run billing tasks now on Settings → System does not run autopay. It runs on its own schedule. See Cron job.
Refund a payment#
Refunds go back through the same gateway as the original payment, so a Stripe or PayPal payment is returned to the customer's card or account.
- Open Payments and find the payment, or open the invoice and look in Activity.
- Choose Refund on the payment.
- Leave Amount to refund blank to refund everything still refundable, or enter a smaller amount. You can refund the same payment more than once until it is used up.
- Add an optional reason and confirm with Refund payment.
For a manual payment there is no gateway, so the refund is only recorded. You return the money yourself. If the gateway refuses a refund, the error is shown and nothing is recorded.
A refund lowers the amount paid on the invoice. The invoice's status does not change by itself, so a Paid invoice stays Paid after a refund. A refund does not cancel the service either. Refunds you make in the Stripe or PayPal dashboard are recorded automatically if the gateway's webhook is set up.
Refunds for unused time on a cancelled service are made for you when the settings allow it. See Cancellations.
The Payments page#
Payments lists money in and out across every gateway. The cards at the top show, per currency, the total received, the total refunded and the net. The tabs are All, Payments, Refunds, Pending and Failed, and you can filter by gateway, client and date. Internal accounts are left out of the totals. See Internal accounts.