Do I have to create a Stripe account?

No. You do everything inside Clientflow. We automatically set up what's needed, and you never log in to Stripe — balance, payments and payouts are shown on the Payments tab.

Why is the "Enable payments" button disabled?

Because Clientflow sends invoices and collects payment isn't switched on yet. Payments require Clientflow to send the invoices — otherwise the customer would get both your accounting system's invoice and a payment request from us. Switch it on at the top of the page and you can enable payments.

Can my customers pay with MobilePay?

Yes, if you switch MobilePay on and Stripe has activated it on your account. It isn't on by default, and it costs a fixed monthly subscription at Stripe plus slightly more per transaction than a card. Clientflow shows the price before you confirm.

Does Clientflow see my customers' card numbers?

No, never. Card details are handled solely by Stripe, which is certified for exactly this (PCI-DSS Level 1). Neither you nor Clientflow ever sees the card number.

When do I get the money?

Once a payment goes through, it lands in your Stripe balance and is paid out automatically to your bank account on Stripe's regular payout schedule.

What if my status keeps showing "Pending verification"?

Then Stripe still needs information from you. Go to Settings → Accounting → Payments, where Clientflow shows exactly what's missing. Payments and payouts start as soon as verification is complete.

What if the customer doesn't want to save their card?

Then they pay themselves using the Pay now button on the invoice link Clientflow sends — by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or MobilePay. It needs no extra setup; the button is there as soon as payments are active.

What happens if a payment can't go through?

If the customer's bank requires extra confirmation, the cardholder automatically gets an email with a link to an Authorize payment page. If the payment still fails (for example, insufficient funds), you can send a new payment link or arrange another way to pay.

Should I set up Stripe reconciliation now, or can it wait?

Set it up straight away. Without reconciliation the payment is still collected from the customer, but Clientflow skips the whole booking — the money isn't lost, but it isn't in your accounts either, and the invoice isn't registered as paid. Fill the setup in and the completed payments are booked automatically afterwards.

Can I use it together with Dinero, e-conomic or Billy?

Yes. Payments are booked automatically into your accounting via Stripe reconciliation, whichever of the three you use.

Who can turn payments on?

Only an administrator — the Payments tab is visible to administrators only. Once it's enabled, it works for the whole business.

Payments: Get paid automatically by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and MobilePay – Help center

Payments let you collect money directly from your own customers — by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and MobilePay. Saved cards are charged automatically when an order is completed, so recurring work and subscriptions pay for themselves. The money is paid out to your own bank account, and you never have to log in to Stripe.

What are Payments?

Payments let your business collect money from its own customers online instead of waiting for a bank transfer. If the customer has saved a card, it happens entirely by itself the moment the job is completed.

Behind the scenes, the payment itself is handled by Stripe — one of the world's largest and most trusted payment providers. But you won't notice it: everything happens inside Clientflow, with Clientflow's look and feel. You never have to create a Stripe account manually, log in to Stripe, or learn a new system.

Wasn't this called "Card payments"? It was, until recently. The card in Settings is now called Payments, and so is the tab — because a card is just one of several ways your customers can pay.

How the money comes in

There are two routes, and they don't rule each other out.

1. A saved card is charged automatically. If the customer has saved a payment card with you, Clientflow charges the amount by itself when the order is completed. You don't have to do anything, and neither does the customer. This is the route that makes subscriptions and recurring work pay for themselves.

2. The customer pays themselves. The invoice Clientflow sends contains a link to the invoice with a Pay now button. It opens Stripe's secure payment page, where the customer can pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay — and MobilePay, if you've switched it on. That button is only available on invoices Clientflow sent itself (see step 2 below).

Setup has four steps

At the top of Settings → Accounting there's an overview of the whole chain. It shows all four steps and their status, no matter how far along you are:

Step	What it does	What happens without it
1. Accounting system	Dinero, e-conomic or Billy creates and books the invoice.	No invoices can be created at all.
2. Invoice delivery	Clientflow sends the invoice to the customer.	Stripe may be approved — but not a single payment is collected.
3. Payment	Customers can pay online, and saved cards are charged automatically.	Customers pay by bank transfer as before.
4. Reconciliation	The payment is booked back into your accounts automatically.	The money is collected from the customer but can't be booked. The money isn't lost — but your accounts won't balance.

Step 4 isn't an optional nicety. If reconciliation isn't set up, Clientflow skips the whole booking, and the payment isn't even registered as paid. Set it up while Stripe is still reviewing your account — then it's ready before the first payment lands. Payments that already went through are booked automatically as soon as the setup is in place.

How to get started (step by step)

Note: Only an administrator can see and use the Payments tab.

Step 1: Connect your accounting system

Go to Settings.
Click Billing.
On the Accounting integration tab, pick Dinero, e-conomic or Billy and connect.

Clientflow isn't an accounting program and doesn't create invoices or do bookkeeping — your accounting system does that, exactly as before.

Step 2: Switch invoice delivery on

On the same page, in the Invoicing & payment card at the top, switch on Clientflow sends invoices and collects payment.

This is a prerequisite, not a preference: without it Clientflow can neither charge a saved card nor give the customer a pay button — the Enable payments button stays disabled until you've done it. Switched on, Clientflow fetches the invoice from your accounting system and sends it to the customer with a link where the invoice can be viewed and paid. Switched off, your accounting system sends the invoice itself, as usual.

The same card is where you customise the text of the invoice emails and SMS messages Clientflow sends, plus the Payment receipt that goes out once a payment has gone through.

Step 3: Enable payments

Select the Payments tab at the top.
In the Payments card, click Enable payments. Clientflow creates your Stripe account in the background.
If you also want to offer MobilePay, tick Also offer MobilePay before you click. It's unticked by default, and the price sits right next to it — MobilePay costs a fixed monthly subscription at Stripe plus slightly more per transaction than a card. You can always switch it on later.

A short verification then appears right inside Clientflow. Here you fill in:

Business details — name, address and company registration number.
ID — identification for the person responsible for the business. This is a legal requirement for anyone accepting payments — it's completely normal.
Bank account — the account the money should be paid out to.

You fill it all in inside Clientflow and are never sent off to a foreign system. While Stripe reviews the details, your status shows Pending verification — and Clientflow names exactly what Stripe is still waiting for. Once everything is approved, the status changes to Active with a green dot.

Does Stripe open a window asking you to log in with an SMS code? Stay on the page while it's open. If you navigate away inside Clientflow, that window loses its connection and the code is never accepted. If you need to fetch the code from your inbox, open it in a new tab. Clientflow warns you if you're about to navigate away.

Step 4: Set up Stripe reconciliation

Once the account exists, the Stripe reconciliation card appears on the same tab. Switch on Book payments automatically and pick accounts and VAT codes from your own accounting system:

Field	What it is
Clearing account (Stripe)	The asset account where the full payment amount lands until Stripe pays out. Required.
Fee account	The expense account for Stripe's processing fees. Required.
Payout bank account (optional)	Fill this in only if Clientflow should also book the payout itself, from Stripe to your bank. Not yet supported for Billy.
Journal number (e-conomic)	e-conomic only, and required there. Use a dedicated journal used for Stripe reconciliation and nothing else.

Reconciliation stays inactive until both the clearing account and the fee account are filled in. If you're unsure about VAT codes, ask your accountant — Clientflow won't guess at them.

How your customers pay

Saved card — the payment runs by itself

1. Send the customer a link to save their card. Open the customer, go to the Billing tab and find the Card on file section. Click Send payment link, and the customer gets a secure email with a link where the card can be saved. You never see the card number yourself. If the customer already has a card saved, the button reads Send new link.

2. The amount is charged when the order is completed. When an order that's due to be invoiced is marked as completed, Clientflow automatically charges the amount to the customer's saved card. The customer doesn't have to do anything.

This assumes the order is actually going to be invoiced. If the payment method is Cash or No invoicing — on the order, on the customer, or as your company default under Default payment method — the card isn't charged. That setup is precisely a statement that the money arrives some other way.

3. If the bank requires extra confirmation. Sometimes the customer's bank has to confirm the payment first (this is called 3-D Secure or SCA and is a security rule). If that happens, the cardholder automatically gets an email with a link to an Authorize payment page, where they approve the amount in a couple of clicks. Then the payment goes through.

No saved card? The customer can pay themselves

Customers without a saved card can use the Pay now button on the invoice link Clientflow sends them. It opens Stripe's payment page, where they can pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay — and MobilePay, if you've switched it on.

There's nothing to switch on for this: as long as payments are active and Clientflow sent the invoice, the button is there. The payment can only go through once, so nobody risks paying twice, and it's booked into your accounting exactly like a charge on a saved card.

MobilePay

MobilePay is offered alongside card on Stripe's payment page. It takes two things, and neither happens by itself:

You switch it on. Either with the Also offer MobilePay tick box while you create the account, or later with the Offer MobilePay switch in the MobilePay card on the Payments tab. Clientflow shows the price before you confirm.
Stripe activates it. That doesn't happen instantly — Stripe may require further verification, so it can take a while before MobilePay actually shows up for your customers. The status is shown on the card.

If you switch MobilePay on, remember to pick the MobilePay subscription account under Stripe reconciliation. Otherwise the monthly subscription fee isn't booked, and your clearing account won't balance to zero.

Is it safe?

Yes — and it's one of the best reasons to let Clientflow and Stripe handle this.

Stripe handles all card details. Clientflow never sees, stores, or touches the card number itself. The card is entered directly into Stripe's secure fields.
Stripe is PCI-DSS Level 1 certified — the highest security standard in the payments industry, the same level large banks and online shops use. Read more about Stripe's security.
The money is yours. Payouts go to your business's own bank account.

Payouts and bookkeeping

Payouts

Once a customer has paid, the money first lands in your Stripe balance and is then paid out automatically to your bank account on Stripe's regular schedule. Balance, payments, payouts, account details and documents are all visible directly on the Payments tab — you still never have to log in to Stripe.

Automatic bookkeeping

With Stripe reconciliation set up, every payment is booked automatically into your accounting system along with the fees, so your books add up.

Transaction fees apply when you accept payments. Stripe processes the payment and charges its own fee (see Stripe's pricing); the full terms are set out in our Terms.

If something goes wrong

You see	What to do
Status "Not enabled"	You haven't started yet. Click Enable payments to begin.
The Enable payments button is disabled	Switch on Clientflow sends invoices and collects payment at the top of the page first.
Status "Pending verification"	Stripe still needs information. Clientflow shows exactly what — fill it in on the Payments tab.
Status "Ready, but inactive"	Stripe has approved your account, but no payments are being collected because invoice delivery is switched off. Switch it on at the top of the page.
A message that reconciliation is missing	Fill in Settlement account (Stripe) and Fee account under Stripe reconciliation. Payments that already went through are booked automatically afterwards.
You can't see the Payments tab	Only administrators have access. Ask an administrator for help.

Integrations and billing — set up Dinero or e-conomic, telephony, email and more.
Price configuration: Hourly rate and rounding — control how prices are calculated across Clientflow.

Payments: Get paid automatically by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and MobilePay