Connect Stripe for client billing

Connect your own Stripe account and your clients pay you directly: card payments each period, numbered Stripe invoices with your branding, and minute packs bought by card. Money goes straight to your Stripe account. Stripe’s fees are charged to your account, and Voice AI Portal adds no fee of its own.

Stripe is optional. Without it, clients pay you by bank transfer or however you agree, using the payment instructions in every bill, and you mark payments paid in the portal. See Get paid without Stripe.

Before you begin

The agency owner. Only the owner can connect or disconnect Stripe and change the payment settings. Admins can open the Stripe tab and see its status.
Your business and bank details for Stripe’s onboarding, if you are new to Stripe.
Client billing switched on. See Set up client billing.

Connect your Stripe account

Open the Stripe tab

Go to Client billing, then Stripe. The Get paid with Stripe card reads: “Clients pay into your own Stripe account: card subscriptions, minute packs and numbered invoices with your branding. Stripe’s fees are charged to your account; we add none.”
Choose your country

Under New to Stripe, choose the Country of your business.
Create your Stripe account

Select Create Stripe account. You go to Stripe’s own onboarding, where Stripe asks for your business and bank details. This creates a Standard Stripe account: you get the full Stripe Dashboard, your own branding and your own payouts.

Already use Stripe? During onboarding, Stripe lets you sign in with your existing Stripe login, so all your accounts stay in one place. Where it is offered, Already use Stripe also has Connect existing account, which connects an account you already have and keeps its customers, branding and payout settings.
Come back to the portal

When you finish, Stripe returns you to the Stripe tab. You see Stripe is set up. You can take payments from clients now., or Thanks. Stripe is checking your details; this page updates when payments are enabled.
Check the status

Once Stripe has approved your account, the card shows Taking payments, with the end of your account ID, your country, your currency and the date you connected. Until then it shows Setup not finished and how many details Stripe still needs. Select Continue setup in Stripe to finish them.

Invoice details

“What your clients see on invoices and receipts. Each item opens the right page in your Stripe dashboard.” The checklist reads your Stripe account live. Each item shows a tick when it is done, with Edit, or a hint and Fix when it needs attention.

Item	Hint when it needs attention
Can take payments	Finish Stripe onboarding.
Payouts to your bank	Add a bank account in Stripe.
Business name on invoices	Set your public business name.
Business address on invoices	Add a support address.
Logo	Upload your logo and colours.
Tax ID (VAT number) on invoices	Add your VAT or tax number if you have one.

Your invoices and receipts carry your business name, address, logo and colours from Stripe, so clients see your brand, not ours.

Payment settings

“Defaults for new clients. You can change how each client pays on their Billing page.” Select Save after changing them.

Setting	What it does	Default
New clients pay by	Manual payments, Stripe invoices or Card (automatic). The two Stripe options can be chosen once your account is taking payments.	Manual payments
Days to fix a failed card payment	0 to 30 days. “Calls continue during this time. After it, calls stop until the client pays.”	7
Clients can cancel their plan themselves	“From Stripe’s customer portal, at the end of the period. Off means cancellations come to you.”	Off
Let clients pay Stripe invoices by card	“Adds a Pay button to emailed invoices. Off: clients pay using the details in your invoice footer.”	Off
Let clients pay Stripe invoices by bank transfer	“Invoices show bank details from Stripe, and transfers are matched and marked paid automatically. For invoices in your account’s local currency: GBP (UK), EUR (Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain), USD (US), JPY (Japan) and MXN (Mexico).”	Off
Invoice footer	Text on every invoice, up to 500 characters, such as how to pay by bank transfer.	Empty
Extra invoice fields	“Up to 4, such as your company number.” Each has a name and a value. Select Add field to add one.	None

How each client pays

Each client has its own payment method, set by you on the client’s Billing page under How this client pays, in Collection:

Collection	What happens
Manual payments	“You send your own invoices and mark payments paid here.” The portal raises a payment request for each period, pack, priced overflow and extra conversations.
Stripe invoices	“Stripe numbers and emails each invoice. Mark them paid here when the money arrives.” Invoices appear in the client’s Payments and are marked paid automatically when they are paid in Stripe.
Card (automatic)	“The client pays by card each period; Stripe retries failed payments.” The client adds a card once in Stripe Checkout, and Stripe charges it at each renewal.

The Stripe options are available once your Stripe account is taking payments. Renewals stay in step with the client’s billing period, so Stripe’s invoices fall on the same day as the portal’s renewals.

Moving a client to Stripe invoices

Stripe invoicing starts at the client’s next renewal. The current period stays a payment request in the portal. The card shows Stripe invoicing and its status, and Open Stripe customer portal opens the client’s invoices in Stripe.

When you Mark as paid a Stripe invoice in the portal, for example after a bank transfer to your account, it is recorded in Stripe as paid outside Stripe. Void request voids the Stripe invoice too. A paid Stripe invoice cannot be undone from the portal: issue a credit note in Stripe, then send a new invoice.

Moving a client to card payments

Choose Card (automatic) in Collection. The card shows “Waiting for the client to add a card.”
The client’s billing contacts see Add a card on their Billing page. Or select Copy card setup link and send it to them yourself: the link works for 24 hours, and only the newest link works.
The client enters their card in Stripe Checkout. The card shows Card subscription and Active.

Card payments start at the next renewal. If the current period’s payment is still open, it is charged once when the client adds the card (close to a renewal, it stays a payment request instead). If a client completes a card setup after you have switched them away from card, it is cancelled and refunded.

Moving a client back to manual payments

Choosing Manual payments ends the client’s Stripe subscription straight away, without a part-month charge. Anything Stripe has already invoiced can still be paid in Stripe. From the next renewal, the portal raises payment requests again.

When a card payment fails

Stripe retries the card. The client’s status shows Payment failed and Calls continue until the end of the grace period you set in Days to fix a failed card payment.
You and the client are emailed, and a Card payment failed banner shows on the client’s pages. The client can update their card from their Billing page with Update card and see invoices.
If the grace period ends unpaid, the client is suspended: for clients on Track and enforce, calls stop, and the banner reads Calls have stopped: payment overdue.
As soon as the client pays, the suspension lifts and calls resume within a minute.

Pausing and resuming a client by hand does not change this: a client whose card is still failing stays in grace or suspended after you resume it.

What goes on each invoice

Item	When
The plan	Each period
Overflow minutes, and any minutes over the limit	Plans with an overflow price, on the renewal invoice
Extra conversations	Plans with a chat allowance and a price per extra conversation, on the renewal invoice
The previous period’s overflow and extras	When you upgrade a client, on the upgrade invoice
The final period’s overflow and extras	When a plan ends, on a final invoice
A minute pack	When a client buys a pack by card, or you request payment for a pack from a client on Stripe invoices

Invoices and credit notes

The Invoices card on the client’s Billing page lists every Stripe invoice and credit note: “Download any invoice or credit note as a PDF.” It shows each Document, its Date, Amount and Status. Your clients’ billing contacts see the same list on their Billing page. Invoices for £0, such as a trial period, and drafts are not listed.

Disconnect Stripe

Select Disconnect on the Stripe tab and confirm. “Clients keep their minutes and plans. Card subscriptions end at the end of the current period, then clients move to manual payments.” Balances and call blocking are not affected.

If you disconnect from your Stripe Dashboard instead, clients also move to manual payments. Their subscriptions stay in your Stripe account until you cancel them there, and renewals don’t raise a second charge in the meantime.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to do
There is no Stripe tab, or it says Stripe payments aren’t open for your agency at the moment, so clients pay manually.	Contact us to open Stripe payments for your agency. Clients pay manually in the meantime, and clients already on Stripe keep their current billing.
That Stripe account is already connected to another agency.	Each Stripe account can be connected to one agency. Use another account, or create a new one with Create Stripe account.
The connection link expired. Please try again.	Start again from the Stripe tab.
Only the agency owner can connect Stripe.	Ask your agency owner to connect it.
The card shows Setup not finished	Select Continue setup in Stripe and give Stripe the details it asks for.
Stripe invoices and Card (automatic) are greyed out	Your Stripe account is not taking payments yet. Check Can take payments under Invoice details.
Bank transfer details do not appear on an invoice	Bank transfers work for invoices in your account’s local currency, in the countries listed under Let clients pay Stripe invoices by bank transfer.