Payments & Processing

CloudBridal includes various useful features to help you keep track of your customers' payments and outstanding balances. To summarize, there are two primary options for handling payments:

1. Integrated payment processing using the Stripe Integration. See the linked reference for instructions on how to connect with Stripe.
2. Bring-Your-Own-Processor: Allows you to use your processor of choice to charge the customer, while using CloudBridal to maintain their payment history and balances.

Both these options use our payment tracking system, which is what this article covers.

Customer Payments

To access a customer's payment history, you can navigate to their profile. The Overview tab includes a Payments section that shows all payments for the customer across all orders. Additionally, you can view their outstanding balance due.

The payments list shows:

• All payments made for the customer, grouped by order
• Remaining balance due
• Payment dates and methods
• Status of each payment (Paid or Pending)

Creating a New Payment

To record a new payment:

1. From the payments list, click New Payment
2. You'll be prompted to select:

• Collect Payment Now: For immediate payment, or if you have already collected the payment through another method
• Schedule Payment for Later: To notate payments due in the future, or to provide a payment link to the customer for self-pay

3. Fill out the payment details:

• Associated Order: The order to apply the payment to. If there are no applicable orders, the system will warn you that the payment will be created as an Unapplied payment (credit to the customer).
• Amount: The payment amount (with quick buttons for Full Amount, Half Amount, or custom amount)
• Date: When the payment was made. Defaults to today's date.
• Payment Method: How the customer paid (Cash, Credit Card, Check, etc.). You can add additional payment methods in the payment settings page.
• Notes: Any notes about the payment

4. Click Record Payment to save the payment record.

Processing with Stripe

If you have the Stripe integration enabled, you'll see a Charge With Stripe button alongside the record button. Clicking this will prompt you to select a charge method:

• Card Reader: Process the payment on your Stripe terminal device
• Card on File: Charge a card previously saved to the customer's profile
• Manual Card Entry: Enter card details directly for phone orders
• Payment Link: Send the customer a link to pay online

After selecting your method, follow the prompts to complete the charge. See Stripe Integration for setup instructions.

Payment Status Options

Payments have one of two statuses:

• Paid: Payment has been received and processed
• Pending: Payment is scheduled for the future or awaiting processing

Scheduled Payments

When you select Schedule Payment for Later, the payment is created with a Pending status. Scheduled payments are useful for:

• Tracking upcoming balances due
• Sending payment reminders to customers
• Allowing customers to pay via payment link or client portal
• Setting up automatic charging on the due date

Auto-Charge

*Requires Stripe integration

When creating a scheduled payment, you can enable Auto-Charge to automatically charge the customer's default card on the due date:

1. Create a scheduled payment and set the Due Date
2. Expand the Auto-Charge section
3. Check Enable auto-charge for this payment
4. The system will display the customer's default card if one is set

Requirements:

• The customer must have a default card on file with confirmed authorization
• A due date must be set on the payment

Note: If no default card is set, you can still enable auto-charge. The payment will be charged automatically once a default card is added to the customer's profile.

Payment Links

Plan Requirement: Core or Ultimate

The payment links feature allows customers to pay online through the Stripe integration.

1. Create a new Scheduled payment or select Charge With Stripe in the payment form
2. In the payments list, click the link icon in the payment actions
3. Choose how to send the link:

• Email: Send a payment link via email
• SMS: Send a text message with the link
• Direct Link: Get a URL to share through other means

4. The customer can complete the payment online
5. The payment is automatically marked as Paid when completed by the customer

Cards on File

*Requires Stripe integration

Cards on file allow you to securely store customer payment information for quick future payments and automatic charging.

Adding a Card

To add a card to a customer's profile:

1. Navigate to the customer's profile
2. In the Overview tab, find the Cards on File section
3. Click Add Card
4. Enter the card details
5. Optionally add a Card Nickname (e.g., "Visa ending 4242")
6. Confirm that you have obtained proper cardholder authorization for future payments
7. Click Save Card

Authorization Requirements

Cards require authorization confirmation before they can be used:

• You must confirm you have written authorization from the cardholder
• Cards without confirmed authorization show a Requires Confirmation badge
• Only authorized cards can be selected for payments

Managing Cards

From the Cards on File section on a customer's profile:

• Click any card to view details or make changes
• Set a card as the Default for automatic payments
• Deactivate cards that are no longer valid

Using a Card on File

When processing a payment with Stripe:

1. Click Charge With Stripe
2. Select Card on File as the charge method
3. Choose the card to charge (authorized cards only)
4. Click Charge Payment

Payment Receipts

After recording a payment, you can send a payment receipt to the customer. If you are using the Stripe integration and processing an in-store payment, the system will prompt you to do so automatically.

If you are using an external processor for in-store payments, we strongly recommend sending the receipt through the external system as it will contain full context about the payment such as their EMV card information.

To manually send a payment receipt:

1. Locate the payment in the payments list
2. Click the Send Receipt button (receipt icon)
3. Choose to send via email, SMS (with Twilio integration), or print (thermal paper or printer paper)
4. The receipt includes payment details, date, and method. If processed through Stripe, it will also contain additional information about the processed payment such as required EMV fields.

Refund Processing

CloudBridal allows you to track refunds for payments. Refunds can be created up to the total paid amount, and you can also do partial refunds. Creating a refund will also create a line item on the corresponding order which subtracts the refunded amount from the outstanding total. For example, a $25 refund on a $100 order will update the order balance to $75.

1. In the customer's profile, click the Refund action for the payment you wish to refund
2. Enter the desired refund amount (partial or full)
3. Add any notes about the refund
4. Save the refund
5. The system updates both the payment record and the order balance
6. If you used Stripe to process the payment, it will automatically be initiated via Stripe and be refunded to their payment method within a few days. If you used an external processor, you must process the refund through them as well.

Tip Tracking

CloudBridal allows you to record tips on a payment. You can run a report in the reports tool to list all tips made in a certain period based on the payment date, including the staff member associated to the sale.

Payment Processed with Stripe

Tips are automatically tracked if you enable them in your Stripe reader settings. When a customer leaves a tip through the terminal, the tip amount will be tracked in the system automatically.

Payment Processed Outside of Stripe

If you use an external payment processor, you can still track the tip amount in CloudBridal. On or after recording the payment, set the Tip amount field as needed.

Payment Plans

For structured payment schedules, use the Payment Plans feature to create installment-based payment arrangements. Payment plans support auto-charge, allowing all scheduled payments in the plan to be automatically charged on their due dates.

Payment Settings Reference

The Payment Settings page allows you to configure how payments work in CloudBridal, including payment methods, default behaviors, and how additional fees are handled.

General Payment Settings

• Payment Methods: Define the payment methods you accept (Credit Card, Cash, Check, Bank Transfer, etc.)
• Enable Tip Tracking on Payments: When enabled, you can record tips on payments and run reports on tip data by staff member
• Default Payment Deposit %: Set a custom default deposit percentage if your typical deposit is not 50% or paid in full (e.g., enter "60" for 60%)

'Other Addon' Payment Settings

By default, the price for these is combined into the overall order payment amount. You can enable these options to split payments by component:

• Alteration Fees Order Field Paid Separately: When enabled, the 'Alteration Fees' field on an order will be split into a separate balance from the rest of the order when adding a payment
• Additional Work Order Field Paid Separately: When enabled, the 'Additional Work' field on an order will be split into a separate balance from the rest of the order when adding a payment
• Additional Fees Order Field Paid Separately: When enabled, the 'Additional Fees' field on an order will be split into a separate balance from the rest of the order when adding a payment

Payment Links

Requires Stripe integration to be enabled

• Override Default Payment Link Email Message: When enabled, allows you to customize the email message sent with payment links. The email includes a payment summary and secure payment link, plus any additional instructions you provide.

You can use smart fields in your custom message to personalize the content for each customer.

Payment Plans

Plan Requirement: Core or Ultimate

Configure default settings for payment plans:

• Default Deposit %: Choose from preset percentages (calculated from customer's total order balance)
• Default # Payments: Set the typical number of payments in a payment plan
• Default Payment Frequency: How often customers make payments (number)
• Default Payment Frequency Duration: Whether frequency is based on days, weeks, or months

Payment Due Email Reminder:

• Send Email Reminder to Customer for Upcoming Payment: Automatically email customers before payment due dates
• Days Before Payment Due Date to Send Email: How many days in advance to send the reminder
• Payment Due Date Reminder Message Text: Custom message content (supports smart fields)

Thermal Receipt Printing

Print receipts directly to thermal printers using 80mm paper. See Printing Receipts With a Thermal Printer for more information.

• Enable Thermal Receipt Printing: Activates direct thermal printing capability
• Custom Header Text: Optional information or store information printed above the receipt body
• Custom Footer Text: Optional information printed below the receipt body

Payments Dashboard

The Payments Dashboard provides a birds-eye view for all recent transactions. This includes received payments but also provides a view of any pending or overdue payments, making the dashboard a great way to view a holistic overview of your payments.

You can navigate to the dashboard by clicking the Payments link in the left sidebar. Note that you will either need to be in the Admin role or have the View Payments Dashboard permission. See Staff Members & Roles for instructions on how to manage and assign roles.

The dashboard is grouped into two tabs:

• Payments: Shows all recent transactions and allows you to filter payments by date and status.
• Payment Plans: Shows all payment plans created in the system, grouped by Overdue, Active, and Completed. Each payment plan includes a visual timeline with indicators based on payment status.

Updated on: 20/01/2026