Card payments and pay links

Take cards through BridalIQ: on a Stripe card reader at the register, by a pay link she opens on her phone, or on a card she saved for her payment plan. Refunds go back to her card, and you see what Stripe paid you.

BridalIQ uses Stripe for cards. Her card goes straight to Stripe; your store and BridalIQ never see the card number. The ticket and the receipt show only the kind of card and its last 4 digits. Until card payments are set up, keep running cards on your other machine and record them as Card (other machine).

Set up (owners, once)

1. Open Settings, find Card payments and press Set up card payments.
2. Stripe's own page opens. Enter your business details and the bank account Stripe pays into. Have your EIN and a photo ID handy.
3. When you finish, Stripe sends you back to Settings. The card shows where you stand:
   • Details needed: Stripe still needs something (it says what). Press Continue with Stripe.
   • Being checked: Stripe is checking your details. Usually minutes, sometimes a day or two.
   • Ready: cards work. The card shows when Stripe pays your bank (for example, every business day, 2 days after each payment).
   • Restricted: Stripe paused cards or payouts, with the reason. Press Continue with Stripe or Manage in Stripe.

Manage in Stripe opens your Stripe page: payouts, your bank account, and answering a dispute.

Card reader at the register

1. On the ticket, press Take payment and choose Card reader.
2. Check the amount. It can be part of the balance: a deposit, or part card and part cash.
3. Press Record payment. If the store has more than one reader, pick the one she is standing at.
4. The amount shows on the reader. She taps her card or phone, inserts the chip, or swipes.
5. When the bank says yes, the screen says Card approved, the payment is on the ticket and the receipt is ready to print or email, the same as any other payment.

There is no tip screen on the reader. Pressing the button twice never charges her twice.

Part card, part cash

Take the card first for the part she wants on the card. The ticket then shows what is left; take that by cash, check, gift card or store credit as usual. A sale is done when the balance reaches zero.

If it doesn't go through

• Declined. The screen says why in plain words (for example, not enough money on the card, or the card has expired). Nothing was charged. Try again or ask for another card.
• Canceled on the reader. She (or you) pressed cancel on the reader. Nothing was charged.
• Cancel on the reader (on the register screen) stops the reader. If she tapped at the same moment and it went through, it is recorded, never lost.
• Nobody tapped in time. After about three minutes the reader is stopped and nothing is charged.
• The reader is offline. Check it is on, charged and on the store's Wi-Fi (Settings › Card readers shows Online or Offline).

Send a pay link

1. Open her ticket and press Send pay link (under the totals).
2. Pick what it is for: Toward balance (she picks how much, up to what she owes), Set amount (a deposit), or Next plan payment.
3. Send it by Email, Text, or Just copy the link to send it yourself.

She opens the link on her phone, sees her order and balance, and pays with her card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. The payment shows on the ticket by itself as Card (online) with the last 4, and everything that follows a payment happens as usual: her balance, the payment plan, the receipt, commission, and her gown becoming hers when it is paid in full. Links work for 30 days; press Turn off beside a link to stop it. Her client page has a Pay now button too.

Saving her card and charging plan payments

A pay link can offer Save this card. She must tick I agree to words saying the store may charge it for what she owes; those words are kept with the card. She can also save a card from her client page, and remove it there.

On a payment plan, the owner can tick Charge her saved card on each due date. On each due date (from 9 AM) the card is charged for that payment. If it is declined, managers get a Card declined To do, she gets a message with a link to pay another way, and the card is tried again 1, 2 and 3 days later. This is off unless the owner turns it on for that plan.

Booking deposits and no-show fees

Off unless you turn them on in Settings, Card payments, Deposits, no-show fees and saved cards:

• Deposit to hold an online booking: after she books online, she gets a button to pay the deposit. It becomes store credit toward what she buys.
• Ask for a card when she books online, and a No-show fee: when an appointment is marked No show, a manager can press Charge no-show fee on it. Her saved card is charged and a small ticket is made for the fee.

Refunds to the card

Owners and managers: on the ticket press Refund to card beside the card payment, enter the amount and why. The money goes back to the card she paid with, whether she paid at the reader or online. She does not need to be in the store or bring the card. It shows on her statement in 5 to 10 days. You can refund part now and more later, but never more than she paid on that card.

If Stripe cannot put it back on the card (for example, the card was closed), the refund comes off the ticket again and a task for managers says to give it back another way.

When the internet is down

The card readers need the internet. Stripe's readers can only store cards offline with Stripe's phone and tablet apps, not with a web app like BridalIQ, so while the store's internet is down the reader cannot take cards for us.

• Run the card on another machine (a phone with Stripe's Dashboard app, or your old machine) and record it on the ticket as Card (other machine) with the last 4. That works offline too, and is sent when the internet is back.
• If the internet drops while a card is on the reader, the POS keeps a note and checks with Stripe when the internet is back. If it went through, it is on the ticket. If it did not, it shows in Needs a look (click the Online / Offline indicator) so you can take the payment again.
• A Stripe Reader S710 has its own cellular connection, so the reader keeps working when the store's Wi-Fi drops. The register also needs internet: a tablet or phone hotspot with cellular data keeps both going.

End of day

The end of day close shows Card (reader) apart from Card (other machine), a row for each reader, and whether the day's card payments match what Stripe has for the store. If they don't match, it lists what is missing on which side.

Adding a reader

Owners and managers, once the store is connected to Stripe:

1. Plug the reader in, connect it to the store's Wi-Fi, and let it finish updating.
2. On the reader, swipe from the left edge, open Settings, then Generate pairing code. It shows three words.
3. In the POS: Settings › Card readers. Type the three words, give the reader a name (like "Front counter") and press Add reader.

Which reader: the Stripe Reader S700 (recommended), the S710 (the S700 with cellular backup), the BBPOS WisePOS E or the Stripe Reader T600. Buy them in your Stripe Dashboard under Terminal. Bluetooth-only readers (Stripe M2, WisePad 3) do not work with BridalIQ.

Payouts and fees

Managers and owners: Settings, Card payments, Payouts and fees shows each payout Stripe sent your bank, with the card payments in it, Stripe's fee and BridalIQ's fee, and each line matched to its ticket. Use it to match your bank deposits at the end of the day or month. Staff never see it.

What it costs

Stripe's processing fee comes out of each payment. BridalIQ's fee is a small percent of each card payment, shown on the Card payments card. Both appear on every payout.