With the SiteSwan Client Billing feature, you can easily charge your clients an upfront setup fee and recurring service fee for their website making client billing easy and efficient. You can create multiple pricing plans and edit the amount you charge for each client. Our billing system seamlessly integrates with Stripe and even allows you to keep track of any customers that are past due and missed a payment directly from your dashboard. Watch the short overview video below to learn more and then follow the steps below...
PLEASE NOTE: The Client Billing Feature is only available on select plans and requires a Stripe account.
1. From your Dashboard, click on the Account tab on the top of the screen.
2. From the Account Settings Screen click the "Connect to Stripe" button.
3. If you haven't done so already, setup a free Stripe.com account. This company will handle the credit card payments from your customers and securely deposit the money into your bank account.
If you already have a Stripe account, click "Sign in" on the top right of this screen.
4. Once complete, you will now see a message that you have successfully connected to Stripe on the Account Settings screen.
5. You can now setup online payments for a client by clicking on the Site Details link or Setup Billing button next to the site you want to start charging for.
6. You will be presented with two options for Client Billing:
- Charge an Upfront Fee + Recurring Charge - this is perfect for charging your client for their website and allows you to assign an upfront setup fee followed by a monthly (or yearly) service fee.
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Charge a Standalone One-Time Fee - this can be used for charging your client a single, non-recurring fee for services other than their website like:
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- Logo Design
- Business Cards
- Customer Graphic Design
- Any other one-time deliverables
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7. If you choose to Set Up an Upfront Fee + Recurring Charge, you will be prompted to choose an existing plan from your account or create a new plan for this client.
- You will see some default plans already in your account.
- You can modify the Setup Fee for any plan for each client. This is helpful if you would like to discount or increase the setup fee based on the individual client.
- The only way to change the recurring charge is to create a new plan with that amount.
- You can change the Recurring Charge start date for each client up to 30 days in the future. So if you want to charge the Setup Fee today and wait to charge the monthly fee until next month, you can.
- Please note: a 2% transaction fee plus merchant processor fees applies.
Enter the client's credit card information and click "Complete Order".
8. If you choose to Set Up a One-Time Fee, you will be prompted to enter a dollar amount and brief description.
- The Description is what your clients will see on their invoice and should clearly communicate what the one-time fee is for. Ex: Logo Design
- You can charge more than one One-Time Fee for a client. So if they purchase additional services that require one-time payment, you can easily bill them through your Dashboard.
If the client already has shared their credit card with you, you can charge them immediately by clicking "Pay Invoice".
If this is the first time you are billing the client, you will be prompted to create the invoice first and then share it with them using the link provided.
Here is an example of what that payment link will look like for your client. It will branded for your company as it appears in Stripe.
Please Note: the payout from your very first Stripe transaction may be delayed by several days. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please reach out to Stripe Support directly.