Card payments run through Stripe. You connect your own Stripe account, the money lands in your bank, and GarageFlow records the payment against the invoice when Stripe confirms it.
Note
Stripe is the only processor available today. Others are being worked on, but a processor is only shown to you once its integration is genuinely finished — you will never see a Connect button that doesn't work.
Availability also depends on your country. If your country isn't supported yet, Settings → Payments says so plainly rather than offering a dead end.
Connecting
Go to Settings → Payments and press Connect Stripe. You are handed to Stripe to enter your business details, your bank account and your identity documents. That information goes to Stripe, not to us.
You come back to a status, and the status is the thing to read:
| Status | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Not connected | No account linked. | Connect. |
| Onboarding | You started but didn't finish. | Continue setup. |
| Under review | Stripe is checking your details. | Wait — usually 1–2 business days. |
| Connected | Ready to take money. | Nothing. |
| Action required | Stripe needs something more. | Fix issues — the missing items are listed. |
| Disabled | The account can't be used. | Contact Stripe. |
Warning
Connected on its own is not enough. Two separate flags decide what actually works: charges enabled lets you take money, payouts enabled lets Stripe send it to your bank. A new account often has one before the other, so watch both on the Account details panel.
Refresh re-reads your account from Stripe. Useful right after you have uploaded a document and don't want to wait for Stripe to tell us.
Capabilities
The Payments page shows what your connected account can do today:
- Online payments — card payments on invoices. Live once you are connected and charges are enabled.
- Payouts — money moving to your bank. Live once payouts are enabled.
- In-person payments (card readers and terminals) and ACH / bank transfer — not available yet. They are listed so you can see what the account will grow into, not as things to switch on.
Rates
The processing rates for your country are shown on the same page, by card type. They are Stripe's rates and they are charged by Stripe — GarageFlow does not add a margin.
What the customer sees
Once the account is connected, an invoice you send carries a Pay action in the customer's portal. They pay by card on a page Stripe hosts; no card details ever touch GarageFlow.
They open the invoice from the link you sent
No account, no password.
They pay the balance
The amount charged is what is actually still owed — the balance, not the original total, so a part payment you recorded by hand is already deducted.
Stripe confirms it to us
A payment is recorded against the invoice with the reference, and the invoice is updated. Paid in full moves it to paid.
The order files itself
A fully paid order drops off the active board into Archived. See the order workflow.
The recorded payment keeps the gross amount, Stripe's fee and the net you received, so Payments by method and Payment transactions in Reports can show you what card processing actually costs.
Note
Confirmation comes from Stripe, not from the customer's browser. A customer who closes the tab the instant they pay is still recorded — and a payment can never be recorded twice, however many times Stripe re-sends the confirmation.
The account stays yours
The Stripe account is yours, not ours. Payouts, disputes, refunds, bank details and tax documents are all managed from your own Stripe dashboard; GarageFlow reads the account's state and sends checkout sessions to it.
Troubleshooting
"There's no Connect button." Card payments aren't available for your shop's country yet. Check the country on your shop profile is right.
"I'm connected but customers can't pay." Charges are not enabled yet. Look at the Account details panel, and at anything under Action required.
"Stripe says I need more information." Use Fix issues — it takes you to the exact items Stripe is asking for.
"A customer paid but the invoice still shows a balance." Give it a moment for Stripe's confirmation, then reload. If it persists, check the payment in Stripe: an authorized-but-not-captured payment isn't a completed one.
"The payment amount is less than the invoice total." It charged the balance. Something had already been paid or recorded against it.