Payment links explained
What a payment link is, how long it works, what the customer sees and how the payment reaches the booking by itself.
A payment link is a secure page for one booking and one amount. The customer opens it on their phone, pays by card on your gateway's page, and the payment is recorded on the booking without anyone typing it in.
What the customer sees
The page Secure payment shows your agency's name and logo, Amount to pay, the Booking, the Trip, Departs, Travellers, Customer, Booking total, Paid so far and Balance, and a button to pay. After paying, the customer sees Payment received. Thank you! (or Your booking is now paid in full. Have a wonderful trip.), the receipt with Print receipt, and Back to my trip. The page is in the customer's language.
How long a link works
You choose Works for: 1 day, 3 days (the usual choice) or 7 days. Links made by the system for you (a deposit link when you confirm a booking, a reminder that adds a link) work for 3 days. Once paid, expired or cancelled, the link closes: the customer sees This payment link has expired or This payment link was cancelled, with a way back to their trip page, where they can pay the balance.
How the payment reaches the booking
- The customer pays on the gateway's page and comes back to the link.
- The system asks the gateway whether the payment really succeeded, for this amount and currency. Only then is it recorded, with a receipt number and the online method.
- The gateway also sends a notification. If the customer closed the page before coming back, the notification records it.
- If both are lost, an automatic check every few minutes asks the gateway about payments that started more than about 10 minutes ago. You can run it at once with Check stuck payments now in Payments → Reconciliation.
The same payment is never recorded twice, and money the gateway took is always recorded, even if the link expired or was cancelled in the meantime.
Statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Open | The customer can pay until it expires. |
| Paid | Paid through the gateway; the payment is on the booking. |
| Expired | Not paid before its end time. |
| Cancelled | Cancelled by your team with Cancel link; the checkout is closed at the gateway where the gateway allows it. |
Good to know
- A link is for an amount up to the balance at the time you make it. If the customer pays the balance another way first and then also pays the link, the extra is recorded up to the balance and a high-priority task asks you to refund the rest to the card or keep it as credit.
- Each booking's link uses the gateway of the booking's branch: the branch's own account when it has one, otherwise the agency's.
- With Stripe, amounts in currencies with three decimals (BHD, KWD, OMR, JOD) must be in steps of 0.010.
Related articles
- Send a payment link or a reminderRemind one customer or many about their balance, with a secure payment link they can pay by card.
- Take a deposit by payment linkLet the customer pay the deposit online by card: the link is made when you confirm the booking, or later from the booking.
- Online payment problems and fixesThe customer paid but the link still shows open, the link expired, the card was declined, a refund failed or the gateway refused: what to check.
- Check a call in the gateway logSee every call between the system and your payment gateway, what was sent and what came back, to find out what happened to a card payment.
- Payment statusesEvery status the money screens show: booking payment states, payments and refunds, payment links, reported transfers, gateway calls, reconciliation and credit.