How to let customers pay invoices by card (and get paid faster)

The quickest invoice to get paid is the one with a Pay Now button on it. Bank transfer sounds free, but it's where invoices go to wait — the client means to pay, then has to find your details, type the reference, and get around to it. Letting customers pay by card removes that friction and turns "I'll sort it later" into "paid." Here's how it works, what it costs, and how to set it up without overpaying.

Why bank transfer costs you (even though it's "free")

Bank transfer has no processing fee, but it has a time cost that's often bigger. Every step between the invoice and the payment is a chance for it to slip: open the banking app, copy the BSB and account number, type the reference, remember to hit send. For a trade business living job-to-job, those days of lag are cash flow you don't have. A payment that takes one tap gets made now; one that takes five steps gets made "later."

Step 1 — Add a way to pay by card

The core move is putting a Pay Now option right on the invoice the customer's already looking at. They tap it, enter their card, and it's done — no bank details, no reference to mistype. The action sits next to the amount owed, at the moment they're thinking about it, which is exactly when payment happens.

Step 2 — Understand how the fees work

Card payments carry a processing fee — a small percentage plus a few cents per transaction — charged by the payment processor. That's normal and usually well worth it: getting paid in a day rather than three weeks is worth a fraction of a percent to most trade businesses. What you want to avoid is a tool that adds *its own* platform fee on top of the processor's — always check whether the software takes an extra cut.

Step 3 — Decide who wears the fee

You've got options: absorb the processing fee as a cost of getting paid faster (simplest, and most tradies do this), or pass it on as a surcharge where it's allowed and clearly disclosed. Either is fine — just decide deliberately rather than being surprised by the fee later.

Step 4 — Make sure the money goes to you

Look for a setup where payments land in your own payment account, not pooled through the software vendor. It's your money; it should flow to you directly, on the normal payout schedule, with the software simply providing the Pay Now button on top.

Step 5 — Keep reconciliation clean

A card payment should tie itself back to the invoice it paid, so your records show the invoice as settled without you matching it up by hand. If you use accounting software like Xero, make sure the payment story stays consistent across both so you're not double-counting or reconciling twice.

Common mistakes

• Offering bank transfer as the only option.
• Not checking whether the software adds a platform fee on top of processing.
• Surcharging without disclosing it (or where it isn't allowed).
• Using a setup where funds pool through the vendor instead of landing with you.
• Card payments that don't reconcile back to the invoice.

FAQ

Add a Pay Now button

You can invoice and wait on bank transfers — or connect card payments once and give every invoice a Pay Now button, with the money landing in your own account.

→ See how online payments in My Apprentice get you paid faster.