Paying Online Through the Customer Portal

When your shop has MonuPay turned on, families can pay a deposit or balance right from their customer portal, with no phone calls or trips to the office. This article explains how that online payment works, when the Pay button shows up, and what happens after a family pays.

When the Pay button appears

The portal only offers online payment when the order is actually ready to collect money. The Pay button shows up when both of these are true:

• Your shop's MonuPay account is connected and in the Approved state through PayFactory.

• The order still has a balance due (a deposit or remaining amount the family owes).

With both in place, the Pay button is waiting in the family's portal, as long as the Payments switch in Settings → Customer Portal is on. In the United States and Canada that switch stays off and locked until your MonuPay application is approved, with the note "Online payments in the portal need an approved MonuPay account. The switch unlocks as soon as your application is approved." and a Set up MonuPay link.

How a family pays

From the portal, the family enters the amount they want to pay and pays by card, or from a bank account when your MonuPay account is approved for bank payments (see Paying by bank account below).

• The family chooses an amount, for example a deposit on a quote, or part of the remaining balance.

• You can't overpay. The amount must be less than or equal to the remaining balance on the order, so a family can never pay more than they owe.

• They enter their card, confirm, and the payment is processed securely through PayFactory.

Behind the scenes this is a quick two-step flow: the portal first creates a payment for the amount entered, then charges the card and confirms it. If a card is declined or the charge can't be completed, the portal handles it gracefully: the family sees a clear message, nothing is recorded, and they can simply try again with the same card or a different one.

Paying by bank account

When your MonuPay account is approved for bank payments (the MonuPay card in Settings → Integrations shows ACH active), the payment form lets the family pay with Card or Bank account. For a bank payment the family fills in:

• The bank account itself, in the secure bank form.

• Account holder name: the first and last name on the account.

• Account type: Checking or Savings.

• A checkbox authorizing your company to debit the amount once from that account.

A bank payment carries a flat $20 bank payment fee. Your MonuPay fee setting decides who pays it: when the customer pays fees, the breakdown shows it as Bank payment fee; when you absorb fees, the family does not see it. Who Pays the Processing Fee

After paying, the family sees "Bank payment submitted" and that it usually clears in 2 to 5 business days. Until then their balance card reads "A bank payment of $X is processing". When it covers the whole balance, the card shows Payment processing instead of Paid in full. While it clears, the same amount cannot be paid a second time, and balance reminder emails leave it out.

The payment is booked on the order only once the bank payment has cleared. From then on the receipt, QuickBooks, the balance and the payment to-do work exactly as for a card payment. While it clears, your team sees Bank payment clearing on the order's Activity Timeline, with the amount, the payer and the masked account number.

If the bank sends the payment back, the portal tells the family and asks them to pay again or to pay by card. Your team sees Bank payment returned on the timeline with the bank's return code (for example R01), the balance is open again, and a Bank payment returned notification opens the order. QuickBooks must then be corrected by hand.

Sending a payment link

If a family still owes a deposit or a balance, you don't have to chase them down. Send them a payment link straight from the order:

1. Open the order and click Send Payment Link in the header, next to the Customer Portal button. In a narrower window it reads Payment Link, and when there is no room for it, it sits in the ⋯ menu. On a phone, tap the Payment Link tile.

2. In Send Payment Link, tick Email, Text message or both. Each choice shows the address or mobile number the link goes to.

3. Click Send. The dialog closes and the link goes out. If it cannot be sent, a red Payment link not sent message says why.

The link opens the order in the family's customer portal, where the Pay button is waiting and they pay through MonuPay, by card or, when your account is approved for bank payments, by bank account. Before your first link, connect MonuPay in Settings → Integrations, and make sure the order has a customer email address or mobile number (add one with Edit Order).

Processing fees

Card payments carry a processing fee, and how it's handled depends on the fee setting your shop chose when connecting MonuPay:

• You absorb the fee (the recommended setting): the family pays the exact invoice amount and the fee comes out of your payout.

• Customer pays the fee: the fee is added on top, so the family sees and pays a slightly higher total.

Either way, the order's balance goes down by the base payment amount. The fee never changes how much of the order is marked paid. American Express cards use a slightly higher rate, which is calculated automatically at the time of payment. A bank payment carries the flat $20 bank payment fee instead of the card rate, and the same fee setting decides who pays it.

What happens after a payment

Once a family pays online by card, or once a bank payment has cleared, the payment is handled just like any other payment on the order:

• It lands as a logged payment on the order, so your team sees it in the order's payment history and the balance updates right away.

• A receipt is generated for that payment. The receipt carries its own billing snapshot: the name and billing details captured at the moment of payment. If the family edits their billing info while paying, that change appears on that receipt only; it doesn't touch the client record or any earlier receipts.

• The payment also syncs to QuickBooks as a sales receipt, so your bookkeeping stays in line.

Related articles:

• How the Customer Portal Works

• How to Log a Payment

• What's on the Receipt PDF

• How Families Review and Approve a Drawing