Charge a Customer Using Stripe

Overview 

Before you begin, add the Create Payment button and a Payment Method to the Account. See Add Field and Buttons to Page Layouts and Add a Payment Method.

Note: As of the Geranium release, the Stripe integration to Accounting Seed supports multi-currency credit card transaction processing. ACH transaction processing is limited to USD.  

There are three main ways of charging a credit card and two ways of creating an ACH charge:

• Prepayments - A credit card or ACH charge can happen prior to the creation of a Billing.
• Billings - Once Billings are created, a credit card or ACH transaction can be created for one or multiple Billings.
• Customer Payment Link - As the Billing is emailed out to the customer, the customer can click on the payment link and enter in their credit card information.  
  Important: Although the payment link can be accessed and used via a mobile phone, we only support using it on a desktop or laptop computer. 

Prepayments 

1. Navigate to Accounting Home and under Master Data Setup, select Accounts.
2. On the Accounts list, click an account to open it.
3. On the Account page, click the Create Payment button.
4. On the next page, in the Payment Method drop-down menu, select a credit card and enter the amount to be paid. Optional: Add a description and any GL variables associated with this transaction.
5. Once you enter the amount and click the Create Payment button the customer has been charged.
6. If the charge is successful, a cash receipt will be automatically posted to the account. By default, the amount will be posted to the cash GL Account but can be updated with a revenue GL account if preferred. Once a Billing is created, the Cash Receipt can then be applied to it.  

Billings

1. Single Payments
   
   • Open a Billing and click the Receive Payment button. This will charge the selected payment method and process the fund transfer with Stripe as well as create a cash receipt and apply it to this specific Billing.
2. Batch Payments
   • Select an appropriate List View and select multiple Billings to be charged.
   • Click the Receive Payment button. This will process one charge per Customer, process the fund transfer with Stripe, create one Cash Receipt per Customer, and apply that Cash Receipt to one or multiple Billings. 

Customer Payment Link

A payment link can be added to the email as it is sent out to the customer. Accounting Seed provides an email template that can be associated with a PDF format so that this link auto-populates on the email that is sent to the Customer. 

1. Open a Billing and click Create PDF. You will see a preview of the email along with the payment hyperlink.
2. Click Send Email. The customer will click on the link and enter their credit card information. This will process the fund transfer with Stripe, create the Cash Receipt, and apply it to the Billing.

Note: The system will not store the credit card on file and it must be full payment of a Billing when using the payment link. 

Troubleshoot Payments

All transactions that are initiated from Accounting Seed are recorded as a payment activity under the payment method. The payment activity will show declined charges and errors in processing. To view the payment activity for a specific payment method:

1. From Accounting Home, click Payment Activities.
2. Click the Status ACH Payments button. This will update the status of each pending ACH transaction.
3. Switch to the ACH declined view and troubleshoot any declined payments.

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Release Notes and Schedule

• The Stripe integration to Accounting Seed supports multi-currency credit card transaction processing. ACH transaction processing is limited to USD.