Getting Paid
This page explains how money reaches you in PayPolka, what your clients see when they go to pay, and how you keep each invoice’s balance accurate. Online card, ACH, and Cash App Pay payments run through your own Stripe account; cash and check are offline and only change a balance once you record or confirm them.
How clients pay online
When you send an invoice, the public invoice page shows only the payment methods you allowed on that invoice. Online options open a secure Stripe-powered checkout.
- Card and Cash App Pay clear immediately. The payment is recorded, the invoice balance drops, and you are notified right away.
- ACH / bank transfer takes a few business days to clear. Until the funds land, the payment shows as pending clearance and the balance reflects it as pending. Once it clears, the invoice updates automatically.
You choose which methods to offer. To learn how to connect Stripe and set your default methods, see Payments & Stripe setup.
How clients pay by cash or check
Cash and check are offline. If you allow them, the public invoice page displays your payment instructions (where to mail a check or how to hand off cash).
Because you receive these payments outside the system, the invoice balance does not change on its own. Your client can tap Report payment sent, which sends you an email notice and shows the payment as pending confirmation in the invoice history. This is just a heads-up. It does not mark the invoice paid or reduce the balance. You then record or confirm the actual payment yourself (see below).
Recording a manual payment
When you receive a cash or check payment (or any payment you took outside PayPolka), record it on the invoice so the balance is correct. You enter:
- Amount
- Payment date
- Method (cash, check, etc.)
- Reference number (for example, a check number)
- Notes (optional)
Once saved, the payment reduces the invoice balance and appears in the payment history. This is also how you confirm a payment a client reported.
Payment notices explained
A payment notice is the informational message created when a client taps “Report payment sent” for an offline method. A notice:
- Emails you that a payment is on the way.
- Appears in the invoice’s payment history as pending confirmation.
- Does not mark the invoice paid and does not reduce the balance.
Treat a notice as a prompt to look for the cash or check, then record the real payment to update the balance.
Receipts
When a Stripe payment succeeds, PayPolka automatically emails a branded PDF receipt to the client’s primary contact. You don’t have to do anything.
If you ever need to send a receipt again, the invoice page has a send receipt option to resend it manually.
Reminders and late fees
You can have PayPolka email payment reminders around the due date using your reminder offsets, and you can enable or disable reminders per client or per invoice. If a client’s late-fee policy is set up, late fees are applied based on that policy.
Both reminder schedules and late-fee policies are configured as part of a client’s invoice defaults. See Clients & contacts to set them up.
Passing on processing fees
If you’d like clients to cover online payment processing fees, you can turn that on. The invoice document total stays the same; the fee is quoted at checkout and recorded on the payment. See Payments & Stripe setup for details.
When an invoice stops accepting payments
Once an invoice is fully paid or written off, it no longer accepts new online payments or offline payment notices. Clients can still view it, but the payment actions are closed.