Taking card payments with Stripe
Connect or your own keys, how a pay link is minted, and the 24-hour expiry to know about.
Full guide: https://docs.printersfriend.com/setup/payments
There are two ways to take card payments from your customers, and they are set up in Integrations. Whichever you use, the money goes to your account: the platform never holds your funds.
Option 1: Stripe Connect
Start the connect flow from Integrations. You are handed to Stripe to onboard a standard account, and on return the connection is stored. Charges then run directly on your own connected account. Nothing to copy and paste, and no keys to keep safe.
Option 2: your own keys
Paste your own Stripe credentials into Integrations:
- Secret key (
sk_…) - Publishable key (
pk_…) - Webhook signing secret (
whsec_…)
Your own keys always win over a connected account, so if you already had keys in place, connecting does not change how your payments run.
How a customer pays
An invoice is generated when an order is dispatched, and a pay link is minted for it in the background. The link appears on the invoice, in the invoice email, in the portal, and in the reminder emails.
| Mode | Link type | Valid for |
|---|---|---|
| Your own keys | Stripe Payment Link | 30 days |
| Connect | Stripe Checkout Session | 24 hours (Stripe's maximum) |
The 24-hour ceiling on Connect is Stripe's, not ours. Because an emailed link outlives the session behind it, an expired Connect link on an unpaid invoice is re-minted automatically, so the customer clicking a two-week-old email still lands somewhere payable.
Currency follows your region: the pay link is created in your tax scheme's currency, not a fixed one.
Payments you take another way
Use Record manual payment on the invoice for bank transfer, cash, cheque, EFTPOS or an in-person card charge. Enter the amount, the method, a reference and the date received. Partial payments are fine: the invoice only flips to paid once the payments cover the total.
Refunds
Refund payment on the invoice, covered in refunds and credit notes.
Your own subscription
None of the above is your Printer's Friend bill. That is separate, on the Billing page, and runs on the platform's own Stripe account.
Still stuck?
Email hello@printersfriend.com and quote the name of this page. Support is on every plan, with a reply within 1 business day.