To enable clients to receive online credit card payments from customers, you must set up a merchant account with an external provider.
Note: Firms can set up a merchant account to receive online credit card payments from clients, but individual clients must set up their own individual merchant accounts to receive credit card payments from their own customers.
Merchant accounts help streamline the billing process. You can create and email an invoice to a customer from the Customer Invoice screen available by selecting Sales>Customer Invoice. The invoice you create contains a link to the online customer payment screen from which the customer can pay the invoice by credit card. Once the payment is processed, the system automatically records all journal entries.
To use this feature, you must set up a merchant account with Stripe, the external account provider of the payment application. The account provider manages all payments received, deducts the agreed-upon fees, and provides a statement reflecting account activity directly to the account-holder.
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Important! When you set up a merchant account with the account provider, Stripe, you must agree to the terms, conditions, and fees indicated by the provider. Any questions regarding those terms, conditions, fees, any inquiries regarding payment processing or recording, and any issues regarding specific payments or account activity must be handled directly with Stripe. |
To set up a merchant account:
Click the Setup icon on the right-hand side vertical menu to open the Setup menu, and select Company>Bank Add-ons.
Select the Merchant Account tab to open the Merchant Account screen.
From this screen you can set up a merchant account linked to your primary or default account.
Click here on the Merchant Account screen to get started.
The Sign Up for Merchant Account dialog box appears.
Select one of the two registration options below, and click OK.
Select Forward Application to the Client to send an email to the selected client with a link to the account provider's website.
Note: You can send applications to multiple clients in bulk from the Client Notifications screen, using the Send Email feature. The Merchant Account column on the Client Notifications screen indicates which clients have set up merchant accounts. You can select some or all of the clients with no entry in this column, click the email icon from the action bar, and send an invitation from the Send Email dialog box that provides all of the selected clients with a link from which they can set up their accounts.
Select Apply Now to open the account provider's application screen, enter the requested information to set up the account, and apply directly.
After you submit your application, the Bank and Credit Card Setup screen appears with the bank information from the account you selected.
Note: Be sure to select a Service Charge Account on the Bank and Credit Card Setup screen for the bank account linked to your merchant account to ensure that merchant account fees are properly identified and recorded.
When you email an invoice to a customer after the merchant account is enabled, the invoice cover letter provides a link to an online payment screen from which the customer can easily pay the invoice by credit card.
Payments are then processed by the merchant account provider, the appropriate fees are deducted, and the payment amount is deposited in the linked bank account.
To select a different merchant account:
Click Change Merchant Account from the Related Actions panel.
The Change Merchant Account Mapping dialog box appears with the current account in the From field.
Select the new bank account from the drop-down list in the To field, and click Change.
Note: Once you have a merchant account, the Merchant Account screen provides the option to remove an old merchant account. To delete a merchant account, select that option.