Online payments: Stripe and payment links
How a guest pays by card or QR on the website, how to send an invoice in the chat, and why an order counts as paid only after confirmation.
There are two different scenarios, and they work differently: payment on the storefront when the order is placed, and an invoice from the chat, when the manager names the amount.
Payment on the storefront
The guest pays on the website in the usual way — by card or QR. The payment system notifies POSitive, and the order arrives at the register already marked as paid.
The payment system’s code is mapped to a venue payment method — the payment map. Without this mapping the money lands in the wrong account, and the bank reconciliation won’t add up.
If the QR payment code is mapped to a “card” type method, it becomes impossible to tell a phone payment from a card payment — neither in the report nor in reconciliation. The system warns about such a mapping, and the warning is worth reading.
Invoice from the chat
The manager enters the amount in the order card and sends the guest a payment link through the same channel the conversation is in. Details — Invoicing a guest from the chat.
The link can be obtained in two ways, and the venue sets up both itself:
| Method | How it works | What matters |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | The system asks Stripe to create a payment for exactly this amount | As precise as it gets: the amount is built into the payment itself, paying less is impossible |
| Template link | The amount is inserted into an address provided by the owner — this is how EX24 and other pay-by-link services work | Easier to connect, but the guest can usually edit the amount in such a link by hand |
If both are set up, the manager chooses when issuing the invoice; if only one, the question isn’t asked.
Paid does not mean “link sent”
An order counts as paid only after confirmation from the payment system. A sent link changes nothing: the guest may never open it.
This is a matter of principle: the money is counted by the payment service, not by us. POSitive names the amount, shows the link and waits for the payment event — the same way payments from the storefront arrive.
Limits and protection
- a single invoice has an amount cap — protection against an extra zero typed in a hurry;
- payment service keys are stored on the owner’s side and on the server, and never reach the register or the browser;
- every invoice issued is written to the log with its author and amount.
What reports show
A payment by link is ordinary revenue with the payment method shown. In the report by payment method it sits next to cash and card, so at the end of the day you can see how much went past the cash drawer.