# Taking a payment and sending a payment link > Charge a customer's saved card or bank account from Payments, or email, text or show them a link to pay on your branded pay page, and follow the link on the Requests tab. *This article is being updated.* From **Payments** you can take a one-off payment in two ways: charge a payment method the customer already has on file, or email, text or show them a link so they pay on your own pay page. Both need your business's **Payments account** to be set up and active first. See **Setting up payments - card and bank debit**. You see **Take a payment** at the top of **Payments**, and **Send a payment link** on the **Requests** tab, if your role can take payments. ## Take a payment Only charge a saved card or bank account when your customer has agreed to that charge. 1. Open **Payments** and select **Take a payment**. 2. Under **Customer**, search for the person or organisation. An organisation shows its name, then **(organisation) - via** and the person it's billed through. If they aren't in your contacts yet, select **+ New contact** to add the person, or **+ New organisation** to add the organisation and then the person you bill through. Once you save, they're picked for you. Your role doesn't need access to Contacts to search or add a customer here. 3. If your role can see the price book, you can pick an **Item** from it. This fills in the line, and you can still change it. 4. Enter the **Amount** the customer pays, tax included, and a **Description - appears on the receipt**. 5. Pick the **Sales tax** rate, or **No sales tax**. The **Tax invoice** box shows the invoice Prevarro issues for this payment, on your own invoice numbering. 6. Under **How to collect**, pick the method to charge. The customer's default method is picked for you, marked **DEFAULT**. A card close to expiring shows **EXPIRES** and its date, and a method that has been failing shows **FAILING**. 7. Select **Charge now**. Once the line is filled in, the button shows the amount it will charge. The payment is submitted and appears on the **Transactions** tab. It shows as **Processing** until the payment provider answers, then **Succeeded** or **Failed**. If you see **We couldn't confirm the charge - press Charge again to check; it won't charge twice.**, select the charge button again. It checks the same payment rather than charging a second time. If the customer has **No payment methods on file**, or would rather pay themselves, select **Send a payment link instead**. The line you've entered carries over to the payment link. ## Send a payment link 1. Open **Payments**, go to the **Requests** tab and select **Send a payment link**. Or start from **Take a payment** and select **Send a payment link instead**. 2. Fill in the **Customer**, the **Item** if you want one, the **Amount**, the description and the **Sales tax** rate, as for a payment. 3. Under **Expires in**, choose how long the link works. After that it stops working and the request shows as **Expired**. 4. Choose how to send it, then select the button of the same name: - **Email it** sends the link to the customer's email address. - **Text it** sends the link to the customer's mobile. You see this if your business's texting is on. - **Show QR code** puts a code on your screen for the customer to scan with their phone camera. It shows no link text, and the link itself isn't stored anywhere. Closing it and showing it again makes a new link. Prevarro issues the invoice for it straight away. A choice with no address on the customer's record says so and can't be picked - add the address to their contact record, or ask someone whose role can open Contacts to add it, or show a QR code, which needs no address. If a send can't go, Prevarro says why and the request stays made, with its invoice issued. Choose another way there and then, or close and use **Send the link again** on its row. Pressing again in the same window never raises a second invoice. Each send makes a new link, and the one sent before stops working. ## What your customer sees The link opens your branded pay page. It shows what they owe and lets them choose how to pay, from the payment methods you've turned on in **Payments → Settings**. They confirm the amount and select **Pay**. To see the page as your customer does, find a request marked **Sent** or **Viewed** on the **Requests** tab and select **Preview pay page** from its menu. ## Follow a payment link The **Requests** tab lists every payment link you've sent, newest first, with the customer, amount, status and when it expires. A request moves through these statuses: - **Sent** - the request is live. **Link history** shows how its link went, and it reads empty if none has gone. - **Viewed** - the customer has opened the pay page. - **Paid** - they've paid. Select **View payment** from the row's menu to open the payment. - **Expired** - the link ran out before it was paid. - **Cancelled** - you cancelled it. From a request's menu, if your role can take payments: - **Cancel payment request** stops a link that hasn't been paid. The link stops working straight away, and the invoice it raised is voided if nothing has been paid on it. You can't cancel while a payment on it is still going through. - **Send the link again** emails, texts or shows a new link for a request marked **Sent** or **Viewed**. The earlier link stops working. - **Re-issue payment request** sends a new link for an expired or cancelled request, by whichever way you choose. To see how a link went out, select **Link history** from the request's menu. It lists **Sent by email**, **Sent by text** and **Shown as QR code**, each with its date and time, and never the link. A send that couldn't go reads **Email not sent** or **Text not sent**. A send still waiting to go reads **Email queued to send** or **Text queued to send**, and the link before it keeps working until it goes. If your role can't open invoices, an email reads **Email queued to send**, since whether it arrived isn't something your role can see. A request raised when a quote was accepted pays through the quote's own link, so **Send the link again** says no new link is made for it. ## If something goes wrong If a payment fails, or a bank debit seems stuck, select **Why?** beside it. See **Why did a payment fail?**.