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Send a pay link by text or email

Send the customer a link to pay an invoice by card, by email or text message, see whether it arrived and retry a send that failed.

For
OwnerAdministratorService advisor
Hosting
Any hosting
Devices
Web browser
Business
All businesses

Checked against Pop Dispatch 0.1.0

From the invoice page you can send the customer a link where they pay the balance by card. Pop Dispatch makes the Stripe link for you when the invoice has none yet, then sends it. Each send is listed on the invoice so you can see whether it was sent and try again if it failed.

Before you start #

  • The owner has saved your own Stripe key in Settings, Online payments. See "Take card payments on invoices with your own Stripe account".
  • The invoice has a balance to pay.
  • For email, the mail server and the from address are set up in Settings.
  • For text messages, your own Twilio or Telnyx account is connected in the messaging connections. The SMS card in Settings, Connections then reads as on.

Steps #

  1. Open the invoice and scroll to "Pay requests". The table lists each link sent, with Made, Sent by, To, Status, Tries and a Link.
  2. In the form "Send pay link by email or text", leave "Send to (optional)" empty to use the customer's own email address or phone number. Type an email address or phone number to send somewhere else.
  3. Choose how to send it: Automatic, Email or Text message. Automatic sends a text when the SMS connection is on and the customer has a phone, and an email otherwise.
  4. Choose "Send pay link". A message says "The pay link was sent to ...", or that it is waiting to be sent.
  5. When you chose Automatic or Text message and no text could go, the page says "No text was sent because the SMS connection is off or there is no phone number, so the link goes by email." The email goes out instead.
  6. Check the Status column: Waiting, Sent or Failed.

Retry a send #

  1. Find the row with Status "Failed" or "Waiting" in the Pay requests table.
  2. Choose "Retry" in the Actions column.
  3. The row shows a new count under Tries and a new Status.
Technical details
  • Routes: POST /invoices/:id/pay-request with channel (auto, email or sms) and an optional to; GET /invoices/:id/pay-requests; POST /pay-requests/:id/retry.
  • The link is the existing Stripe checkout page for the invoice, reused while the balance has not changed.
  • A text is handed to the outbox for your messaging connection to deliver. Email goes through the office mail settings and waits as Waiting, with the reason, until mail is set up.
  • Choosing Text message while the SMS connection is off is refused with: "Text messages are off. Turn on the SMS connection in Settings, Connections, or send by email."

If something goes wrong #

  • "Text messages are off. Turn on the SMS connection in Settings, Connections, or send by email.": connect your Twilio or Telnyx account in the messaging connections, or choose Email.
  • "There is no phone number for this customer": type a phone number in "Send to (optional)".
  • "There is no email address for this customer": type an email address in "Send to (optional)".
  • "This invoice has nothing left to pay.": the invoice is paid or void, so no link is made.
  • Status stays Waiting: the row's last problem says why. "Mail needs setting up" means the mail server and from address are missing in Settings. Set them, then choose Retry.
  • "Save the business's Stripe key in Settings, Payments first.": the owner saves the Stripe key.