Take online payments

With the Online payments module on, customers pay when they book. Nola sends them to the payment processor, confirms the booking when the payment succeeds and lists every payment on one screen.

#Which processors Nola uses

Nola connects to three payment processors. You choose which of their methods to offer on Payment methods.

Card payments through Stripe go to your own Stripe account, so customers only see the Stripe method once you have connected it (see below). Montonio and Stebby payments go into your own Montonio store and Stebby account, under your own agreements with them. Connect them on this screen, see Connect Montonio and Stebby. Until you do, customers can't pay with them. Settings → Payment methods shows whether each processor is Live, or Sandbox for a Montonio test store. If you offer both Stripe and Montonio · Card, the booking payment step shows one Card, and it pays through Stripe. Customers can also pay from their wallet or choose Invoice (pay later). Those two do not go through a processor.

#How a paid booking works

1. The customer books a service with a price.
2. With the module on, the booking starts as pending and unpaid. The customer sees Complete payment.
3. They pick a method and click Pay now. Nola opens the processor's payment page.
4. When the processor reports success, Nola marks the booking paid and confirmed, records a transaction and notifies you and the customer. The customer also gets a Payment receipt email in their language, with the amount, the VAT in it and your seller details from Settings → Payment methods → VAT & e-arve (name, registry code, VAT number and address), plus a link to the receipt in their account.
5. If the payment fails or the checkout expires, the booking goes back to unpaid so the customer can try again. A Stripe card checkout for a booking closes after 45 minutes.

Customers who click Pay later from My bookings keep an unpaid booking. It shows up under Unpaid balances.

When a customer comes back from a Stripe card checkout, Nola asks Stripe about the payment straight away, so the booking shows as paid without waiting. A customer coming back from Montonio also lands on their booking once the payment is confirmed. Until then they see Payment processing or Payment not confirmed, with a View bookings button. The checkout only sends customers back to your Nola booking pages.

A booking that is cancelled, completed or marked as a no-show can't be paid any more, by card, wallet or invoice. When a booking is cancelled, a payment still waiting for its money is marked failed, and an open Stripe card checkout is closed.

Refunds when a customer cancels

When a customer cancels a booking they paid for, the money goes back automatically: a card payment through your Stripe account to their card, a Montonio payment to the method they paid with, and wallet, cash or card terminal payments to their wallet with you. A late cancellation fee from your booking rules is kept from the refund. If a refund can't be sent, you get a Refund needed by hand notification and refund it yourself. Cancelling a booking yourself, as staff, doesn't refund it: refund the customer yourself if you want to. A cancelled class refunds everyone itself.

Money that arrives too late

Sometimes the money still arrives after the booking was cancelled, or after the booking was already paid another way. Nola records the payment but keeps the booking as it is: a cancelled booking stays cancelled and no sale is booked. The money is owed back to the customer, and you get a Payment to refund notification that opens the client's card:

• Montonio: Nola refunds it to the method the customer paid with. If Montonio refuses, it becomes a refund owed by hand.
• Stripe: refund it in your Stripe Dashboard. Nola records the refund when Stripe reports it. If Nola can't match the Stripe payment, the notification asks you to refund it by hand instead.
• Anything else: refund it yourself, then click Refunded by hand on the client card. See Clients.

The same happens to a wallet top-up that arrives in another currency than the client's wallet.

#Connect your Stripe account

To take card payments for bookings and to sell memberships and packs online, connect your own Stripe account under Payments → Online, in the Your Stripe account card. Customers and members pay straight into your Stripe account, and Stripe pays out to your bank. Nola never holds your money. Until you connect Stripe, customers do not see card payment at checkout.

1. Click Connect Stripe. Only the business owner can do this. The owner, Manager and Reception can open the Payments pages; Accountant can view them only. Coach and Staff don't see them, and neither does anyone limited to their own calendar, some resources or some locations.
2. Stripe opens. Fill in your business and bank details there.
3. Back in Nola, the card shows Card payments on when Stripe is ready. If it shows Setup not finished or Needs attention, click Continue setup in Stripe.

Use Open Stripe Dashboard to see payouts, refunds and disputes. A refund you make in Stripe for a payment Nola took is recorded on that payment in Nola, and the customer is told. When a customer disputes a card payment, you get a Card payment disputed notification: respond to the dispute in Stripe before its deadline. When the dispute closes you get Dispute won or Dispute lost. A lost dispute counts as a refund, because the card issuer gave the money back. Monthly memberships bought online renew in Stripe, and Nola follows each payment, so a failed renewal shows as Past due on the member. On a plan with a Billing day, the member pays the first period up to that day at checkout, and Stripe's renewals start on the billing day. A first period under Stripe's minimum charge (about €0.50) isn't charged at checkout: the card is saved and that amount is added to the first renewal. A member who pays after the billing day has begun is charged the next period right away, so the billing day stays. If Stripe can't set up those renewals, the membership gets a note saying so and later periods are billed at the desk, along with a first period that wasn't charged at checkout; check the member in Stripe. See Sell plans and manage members. A member who pays another way, for example one imported from another system, can save a card and move to card payments too: see Ask a member to save a card.

On a test or demo workspace the card shows Demo: payments are simulated, nothing is charged and no money moves.

In the shared demo at demo.getnola.co, paying for a booking by card may open Stripe's test checkout. Pay with the test card 4242 4242 4242 4242, any future expiry date and any CVC. Nothing is charged. Paying with Montonio · Bank link or Montonio · Card there may open Montonio's sandbox payment page, in Nola's own test store. It takes test payments only, and no money moves. Paid plans and packs in the demo can be joined online without a Stripe account: the payment is simulated, and the join page says Demo: no real payment is taken.

Disconnect Stripe or connect another account

1. In the Your Stripe account card, click Disconnect. Only the business owner sees this button.
2. Read the dialog and click Disconnect to confirm.

Customers can no longer pay by card through Stripe, starting at once. Your Stripe account stays open, with its balance and payouts.

You can't disconnect in three cases, and Nola tells you which one applies:

• Members pay by card on this account. Stripe would keep charging them, so end each membership first. If a membership is already cancelled to its period end, you can wait for that date, or end it sooner: click Undo cancellation, then Cancel membership and End now. Nola shows Card memberships still billed on this Stripe account: 3. End them on each member's page, then disconnect.
• A membership payment is still being processed. A bank payment can take up to three weeks, and you can't end the membership meanwhile. Nothing needs doing: you can disconnect once it has settled. Nola shows A membership payment on this Stripe account is still being processed. You can disconnect once it has settled.
• A membership checkout hasn't finished. It can still complete, and you can't close it yourself. Nothing needs doing: it closes by itself within two days. Nola shows A card checkout started on this Stripe account has not finished. It closes by itself within two days, and then you can disconnect.

After you disconnect:

• Refunds of earlier card payments still go out from the old account. If one can't be sent, you get a Refund needed by hand notification: sign in at Stripe and refund it there, because the Open Stripe Dashboard button only shows while an account is connected.
• A checkout that was already open can still complete, and Nola records the payment. A refund you make in Stripe is recorded too.

To connect another account, click Connect Stripe. This always sets up a new Stripe account, and you can't reattach one you already have.

#Connect Montonio and Stebby

Bank link and card payments through Montonio go to your own Montonio store, and Stebby payments go to your own Stebby partner account. Nola never holds the money. You need your own agreement with each provider first.

1. Open Payments → Online and find the Montonio and Stebby card. The owner and team members who can change both settings and money see the buttons.
2. Click Connect Montonio or Connect Stebby. The dialog has a tab for each.
3. For Montonio, enter your store's Access key and Secret key. In the Montonio Partner System, open your store and copy its API keys. On a test workspace, and on the live Nola service until launch, you can also pick Sandbox (test payments) under Environment for Montonio's test keys. Sandbox payments are test payments, and no money moves. Where Environment doesn't show, only live keys work.
4. For Stebby, enter the API URL and API key from your Stebby partner account. The URL starts with https://.
5. Click Connect. Nola checks the keys with the provider before saving them. If the provider doesn't accept them, the dialog says why and nothing is saved.

The card then shows Connected, or Sandbox for Montonio test keys, and a Notification URL. Nola sends this address with every order, so a payment is confirmed even if the customer closes the page. If the provider asks you for a notification URL, use this one.

Nola stores the keys encrypted and never shows them again, only the last characters of the Montonio access key. To use other keys, click Change keys. To stop taking payments through a provider, click Disconnect and confirm in the dialog: customers no longer see its methods, and Nola deletes the stored keys after 24 hours (see below).

Disconnecting, switching to another Montonio store or Stebby account, or entering new keys takes effect at once, for example after a key leak. Payments customers had already started still complete: Nola keeps the old keys for 24 hours only to confirm those payments, never for new ones, and then deletes them. To refund a payment, the store or account it was made in must be connected.

#E-invoices and bank transfers

The same screen has one more card for memberships, Bank transfers and e-invoices: members pay invoices with their own reference number, by transfer or standing order, and you import your bank statement to mark them paid.

See E-invoices, standing orders and bank statements.

#Follow payments

1. Open Payments → Online in the sidebar.
2. The list shows the latest 100 payments: the client, amount, status, the service and the time of the booking it belongs to.

A payment marked Demo was completed without a real charge, for example on a test workspace.

#Waive a payment

Use Waive on a payment that is still owed (awaiting payment, processing or failed) when you decide the customer does not need to pay online, for example a staff friend or a make-up session. The booking becomes confirmed and its payment status becomes waived. A booking that has already taken place keeps its status (completed or no-show). No money is recorded. A booking that is already paid, refunded or cancelled has nothing to waive, so Waive doesn't show for it.

You can also clear a booking with Waive payment under Settle. That works with or without the Online payments module. See Unpaid balances.

#Related

• Choose payment methods
• Cash and POS
• Unpaid balances
• Modules explained