Articles on: Daily Operations

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 (Payment Processing). 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 now 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


  1. 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.
  • 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


  1. Click Save Payment to record the payment. If you are using the Stripe integration, you can also select the Charge Now with Stripe option to process the payment through Stripe.


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


Plan Requirement: Core or Ultimate


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


  1. Create a new Scheduled payment
  2. In the payments list, you 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
  1. The customer can complete the payment online
  2. The payment is automatically marked as Paid when completed by the customer


Tip: Your customers can also pay for scheduled payments through the Client Portal.


Payment Receipts


After recording a payment, you can choose to 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. If you would like to manually send a payment receipt, you can do so by following these steps:


  1. Locate the payment in the payments list
  2. Click the Send Receipt button which has the icon of a receipt
  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 only be created up to the total paid amount, however you could also do a partial refund for a payment. Be aware that 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. To initiate a refund, please follow these steps:


Payment Processed with Stripe


  1. In the customer's profile, click the Refund action for the payment you wish to refund.
  2. The system will guide you into the Stripe dashboard, where you must process the refund.
  3. The refund will automatically sync to the CloudBridal payment when finished.


Payment Processed Outside of Stripe


  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


Tip Tracking


CloudBridal allows you to record tips on a payment. You can then later 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 in CloudBridal, 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 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


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


Updated on: 10/07/2025

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