Send invoices to collect payments for an online business

Before integrating with Stripe, you must create a Stripe account.

1. Create an account by entering your email address, full name, country, and creating a password.
2. Fill out your business profile.
3. In the Dashboard, click Verify your email. A verification email is sent to your email address.
4. Verify your email address.

Create a test invoice for a test product with a set price. Before you go live, you create test invoices and products in a sandbox in the Dashboard.

1. Open the Create invoice page in the Dashboard.

2. Add a test customer.

3. Select a currency (for example, “USD”).

4. Enter a test item:

   • Item: Enter “Premium 1-Year Access”
   • Price: Enter “5,000”
   • Unit: Enter “1”

5. Select payment collection:

   • Select Request Payment
   • Select Due in 30 days

6. (Optional) Customize your invoice with additional fields such as adding a memo or changing the invoice PDF page size.

7. Preview the invoice PDF, email, and payment page your customer sees on the right.

8. Under the invoice PDF preview, click branding. This opens the Invoices tab in the Branding settings page.

9. Select the invoice you customer sees through the Stripe-hosted payment page (mobile and website view) or PDF.

10. Upload your brand icon and logo. You can also customize brand colors.

11. Preview the changes on the right, and click Save changes.

12. Click Review invoice.

13. Add your own email to see the test invoice. You can also add additional recipients, include a link to a hosted invoice payment page, or schedule a send date.

14. Click Finalize and send.

15. Review the test invoice in your email for completion and accuracy.

Activate a link that you add to your website or share with your customers, allowing them to self-manage their payment details, invoices, and subscriptions. You can set up the customer portal in a few minutes, without writing code.

1. Activate a customer portal link On the customer portal configuration page, click Activate link in the Ways to get started section.

2. Configure the portal Go to the customer portal configuration page and select your configuration options. Learn more about configuration options.

3. Share the portal login link Add the link you activated to your site, or send it directly to your customers. They can log in to the portal with their email address and a one-time passcode.

   Make sure your customers have an email set. If multiple customers have the same email address, Stripe selects the most recently created customer that has both that email and an active subscription.

   For security purposes:

   • Customers can’t update their email address through this link.
   • If a customer doesn’t receive a one-time passcode after clicking the login link, make sure their email address matches the email address of an existing customer. To check, enter the email address in the search bar of your Stripe dashboard.

To learn how to customize the portal, see Activate the no-code customer portal.

Modify the sent test invoice to replicate responding to a customer request. For example, your customer sends you an email requesting you to add a PO number to the invoice.

1. Open the Invoices page in the Dashboard.

2. Click the applicable invoice.

3. On the invoice details page, click Edit invoice.

4. Under Additional options, select Custom fields.

   • Field name: enter “PO number”.
   • Field value: Enter a test number “12345”.

5. Preview the changes, and click Review invoice.

6. Select Notify customer that this invoice was updated.

7. Click Finalize and send.

Learn how to add payment methods, send reminders, and enable bank debit payment retries.

Add payment methods

In the Dashboard, on the Payment methods page, enable the payment methods you want to accept from your customers. By default, Stripe Checkout and Payment Element use dynamic payment methods.

This means Stripe handles the logic for dynamically displaying the most relevant eligible payment methods to each customer to maximize conversion. Stripe only shows customers the payment methods they’re eligible to use, based on factors such as product support and the customer’s location.

Send reminders

Send reminders to a customer if a one-off invoice hasn’t been paid.

1. Navigate to Invoicing settings, and under Advanced invoicing features, select Send reminders.
2. Select when to send the reminder (for example, 7 days after it was due)
3. Click Save.

Enable Direct Debit retries

You can enable Direct Debit retries to have Stripe automatically retry failed Direct Debit payments caused by insufficient funds. By default, Stripe doesn’t automatically retry failed Direct Debit payments, except for ACH Direct Debit which is generally available. To enable automatic retries for other Direct Debit payment methods, see Automate payment retries.

1. Navigate to Invoicing settings, and under Advanced invoicing features, select Enable ACH Direct Debit retries.
2. Click Save.

Enable customers to schedule payments US only

You can enable customers to schedule payments for a future date through the Hosted Invoice Page. If your customer chooses to schedule their payment, the invoice appears on the Invoices page under Scheduled. A badge also appears next to the invoice that indicates the invoice’s scheduled status. Hovering over the badge tells you the invoice’s scheduled and estimated delivery dates.

To enable scheduled payments for all invoices in the Dashboard, including those that are outstanding:

1. Navigate to Invoicing settings, and next to Default payment terms, select Allow customer to schedule a payment.
2. Click Save.

Monitor your invoices on the Invoices page in the Dashboard to:

• Track invoice status (open, paid, past due, etc.)
• Filter invoices
• Export invoices as CSV files
• View detailed information by clicking on a specific invoice
• Perform actions like downloading PDFs, duplicating invoices, or viewing customer details

For more comprehensive monitoring, use the Accounts receivable aging report to track outstanding invoices grouped by age ranges.

1. In the Dashboard, open your Account settings.
2. Enter your business type, tax details, business details, personal verification information, and customer-facing information (for example, a statement descriptor).
3. Add bank details to confirm where your money will be paid out.
4. Set up two-step authentication to secure your account.
5. You can optionally add automatic tax collection or revenue-based climate donations.
6. Review the information you entered, and click Agree and submit.
7. After you activate your profile, Stripe updates you from sandbox mode to live mode.

Learn more about activating your Stripe account.