Checkout, payments and invoices for members

This guide walks through payments from your members’ side, so you know what they see and can help when they ask “where is my invoice?” or “I paid, why isn’t my listing featured?”.

The checkout page

Whatever a member buys, from a featured listing to an item with Buy Now, they land on a checkout page with:

an Order summary: the order number, date, what they are buying, any VAT and the Total;
choices where they apply: the featured plan (number of days), the quantity, an eWallet money package, or Shipping versus Customer Pickup for items;
a coupon box, when you have active coupons;
a button for each payment method you’ve connected.

On the Nova theme, card payment comes first as the main button. Your other methods, such as PayPal or bank transfer, follow under or pay with. A line under the buttons reassures members that their card details go straight to the payment provider, never to your site.

When the price is zero, members click Click to proceed instead and nothing is charged.

The order is created when they reach the checkout, so a member can leave and pay later.

Paying by card with Stripe

With Stripe connected, members click Pay with Card and the card form opens right there on your checkout page, in your site’s fonts and colours. They type their card details and click Pay followed by the amount. They never leave your site, and if their bank asks for a security check (3D Secure), it appears inside the form.

On phones and tablets that have Apple Pay or Google Pay set up, members can pay with that too.

If you use Stripe’s older Legacy checkout instead, members pay in a Stripe pop-up. See Stripe for the options.

Other payment methods

With PayPal and most other gateways, members pay on the provider’s own page and come back to your site afterwards.

After paying: the Payment complete page

Signed-in members who pay land on a Payment complete page that says, in plain words, what they bought and what happens next. For example:

a featured listing or bump: which listing, and until when it’s featured;
pay to post: whether the listing is live, waiting for your approval, or waiting for them to confirm their email;
a membership plan: that the plan is active and until when;
an item bought with Buy Now: Purchase complete, with a link to the listing and to messages;
an eWallet top-up: their new balance.

It also shows the amount, how they paid, the date and the payment number, with a View receipt button.

Some payments take a moment to be confirmed, for example a bank payment or a PayPal payment still on its way. The page then shows Payment received, confirming… and updates by itself once it’s confirmed.

My Payments

Members find every payment they’ve made in My Payments in their account menu (it appears once they have at least one order). Each payment shows what it was for, the listing, the amount, the date and a status such as Paid, Awaiting payment or Refunded, with:

Pay now, for an unpaid order, which takes them back to the checkout;
Receipt, which opens the invoice (below);
Report a problem, to open a dispute about an order they haven’t received yet;
Return, to ask for a return when you allow returns;
Download (n left), for a digital download they bought, with the downloads they have left.

Items bought together in a shopping cart appear as separate orders, one per item, each with its own receipt.

Members who bought an item can also mark it as received here when the eWallet, Escrow.com or the Stripe escrow flow needs it, or cancel an order that hasn’t shipped yet.

Invoices

Every payment has an invoice with its own number (for example INV-000045). It shows:

your logo and site name, and a Paid, Unpaid or Refunded badge;
From: your business details; Billed to: the member’s name, address and email; the dates it was issued and paid;
one line per item, with quantity and price, then the subtotal, any coupon, VAT with its rate and the Total;
how it was paid, and a payment reference.

The amounts are exactly what the member was charged, even if you’ve changed your prices since. Members click Print / Save as PDF to keep a copy, and Pay now on an unpaid invoice. With PDF invoices on, a Download PDF button next to it saves a real PDF file (see PDF invoices).

Add your business details to invoices

To put your legal name, address, company number or a note (such as payment terms) on your invoices, fill in the Invoice details section in Settings › Payments and click Save changes. Many countries require your legal name and address on every invoice, and the panel reminds you if you charge VAT but haven’t added an address yet.

Setting	What it does
Business or legal name	Printed in the From part. Leave it empty to use your site name.
Street address, Postal code, City, Country	Your business address.
Company registration number	Optional. Your number in the company register.
VAT number	Comes from the VAT section of the same page; Change takes you there. See VAT and taxes.
Note at the bottom	Optional, up to 500 characters: bank details, payment terms or a thank-you.
Use the site logo on invoices	Shows your logo at the top of each invoice, and of each PDF invoice. On unless you turn it off. PNG, JPEG or GIF logos only (for the PDF, up to 1 MB and 2000 px on each side).
PDF invoices	Adds a Download PDF button to invoices, for you and your members. Off until you switch it on. The PDF leaves the logo out.

When a member buys an item from a seller with Buy Now, the invoice shows the seller in From, and your note isn’t printed on it.

This invoice is used by the Nova, Atlantic Lite and Default themes. Some older themes still show their own simpler receipt.

My Sales

Sellers see what they have sold in My Sales (shown when PayPal’s Buy Now button or Stripe Connect is on), with the listing, buyer, amount, date and status. Depending on how you take payments, they can also:

Mark as shipped, adding the Shipment provider name and Shipment tracking code, which emails the buyer;
Cancel order before it ships;
answer return requests with Accept the return or Refuse, and refund the buyer;
see whether the buyer has confirmed receipt;
open the Download link of a digital product they sold.

Account settings for members

On Nova, Edit profile in the account menu opens into separate pages: Profile, Profile pictures, Password, and, when you use the features behind them, 2 Step Authentication, Get paid for your sales (where sellers set up Stripe payouts) and Subscription (the member’s membership plan).

Emails members receive

Email	Sent when
ads-purchased	A buyer has paid for an item: sent to the buyer, with the order, any buyer instructions and download link.
ads-sold	Sent to the seller when their item is bought, with the order details.
new-order	Two days after an unpaid order about a listing, as a reminder with a link to the checkout.
order-shipped	The seller marked the order as shipped.
ad-expired	A listing’s featured period has ended (the same email is sent when a listing expires).
plan-expired	A membership plan ended and needs paying again.
out-of-stock	A seller’s listing has sold out.

You can change the wording in Email templates.

Questions members ask

“I paid but nothing happened.” Look the order up in Orders. If it’s Unpaid, the payment provider didn’t confirm it: check the payment in your Stripe or PayPal dashboard, then use Mark as paid if the money arrived. For Stripe, turning on webhooks prevents this.

“Where’s my invoice?” In My Payments, under Receipt, or with View receipt on the Payment complete page.

“Can you put my company name on the invoice?” The Billed to part uses the name and address in the member’s profile, so ask them to update their profile.

“I don’t see Apple Pay or Google Pay.” They only appear on phones and tablets where Apple Pay or Google Pay is set up, and only in Stripe’s card form. A card always works.

“Can I pay by bank transfer?” Only if you’ve set up an other payment method such as bank transfer.

“Why do I have to pay to post?” The category has a price, or you use membership plans. See Pay to post and Membership plans.

Take payments on your marketplace — the overview.
Stripe — the card form, Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Orders and transactions — the admin side of the same orders.
How members post a listing — the rest of the member area.