Keeping Client Cards on File and Using Autopay

Sarah Smith has three walks a week and always pays late because she forgets, David Kim travels for work and asked you to just charge his card, and you'd rather not chase either of them on a Friday night. With a card on file, you charge a client in a tap, or let autopay collect every invoice on its due date while you're out walking dogs.

Get a client's card on file

Card details go straight to Stripe. Neither you nor Scritches ever sees the full card number, and saving a card never charges it. A client's card can be saved four ways:

• You ask for it. Open the client from Clients, choose the Card on file tile, then Request a card. Pick Email it for me, or I'll send it myself to copy the link and text it. The link works for 7 days.

• They save it in their portal, under Payment Methods in their account menu. That's also where they replace or remove a card.

• They save it while paying. A client signed in to their portal can tick Save this card for next time when paying an invoice.

• Your intake form asks for it. Turn on Collect a card on file in the form's Card on File section, and new clients add a card as the last step before they submit (more in Configuring Intake Forms).

The Card on file tile then shows the client's cards, their autopay switch and any open invoices. Choose a card to make it the default or remove it.

Charge a saved card

1. Open the invoice and choose Take payment. On a phone, the button sits at the bottom of the screen.

2. Check the card under Charge to and, if the client asked, Add a tip.

3. Choose Charge. The card is charged right away and the client gets a receipt by email.

Only invoices you've sent can be charged. If you see "This invoice is still a draft", send it first.

Let autopay collect invoices

With autopay on, every invoice you send a client on autopay is charged to their default card on its due date. You don't press anything.

1. Open Autopay and turn on the Autopay switch.

2. Pick who starts on autopay. Every client with a card is ticked. Overdue invoices aren't charged unless you tick Also charge overdue invoices.

3. Choose Turn on. The clients you picked get an email saying they're on autopay. Nothing is charged today.

To add a client later, turn on Charge invoices when due on their Card on file tile. While autopay is on, a client who saves their first card joins on their own (the card form tells them so).

How each charge runs:

• The day before, the client gets an email with the amount, the card and the date.

• On the due date, the card is charged at 10 AM your business's time, and the client gets a receipt.

• Only sent invoices are charged. If Scritches sends your invoices automatically (Sending invoices in Payments settings), the autopay email is the invoice. If not, drafts wait until you send them.

• Paying early cancels the charge. If the client pays the invoice another way first, autopay leaves it alone.

• Tips ride along. The email links to the invoice, where the client can add a tip before the charge.

For example: Sarah Smith's three walks come to $75.00, due next Friday. She gets the email Thursday morning, opens the invoice and adds a 20% tip, so on Friday autopay charges $90.00 to her Visa ending 4242.

Charge a cancellation fee when you cancel

When you cancel a visit late enough to owe a fee under your cancellation policy, the cancel window offers to Charge the fee now to the client's saved card. Tick the card, and the button becomes Cancel visit and charge. The client's cancellation email says what was charged, in place of a separate receipt.

The option isn't offered for clients on autopay: the fee stays on their invoice and autopay collects it on the due date.

When autopay can't charge

If a charge doesn't go through, you get one email and notification, titled Autopay needs attention, and the invoice shows up under need you at the top of Invoicing. Open the invoice: the panel beside it says what happened and has the fix one tap away.

For example: Priya Patel's $50.00 invoice was due yesterday, and her bank declined her Visa ending 0341. She has already been emailed a link to pay. If she calls to say her bank fixed it, choose Try the card again. If she saves a new card instead, autopay emails her a new date and charges the new card on its own.

Frequently Asked Questions