Accepting online payments has shifted from 'optional' to 'essential' — the slowest-paying customers, by a wide margin, are the ones who still have to mail you a check. The question is not whether to accept online payments but which mix of methods to offer.
The payment methods to consider. Each option trades off speed, fee, and friction. Most small businesses end up offering 2–3 methods to cover different customer preferences.
How to add payments to your invoicing. The lowest-effort path is to use your invoicing tool's built-in payment processor (often powered by Stripe or Square under the hood). Connecting takes a few minutes, the payment link is auto-added to every invoice, and the platform reconciles the payment back to the invoice automatically.
What about the processing fees?. Some small businesses pass the card-processing fee to the customer (a 'surcharge'). This is legal in most U.S. states with disclosure requirements but creates friction and can hurt on-time payment rates. The more common practice is to bake processing fees into the price (raise prices 3% across the board) so customers s
Frequently asked questions
Can I charge customers the card processing fee?
In most U.S. states, yes — credit-card surcharges are legal with proper disclosure. Debit-card surcharges remain illegal in all states. Surcharging is restricted or banned in a handful of states; check your state's law before enabling it.
Is ACH safer than credit cards?
ACH has lower fraud risk and lower fees than cards, but settlement is slower (3–5 business days vs 1–2). For large B2B invoices, ACH is usually the right choice; for small consumer invoices, cards win on speed and friction.
