Payment methods

Activity Messenger allows your clients to pay a number of different ways:

• Paying by credit card via Stripe
• Interac e-Transfer
• Deposit (first payment by credit card or Interac e-Transfer)
• Pay later (an administrator takes the payment offline)
• Other (by check, by electronic funds transfer (EFT), by PayPal, etc...
• Paying the balance of an invoice online

# Paying by credit card via Stripe

Paying by credit card is the fastest and most convenient way. You will receive the payment instantly in your Stripe account. If you already have a Stripe account, simply connect it. If not, you can create a Stripe account for free and start taking payments immediately. Learn how to connect Stripe in this How to guide.

# Credit card convenience fee

You can charge your client a credit card convenience fee to cover credit card charges. Toggle the option "Credit card convenience fee" to use that option. You label the fee as it will appear on the invoice. You must set a percentage to apply on the total amount. For example 3%.

The credit card convenience fee will get added to the client invoice when they choose to pay online with their credit card. You can apply sales taxes on that fee and assign it a ledger code to properly recognize it in your accounting system.

# Interac e-Transfer

In Canada you can ask your clients to pay via an Interac e-Transfer. Activity Messenger can handle settling the payment against the invoice. Jump to the help page Interac e-Transfer to find out more.

# Deposit (first payment by credit card or Interac e-Transfer)

You can ask your client to pay a first part of the invoice with the Deposit option. The balance can be paid later online or offline.

To activate this option specify the minimum amount that will be taken for the first payment (deposit). You can also specify a percentage of the total invoice. Activity Messenger will ask the client to pay the largest of either values. Note that if you have enabled the credit card convenience fee, it will also need to be paid in addition to the deposit amount.

Your client can always choose to pay the full amount instead of the deposit. They can do so by clicking on the link "Pay the full amount now".

# Other (by check, by electronic funds transfer (EFT), by PayPal, etc...

You can ask your clients to pay via PayPal, by check or by any other means by selecting the Other option. Configure the label and description appropriately. For example, here we allow paying by check.

# Paying the balance of an invoice online

Unpaid (or partially paid) invoices can always be paid online by your clients. From an invoice, click on the link "Client pay balance page". You will be redirected to a page where they can pay with their credit card or, if you allow it, via an Interac e-Transfer.

You can also send your client the invoice by email or by SMS. They will receive a link to that page.

The balance can be paid by anyone who has the link to that page. For example, a grandparent could pay for junior's summer camp or hockey season. They can type in their name and email to receive the payment receipt by email.

# Add a credit card convenience fee to the balance of invoices

To charge a credit card convenience fee on balance payments, you must first toggle on that option in the Stripe configuration page.

Click on E-Commerce, and choose Stripe. Scroll to the bottom and turn on the global setting "Credit card convenience fee". From then on, a credit card convenience fee will get added to the balance of an invoice when the client pays online by credit card.