Frequently asked questions

Open Invoices, choose Create invoice, fill it in and save. Then choose Send on the invoice list to email the customer their pay link.

No. Void it and create a new one. Voiding an invoice stops it being paid.

Check the customer's email address, then choose Resend on the invoice list. You can also copy the Pay link from the list and send it yourself.

Yes, if you allowed it when you created the invoice. Choose Customer choice to let them pay any amount, or Fixed deposit to require a deposit first. See Partial payments and deposits.

Find the payment under Transactions and choose Refund. If the payment has not settled yet, Void may be available instead.

An optional number of your own for a customer, unique among your customers. It can be edited on the customer's page and is sent to QuickBooks and Salesforce when those are connected. See Customers and account numbers.

Yes. On your account page, open Invoice numbers, enter a format such as INV-{######} and the number the next invoice should take. You can raise that number later but not lower it. See Choosing your invoice number format and starting number.

Yes. Open Import from CSV, choose the Invoices tab, download the template and fill in one row per invoice with a customer and a product you already have. You see every invoice and its total before anything is created, and you can leave them as Drafts or send them by email.

Yes, if you are allowed to take payments. Tick the charge option or use the auto_charge and payment_method columns, check the preview, and tick the box to confirm the charges. A customer with no saved method, or whose charge is declined, still gets the invoice and can pay from the link. Never put a whole card number in the file.

By default you accept everything your gateway supports. To change it, open the merchant's Credentials page and use Accepted payment methods under the gateway. You can turn credit and debit cards and ACH/eCheck on or off, and for cards choose the brands: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and Other (every remaining brand). At least one must stay on.

Turning something off only stops new use. Cards and bank accounts already saved, running schedules, refunds and voids keep working. Customers see only what you accept on the pay page, with a line listing the card brands, and a card of a brand you do not accept is refused before it is charged.

Open the merchant's Credentials page and use Dual pricing under the gateway. It needs a gateway that takes ACH, with both credit cards and ACH accepted. Pick one of two ways:

• Card surcharge (the default). The invoice total is the ACH price and a credit card pays the percentage on top, shown as its own card-fee line. It is capped at 3% (some states set less), is never charged on debit or prepaid cards, is the same for every card brand, and starts 30 days after the date you tell us you notified your processor. It is not available in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Puerto Rico or California, or without a state on the business's billing address, and it needs a gateway that tells us whether a card is credit or debit (Stripe and Square today).
• Cash discount. The invoice total is the regular card price and a customer paying by bank account gets the percentage off (up to 20%). No notice period.

The pay page shows both prices before the customer chooses. The percentage is copied onto each invoice when it is created, so changing the setting later only affects new invoices. This is general guidance, not legal advice: check your processor agreement and your state's rules.

Yes. Your provider's software can send a file of invoices through the API. Creating and sending them needs nothing from you. Charging customers' saved cards and bank accounts is off until you switch on Allow API files to charge saved payment methods under Invoice file settings, and you set the most one file may charge. You can follow every file on the Invoice files page.

Yes. On Create invoice tick Don't add a card fee or give a cash discount on this invoice (it appears when dual pricing is on). On a customer's page tick Never charge this customer a card fee or give a cash discount and every new invoice for them is left at the plain total. You can only turn it off; a custom percentage per invoice is not offered. Through the API send waiveDualPricing: true when you create the invoice. An invoice keeps what it was created with.

If a customer pays a card that turns out to be a debit or prepaid card, no card fee is charged. A cash discount a customer was shown is always honored.

They are boxes you add yourself to customers, invoices and payments, such as a job number or a renewal date. Your Admin defines them under Settings, then Account, then Custom fields and turns them on. See the article Adding your own fields to customers, invoices and payments.

Custom fields are switched off until your Admin presses Turn on at the top of the Custom fields page. While they are off no field shows anywhere, nothing is required and nothing is saved. Nothing is lost: turning them on brings every field and value back. The field may also be archived, or you may be looking at the wrong tab (customer, invoice and payment fields appear in different places).

Only the ones you mark Show to customer. Those print on the invoice, the pay page, My account and receipts. Everything else stays inside your account. Customer fields are copied onto an invoice when it is sent, so a later change to the customer does not alter an invoice that was already sent.

A text value that looks like a card number is always refused, wherever it is typed, imported or sent from software. Custom fields are not a safe place for card or bank details. Use a reference, such as the last four digits or an order number, instead.

No. Required applies when a new record is created. Existing records are not blocked, and an edit only checks the fields on the form you are saving. The Custom fields page shows how many records still have no value, so you can fill them in when you like.

Yes, when custom fields are on. The template you download from Import from CSV gains a column for each of your fields. A column can be named by the field's label or its key. For an invoices file, put payment_ in front of the key for a payment field. A blank cell means nothing was given, and updating existing customers never erases a value.

Yes. Open the customer and choose Schedule a payment with a monthly frequency. The customer needs a saved payment method, or you can use Request a payment schedule so they approve and add one themselves.

The invoice for that run stays open with a pay link so the customer can pay it. If several charges in a row fail, the schedule stops itself and shows as Failed. Update the payment method and resume it.

Yes. Choose Pause to edit, make your changes, save, then resume.

Yes, for customers who already have a saved card or bank account. Open Import from CSV, choose the Scheduled payments tab, download the template and fill in one row per schedule. You see every schedule, its first payment date and its amount before anything is created, and you can create them all paused.

The preview gives the reason beside each row. Common ones: the customer has no saved payment method or its card has expired, the frequency is not one the file understands (bimonthly and twice a month are not supported; use the every column for every 2 weeks or every 3 months), the start date is in the past, or the amount is over 100,000.00. Fix the row and upload it again; rows that already went in are skipped.

The deadline for moving to the new gateway has passed and that payment was still set to charge a card saved on the old one, which is no longer accepted. Nothing was deleted. As soon as the customer adds a new card, from the link in their email or text or from the pay page, their paused payments start again on it. You can send them the link again from the Moving your saved cards page (one a day per customer). Ask your PayMidWare team if the deadline should be extended.

Open Moving your saved cards from the card on your Dashboard. Send link beside a customer sends it to that customer, and Send add-a-card links now sends it to everyone still to move. Each customer can be sent one a day, and links go out at a steady pace, so a long list takes a few hours. A customer with no email address shows as no email and cannot be sent one; text goes only to customers who agreed to texts.

Staff users only see the areas an Admin has granted. An Admin can change this under User roles.

Open the menu with your name in the top right and choose Two-factor sign-in.

That user is the account owner, the first Admin created for the account. The owner cannot be disabled or moved to another role, so those buttons are not shown. To hand ownership to another Admin, contact PayMidWare support. Only a PayMidWare employee can transfer it.

If that Admin is the account owner, only the owner or a PayMidWare employee can change their email or reset their password. Every other user can be managed by any Admin.

Yes. Add and verify your mobile number under My profile, then turn on Sign-in codes by text. If a text cannot be sent, the code is emailed instead.

Either you are using a private window or a browser that clears cookies when it closes, or you did not tick Don't ask for a code on this browser last time. Tick it on a device that is yours and you will not be asked again for a while.

Open the menu with your name in the top right, choose Trusted browsers, and remove it. Changing your password removes all of them.

No. You agree once for each version. You are asked again only when a new version that needs your agreement is published.

Use the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy links at the bottom of every page. They open without signing in.

Yes. Any app that makes 6-digit time-based codes works, including Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, 1Password and Authy. Open Two-factor sign-in from the menu with your name and choose Set up an authenticator app.

On the code page choose Use a recovery code and enter one of the codes you saved when you set up. If you have none, ask your account owner or administrator to reset your authenticator from the Users page; you will set it up again at your next sign-in.

Your organization requires a second step. Set up an authenticator app (or email codes, if they are allowed) and you are signed in. If a grace period applies you can skip it until the date shown, but you will be asked again at each sign-in.

Each authenticator code works once. Wait for the next code to appear in your app and enter that one.

Your administrator has turned off trusted browsers, so a code is asked for on every sign-in.

The sign-in page gives a short reason. The usual ones: you have not been invited to PayMidWare yet, your PayMidWare user is turned off, your Microsoft account is a guest in your company''s directory (guests are refused unless your owner allows them), your email domain has not been verified by your company, or your owner has not finished setting up Microsoft sign-in. Ask your account owner or administrator, who can see each of these on the Microsoft sign-in page.

PayMidWare is designed so card numbers never pass through your servers or ours: card details are typed into the payment gateway's own fields and PayMidWare keeps only a token and the last four digits, brand and expiry. Read How PayMidWare protects your account and your customers' payment details for the full list, including what we recommend you turn on.

Usually not. If Microsoft says you used multi-factor and your company accepts that, PayMidWare asks for nothing more. If Microsoft did not use multi-factor, or your company does not accept it, the usual PayMidWare second step applies: an authenticator app code, or a text or email code.

Yes. A password alone can be guessed, reused or stolen. A second step means a stolen password is not enough on its own. An authenticator app is the strongest option. Open the menu with your name, choose Two-factor sign-in and follow the steps. If you own the account you can also require it for your whole team under Users, then Sign-in security.

Not unless you are on the emergency list your owner chose. Once Microsoft sign-in is required, password sign-in, password reset and password change are switched off for everyone else, so use Sign in with Microsoft. If Microsoft is unavailable, ask a person on the emergency list or your account owner.

It is a private page where your customers can see their invoices, payments, saved payment methods and scheduled payments without calling you. It is a paid add-on; the current price is shown under Integrations. Turn it on from your merchant account, under Customer sign-in.

First that the email address on their customer record is the one they are typing, and that the customer is not switched off on their customer page. Codes go only to an address you have on file and the answer on the page is always the same, so it will not say if the address is unknown. Ask them to check spam, and to wait a minute before asking for another code (new codes are limited to a few per hour).

Ask your software provider about a merchant group. It lets you sign in once and move between your locations: you see combined lists of transactions, customers, invoices and scheduled payments across them, and open any one location to work in it. Your group Admin decides what the Staff in your group can reach.

No. A person sees only records of your active customers whose email address matches theirs, looked up again on every click. If two of your customer records share one email address, the person who owns that address sees both together, so give each customer their own address if that is not what you want.

Only if your group has turned on visitor billing, that location takes part, and you have agreed by typing a code sent to your own email address or phone. Your saved cards stay at your home location: at the other location you type your card on their payment page, and it is saved there only if you ask. You can only be billed by card, and either location can end the arrangement at any time.

Open their customer page and use Switch off on the My account card. It takes effect on their next click, even if they are signed in. You can switch them back on later. To stop everyone, switch the page off on the Customer sign-in page.

It is off until you switch it on under Customer sign-in. When on, a customer can tick the box after signing in with an emailed code and that browser signs in without a code for 30 days. They are still asked for a code before sensitive changes, and they can forget their devices from the Security page. Signing out ends it too.

Yes. On the Payments page in My account there is a link to Download a statement. The customer chooses a start and end date (up to 366 days) and gets one PDF of their invoices and payments, with refunds, and what is still owed today. It only ever shows their own records.

If your software is built on PayMidWare, it can ask for a one-use sign-in link for a customer it has already signed in. The link works once, for five minutes, and only while My account is on and the customer is not switched off. The customer still gets an emailed code before a sensitive change.

The card shown under Card on file on the Billing page. It is separate from the payments your customers make.

Your provider joined the Enterprise program and took over your PayMidWare billing. Either they pay for it (you pay PayMidWare nothing) or PayMidWare bills your card at the price they set. See the Billing page for which applies to you.

Tax is worked out line by line and each line is rounded to the cent. See How tax is calculated on an invoice.

No. A product is in one category at a time, and categories cannot be nested. Pick the group a cashier would look in first.

Yes. Add each store as a location and pick its own tax rate. Register sales at that store and invoices raised for it start on that rate. See Locations and a tax rate for each one.

The default tax rate list shows your tax rates. If it is empty, add a rate on the Tax rates page first, then choose it on your account page.

Yes. Open Import from CSV (from the merchant's row on the Merchants list, the merchant's overview, or the button on the Customers, Products, Tax rates and Locations pages), download the template for the list you want, fill it in and upload it. You see what will happen before anything is saved. Do the lists in this order: tax rates, locations, customers, then products.

The preview and the result give the reason beside each row. Common ones: an email that is not valid, a price that is not a number or has more than two decimals, a tax rate or location name that does not exist yet (import tax rates first, then locations), a location code that another location already uses, or a category that is switched off. Fix the row in the file and upload it again; rows that already went in are simply skipped or updated.

Open QuickBooks from your account page and choose Connect to QuickBooks. See Connecting QuickBooks.

It depends on your choice under Import from QuickBooks. Bring in new and changed customers and the Sync customers from QuickBooks button only fill blank fields, never overwrite what you entered, and send nothing back. Keep customers in step both ways copies edits in both directions: the most recent edit wins, and a tie goes to QuickBooks. Matching customers are linked by id, then by email. See Syncing customers from QuickBooks.

QuickBooks Online only has categories when item categories are turned on in the QuickBooks company settings. Turn that on, then run Sync products. QuickBooks Desktop has no categories, so they stay in PayMidWare only.

The invoice was emailed from two places. Check whether it was also sent from QuickBooks (Save and send, Send later followed by a send, a recurring template, or a QuickBooks reminder), and whether your import choice emails new invoices as well. Pick one sender and switch the other off. See Avoiding duplicate invoice emails when you use QuickBooks.

No. The setting lives in QuickBooks and an outside program cannot change it. In QuickBooks Online it is under Settings, Account and settings, Sales, Reminders. In QuickBooks Desktop it is under Edit, Preferences, Payments, Company Preferences. See Avoiding duplicate invoice emails when you use QuickBooks.

Choose Import as Sent, don't email the customer under Import from QuickBooks on your QuickBooks page, and do not email those invoices from QuickBooks. Then PayMidWare emails an invoice only when you send it.

Yes, four ways: type the card into the secure card field (Stripe, Square or Authorize.Net as your default gateway), use a card saved on the customer, show a QR code the customer pays with on their own phone, or use a Stripe card reader where the customer inserts, taps or swipes. See Ringing up a sale and Pay on a card reader.

Yes. Sales and card payments need an internet connection, and there is no offline mode. If the connection drops, finish the sale once it returns or take cash or check when your drawer is open.

The point-of-sale add-on has to be on for your account, and an Admin has to give you the Point of sale area under User roles. If you were signed in when this changed, sign out and in again. See Getting started with the point of sale.

Open Register settings and tick Take tips at the register. You can set up to three suggested percentages. See Tips and the cash discount.

Set a percentage in Register settings. It is taken off the pre-tax price of the cash part of a sale, and tax is recalculated on the lower price. Tips are never discounted, and card, check and QR payments are not affected. See Tips and the cash discount.

An Admin or other manager, in the PayMidWare portal. Staff and cashiers can void a sale that is still open with no payment on it, and can discount up to the limit in Register settings.

If Cash and checks need an open drawer is on, open a shift for that register on the Drawer shifts page first. See Cash drawers and shifts.

It may be hidden from the register, or have availability rules that do not match this register or this time. Open the product and check its Point of sale card. See Registers, locations and product availability.

Add the cashier on the Register cashiers page, press Pair a device on the Registers page, and type the code on the tablet at the register site. Then the cashier signs in with their username and PIN. See Cashiers and the register site.

Five wrong PINs lock a cashier for 15 minutes. A manager can press Unlock or Reset PIN on the Register cashiers page.

The buttons only appear when at least one active category has a product that can be sold right now, and there is more than one button to show. Check that the category is switched on and that its products are active and available. See Grouping products into categories.

Your merchant group holds a gateway account and has switched it on for your business. It is shown with the group's name, for example Stripe (Acme Holdings), next to your own gateways, and you can bill on either. Its credentials are managed by your group and are not shown to you. Cards saved on it stay separate from cards saved on your own gateway.

To the bank account of the business that holds the group's account, not to your own. Refunds and chargebacks on it come out of that account too. If you use an accounting connection, check with your group where those deposits should be posted.

It depends on how the move is done. If your own gateway keys are already the same account as the group's, nothing changes for customers. If the processor transfers the cards, customers do nothing either. In a gradual move, each customer adds their card once, when they next pay, and is reminded beforehand.

Yes. A payment is always refunded through the account it was taken on. After you stop using the group's account, that works for 180 days from the payment; after that, contact support.

They must have agreed to be texted at that exact number, and the matching switch must be on under Text messages for the merchant. Texts also wait between 9pm and 8am, and a customer who replied STOP is not texted. See Texting your customers.

Yes. Only customers who have agreed are texted. They can agree on the pay page after a payment, or you can record it on their customer page. Record only what the customer really agreed to.

They reply STOP to any text. They are not texted again, at that number, until they reply START and agree again.

US mobile numbers only for now. A number from another country, or one that is not a valid format, is refused.

They can ask for the code again on the signing page (up to three times). If their number does not work, open the document in Documents and choose New link, no texted code; they then sign with the emailed link alone.

No. The signer sees the exact text that was sent. Withdraw the request, publish an updated version of the template, and send it again.

Open Documents, then the signed document, and choose Download signed PDF. The signer is also emailed a copy when they sign.

Short links are a paid add-on: $9.95 a month or $99.95 a year. Open Integrations in the Portal and subscribe to Short links. Then use Short links on the merchant page to make links, see how often each is opened and revoke any of them. If you cancel, the links you made keep working; you just cannot make new ones. The text message links PayMidWare sends for you are not part of the add-on.