Once a customer signs, getting paid is mostly automatic: they pay their deposit by card on the spot, LightQuoter records it, and the quote moves to Scheduled on its own. Here’s the full picture — including balances, phone payments, and cash.

What your customer sees

Deposit — right after signing. The signed quote page shows “Quote Accepted!” and a 💰 Pay Your Deposit card: the amount, a note that it’s your deposit percentage (“50% deposit required to confirm your booking.”), and a 💳 Pay 50% Deposit · $X → button that opens a secure Stripe checkout. When it’s paid, the card flips to a green Deposit Paid badge — “Your booking is confirmed. We’ll be in touch!”

Balance — after the deposit. Once their deposit shows paid, the same page gains a 💰 Payment Progress card: amount paid, amount remaining, a progress bar, and a Pay Remaining Balance · $X → button. Fully paid quotes show Paid in Full.

Payment links are single-use — one completed payment kills the link, so nobody can accidentally pay twice. Amounts always reflect what the customer actually signed for, including any multi-year contract discount.

Your tools: the Payments panel

Open any quote that’s been accepted (status Accepted or later) and the Payments panel appears in the quoter, with a badge showing ✅ Paid or the percentage collected so far.

  • 💰 Record Payment — for money that didn’t come through Stripe: enter the amount, pick 💵 Cash / 📝 Check / 📱 Venmo / ⚡ Zelle / 💰 Other, add an optional note (“Check #4521”), and record it. Card payments through Stripe record themselves — you’ll see them appear automatically.
  • 💳 Send Balance Payment Request — emails the customer a payment request with the quote total, what’s paid, the balance due, and a Pay Now button. Needs a customer email on the quote.
  • 📞 Charge Card (phone payment) — opens the Stripe payment page so you can enter a customer’s card while they’re on the phone.

Both buttons disappear once the quote is paid in full.

Where payment status shows up

  • Quoter sidebar & Job Board — every job carries a ✅ Paid in Full or 💰 $X / $Y chip. Paid takedown jobs auto-archive after 30 days; unpaid jobs stay visible until handled.
  • Dashboard — Collected and Outstanding pipeline totals, a payments-by-method chart, and an Overdue list that flags completed jobs with a balance still due after 14 days.
  • Customer profiles — full payment history per customer.
  • Quote PDF — a Payment Summary block with totals and remaining balance, whenever payments exist.

Troubleshooting

  • “My customer says there’s no pay button.” Check three things: the quote must be signed (no payment options before that); payments must be on (or a Backup Payment Link saved) — see Turn on LightQuoter Payments; and very small amounts (under $0.50) can’t be charged by card.
  • “They paid the deposit in cash — will their quote page still ask for it?” Not once you’ve logged it. Any payment you record with 💰 Record Payment counts as the deposit on the customer’s quote page, which then shows Deposit Paid and the Payment Progress card for the balance.
  • “I need to undo a recorded payment.” Manually recorded payments have a 🗑 delete button. Stripe payments don’t — they reflect a real processed charge, and refunds are issued from your Stripe dashboard.
  • “The payment amount looks stale.” If you change fee settings or upgrade to Pro, old cached links refresh automatically the next time the customer opens their quote page.