Take card payments with Stripe

When Stripe is connected, an open invoice's customer link shows a Pay button. The customer pays by card (or from a US bank account, if you allow it), and Fifi records the payment on the invoice within seconds. This guide takes you from nothing to a tested connection and explains what your customer sees. It doesn't cover paying part of an invoice online, saving cards, surcharges or accounts outside the US (What Fifi doesn't do). For every rule and edge case, see the Online payments reference.

Before you start

• Who can do it: owners and admins. Anyone with an invoice link can pay.
• Needs: the Invoicing module (Pro or Business), and your own Stripe account for a US business that takes US dollars. Fifi never makes a Stripe account for you. Fifi takes no fee on payments. Stripe charges its own processing fees, and your business pays them.
• Have ready: the sign-in for your Stripe account, or the details Stripe asks for when you make one: about you and your business, and the bank account where Stripe pays out. What Stripe asks depends on your business; see Stripe (as of October 2026).
• How the money moves: from the customer's card straight to your Stripe account, and from there to your bank. Fifi never touches the money. The customer types the card number on Stripe's page, never on Fifi's, and Fifi never sees or stores it.

Steps

1. Open Settings → Invoicing and find the Online payments card.
2. Click Connect Stripe. Fifi sends you to Stripe.
3. Sign in to your Stripe account, or make one. Answer what Stripe asks.
4. When Stripe asks whether Fifi may take payments for you, say yes. Stripe sends you back to Fifi.
5. Read the card. It shows your account (as acct_…1234), whether Payments, Payouts and Bank payments (ACH) are On, and who connected it and when.
6. If Payments says "Off: finish setup in Stripe", click Open Stripe, finish what Stripe asks, and come back. Customers can't pay online until Payments is on.
7. Click Refresh to read your Stripe account again. Fifi also hears about changes from Stripe within a minute or so.
8. Test it with a small invoice (below).

What you'll see: "Stripe is connected. Customers can now pay open invoices by card from the invoice link." and the card with your account and a green On beside Payments.

If you want customers to pay from a US bank account too, turn on US bank account (ACH Direct Debit) in your Stripe dashboard. Then click Refresh: Bank payments (ACH) changes to On. See Bank debit.

Test it first

1. In Fifi, make an invoice for a small amount, for example $5.00, and click Mark as sent…. See Create and send your first invoice.
2. Click Copy customer link, and open the link in a private window.
3. Click Pay $5.00. Fifi takes you to Stripe's payment page.
4. Pay it. On Fifi's staging site, the card says Test mode: no real money, and the page tells you to use Stripe's test card: 4242 4242 4242 4242, any future date and any CVC. On your live site, use a real card, then refund the payment in Stripe.
5. You come back to the invoice. It says "Payment received. Thank you!"
6. Back in Fifi, open the invoice. The Payments section shows Online (Stripe), the card brand and last four digits, and Stripe's fee.

What your customer sees

An invoice shows Pay when it's Sent or Partially paid, Stripe is connected with Payments on, and the balance is at least $0.50 (and at most $999,999.99). The button shows the balance. An invoice of six hours at $80.00 shows Pay $480.00. Fifi works out the amount when the customer clicks. Nothing in their browser can change it.

• The customer clicks Pay. Fifi takes them to Stripe's page, where they pay by card (including Apple Pay and Google Pay). Stripe sends them its own receipt.
• Back on the invoice they see "Payment received. Thank you!" If Stripe is a little slow, they see "We're confirming your payment. This page will show it shortly." If they gave up, "Payment cancelled. Nothing was charged."
• The invoice and reminder emails say View and pay instead of View invoice. The email links to the invoice page, never to Stripe directly.
• With no Pay button, the payment instructions on the invoice apply as before.

There's no partial payment from the link: the button takes the full balance. A customer who wants to pay part pays you another way, and you record it (Record payments).

Paying while you record a payment

Say an invoice is $100.00 (four hours at $25.00) and a customer opens Pay $100.00. Meanwhile you record $20.00 cash. Fifi ends the open payment page when you record it, and warns you if a customer has one open ("A customer started paying online at 10:42."). If the customer finishes the payment anyway, Fifi records the $80.00 that fits, refunds the extra $20.00 to the card on its own, tells the customer, and makes you one task: "INV-1042 was overpaid online: $20.00 was refunded to the customer automatically".

How a payment appears

An online payment appears on the invoice like any other, without you doing anything:

• Payments shows Online (Stripe), "Visa ending 4242", Stripe's fee ("Fee $14.22") and "by Stripe". The invoice becomes Paid.
• Invoices → Payments has an Online (Stripe) method filter and, when there are fees, Fees and Net after fees totals.
• Owners and admins see a View in Stripe link on each online payment.
• You can't enter an online payment by hand or void it. It comes from Stripe and is undone there.

Refunds and disputes

Refunds happen in your Stripe dashboard. Fifi records each one on the invoice by itself ("Refund in Stripe"). It lowers what's paid and reopens the balance. Fifi has no Refund button for online payments.

Disputes (chargebacks) are flagged in Fifi. The payment shows Disputed · needs response, and you get one task due on Stripe's evidence deadline: "Respond to a Stripe dispute on INV-1042 by Nov 3: open Stripe". You respond in Stripe; Fifi doesn't send evidence. If Stripe takes the money, Fifi records a Chargeback and reopens the balance. If you win, Fifi voids the chargeback.

Bank debit (ACH)

A customer can pay from a US bank account when Bank payments (ACH) is On. It usually costs much less than a card on a large invoice, and it's slower.

• The Pay section says "Pay by card, or from a US bank account (ACH). A bank payment takes a few business days to clear."
• After a bank payment starts, the customer sees "Your bank payment of $480.00 is processing (usually up to 4 business days)" and no Pay button, so nobody pays twice.
• On your side, the invoice shows Bank payment processing. Nothing is recorded yet, and the invoice stays unpaid. You can't void the invoice meanwhile ("Wait until the bank payment clears or fails."), and Fifi sends no reminders.
• When the payment clears, Fifi records it ("Online (Stripe)", "Bank account ending 6789") and dates it the day it cleared.
• If it fails, you get one task, and the customer's page says it didn't go through, why, and that nothing was charged. Pay comes back.
• A customer's bank can take a payment back for up to 60 days. Fifi records a Chargeback and reopens the balance.

Disconnecting

Click Disconnect on the Online payments card and confirm "Disconnect Stripe?". Customers can no longer pay online, the Pay button disappears at once, and payments already recorded stay. Fifi refuses to disconnect while a bank payment is processing, because it couldn't see it clear; wait until it clears or fails. If you remove Fifi inside Stripe, Fifi finds out and makes you a task.

What you'll see

Online payments show on the invoice, in Invoices → Payments, on the customer's timeline ("Payment received online: $480.00 for INV-1042 (Stripe)") and in webhooks and the API. Fifi shows the fee Stripe reports; payouts to your bank are in your Stripe dashboard. Stripe's pricing (as of October 2026) lists its fees. Fifi adds none.

Never paste a Stripe key or secret into an email to Fifi support, or anywhere in Fifi: connecting needs only your sign-in at Stripe.

Check your work

• To do: Payments says On on the Online payments card.
• To do: You paid a small test invoice, and it appears as Online (Stripe) with the fee.
• To do: You know where to refund: in Stripe.
• To do: Your invoice email says View and pay.
• To do: You decided whether to turn on bank debit in Stripe.

Troubleshooting

More in Invoicing troubleshooting.

Related

• Online payments (Stripe): the reference for every state and rule.
• Record payments and chase overdue invoices: payments by hand, alongside Stripe.
• Choose how you'll invoice: Stripe or by hand, and what it costs.
• Invoices: the customer link.