Online payments with TakePayments

Summary

Connect a TakePayments online account to Torqueflow and you can email or text customers a Pay Now link for any unpaid invoice - just like the Stripe flow, but the customer pays on TakePayments’ hosted card form instead. Use this if your Stripe application was declined (TakePayments underwrites garages Stripe will not), or you want lower processing fees at volume.

This article covers TakePayments online payments (via Pay Now links). For in-person card payments on a physical TakePayments terminal, see TakePayments card terminal. For the Stripe equivalent of this online flow, see Online payments with Stripe.

You can run both Stripe and TakePayments at once. One is the active online provider; the other is the fallback if the active one is unavailable.

Prerequisites

• You are an Owner with the settings.payments.manage capability.
• You hold a TakePayments online merchant account. From the TakePayments dealer portal you can obtain a Merchant ID and a shared secret - both are needed below.
• To send Pay Now links and view confirmations, you need the finance.payments.collect capability. Owner and Manager have this by default.
• An invoice must have an outstanding balance for Pay Now to appear.

Steps

1. Connect TakePayments online

1. Go to Settings > Billing > Accept Payments.
2. Open the Online tab.
3. Find the TakePayments card. Enter your Merchant ID and Shared secret.
4. Click Connect. Torqueflow signs a test payload to confirm your credentials work.
5. On success the card shows a green Connected pip and the Merchant ID is displayed (the shared secret is masked).
6. Click Send test signature at any time to re-verify the credentials are still valid. Use this if a customer reports a sudden failure.

2. Choose the active online provider

1. On the same Online tab, the Active online provider radio lets you pick which provider new Pay Now clicks use.
2. Toggling the radio only affects new clicks. Any Pay Now link already sent stays bound to the provider that was active when it was generated, so a customer who already received an email yesterday is not surprised.

3. Send a Pay Now link

The Pay Now flow itself is unchanged - same buttons, same email and SMS templates, same audit log. From the invoice page:

1. Click Send Pay Now link on an unpaid invoice.
2. Pick email, SMS, or both.
3. The link goes out. The customer sees a Torqueflow-branded interstitial confirming they are about to pay, then is redirected to the TakePayments hosted card form.

4. What the customer sees

1. The branded interstitial reads “Pay [garage name] for invoice [WO reference]” and shows the amount.
2. They click Continue and land on TakePayments’ secure card form at gw1.tponlinepayments.com. The form is mobile-friendly.
3. They enter their card details. If the card needs 3D Secure 2 authentication (sometimes called “challenge”), the form walks them through that step.
4. On approval they land on the Torqueflow success page. The invoice is marked Paid; the receptionist sees the payment in real time.
5. If they close the tab during 3DS or fail to complete, the link stays valid - they can re-open the same email or SMS link and try again.

5. Handle “Awaiting bank confirmation” payments

Some transactions come back from TakePayments as referred rather than approved or declined. This means the customer’s bank is reviewing the payment manually - usually because of fraud heuristics on a large transaction.

1. The invoice status moves to Awaiting bank confirmation with an amber pip.
2. The customer’s screen tells them the bank is reviewing the payment and that the garage will be in touch.
3. Most referred payments resolve within 30 minutes (the bank either approves and the webhook lands, or the customer’s bank declines).
4. If a referred payment has not resolved within an hour, an item appears on the dashboard’s Needs attention widget.
5. From the invoice you can click Mark as resolved once you have separate confirmation that the customer paid (or did not). This clears the amber pip and lets the invoice settle to the final status.

6. Handle declined transactions

1. When a card is declined, the customer sees a declined page that explains the decline and offers them a chance to try again with a different card.
2. A real-time notification appears on the receptionist’s screen so they can phone the customer if needed.
3. Declined attempts are recorded against the invoice. Multiple declines on the same invoice are visible in the audit log.

7. Refresh an expired Pay Now link

1. Pay Now links expire after a set window. If a customer comes back days later, they may see an “expired” message on the interstitial.
2. The expired page offers a self-serve Get a new link button. Tapping it issues a fresh Pay Now link to the same email or phone number on file.
3. Staff can also re-send Pay Now from the invoice page at any time; the previous link is invalidated.

8. Switch off TakePayments online

1. Settings > Billing > Accept Payments > Online tab > TakePayments card.
2. Click Disconnect.
3. If TakePayments was the active online provider, the radio flips to Stripe (or to none if Stripe is also not connected).
4. Disconnection does not affect any in-flight referred payments - those continue to resolve as the bank decides.

What happens if the active provider is unreachable

If a Pay Now click hits the active provider and the provider is unavailable, Torqueflow shows the customer a fallback banner explaining the issue and either offers them the other connected provider (if one exists) or asks them to try again shortly. Staff see a warning on the dashboard so they know a wave of customers may need to retry.

Expected Outcome

• Customers receive Torqueflow-branded Pay Now links that take them to a TakePayments-hosted card form.
• Approved payments mark the invoice Paid automatically.
• Referred and declined payments surface clearly to your receptionists for follow-up.
• TakePayments and Stripe can run side-by-side; you can switch the active provider at any time.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
Connect fails with “Test signature did not validate”	Merchant ID and shared secret do not match each other, or the shared secret was copied with a leading or trailing space	Re-copy the shared secret from the TakePayments dealer portal. Watch for whitespace. Save again
Pay Now button is missing	The invoice has no outstanding balance, or no online provider is connected and active	Confirm an online provider is connected and active. Confirm the invoice has an outstanding balance
Customer says the card form looks broken on mobile	Older Android handsets with very narrow viewports can have rendering issues on the hosted form	Suggest the customer tries again on a different device, or call the office to take payment via the in-person terminal
Payment stuck on “Awaiting bank confirmation”	The customer’s bank has referred the transaction for manual review	Wait up to an hour. If it has not resolved, contact the customer and use Mark as resolved once you know the outcome
Repeated declines on the same card	Card not enabled for online transactions, daily spend limit reached, or the customer’s bank is blocking the merchant category	Ask the customer to phone their bank. Offer the in-person terminal as an alternative
Customer received the SMS but the link returns “expired”	The Pay Now link’s window has lapsed since it was sent	Re-send Pay Now from the invoice, or have the customer use the Get a new link button on the expired page

Notes

• Stripe and TakePayments online can be connected simultaneously. The active online provider applies to new Pay Now clicks.
• Refunds via TakePayments online are not yet supported - process refunds via the TakePayments dealer portal in the meantime.
• TakePayments online and the in-person TakePayments terminal are separate connections. Connecting one does not connect the other.
• The hosted card form is PCI SAQ-A - card numbers never touch Torqueflow.