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A payment link inside your invoice: how to add it and why it pays off

A typical invoice ends with payment details: beneficiary, IBAN, invoice number, amount. From there, everything depends on how careful your customer is — will they type the amount correctly, will they lose the payment reference, will they simply decide to “pay it later”? A payment link turns this process around: instead of a manual bank transfer, the customer gets a single click.

What a payment link is

A payment link is a plain web link that opens a payment page with the amount and the payment reference (the invoice number) already filled in. All the customer has to do is pick a method — card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or bank transfer — and confirm the payment. No sign-up, no app; it works on any device and in any browser.

It differs from the usual “pay by bank transfer” in two essential ways: the customer types nothing by hand, so there are no mistakes in amounts or references, and the payment is automatically matched to the specific invoice.

Why it pays off

  • Faster payment.The fewer steps between “I got the invoice” and “I paid it”, the more customers pay right away rather than “when I next sit down with my bank”.
  • Fewer mistakes. Hand-typed amounts and payment references are the most common cause of unrecognised payments. In a link, the data is filled in ahead of time.
  • Automatic reconciliation. The payment is tied to the invoice number, so the system marks the invoice as paid by itself — no more comparing a bank statement against a list of invoices.
  • More ways to pay. Business customers often pay by bank transfer, consumers by card or phone. One link offers all the methods at once.

How the template link with {AMOUNT} and {INVOICE_NO} works

Creating a separate link for every invoice by hand would be a chore. That's why HexaBee uses a template link with placeholders — you set it up once, and from then on everything happens by itself. The link looks roughly like this:

https://checkout.hexabee.buzz/pay/your-business?a={AMOUNT}&r={INVOICE_NO}

Here {AMOUNT} is the invoice amount and {INVOICE_NO}is the invoice number. You'll find the template link in your HexaBee settings; it needs to be pasted once into your invoice or email template. Most accounting programs let you place a link in an invoice or email template — when generating the document, the program replaces the placeholders with the real amount and number, so every customer gets a link with their own invoice's details.

If your program doesn't support placeholders, you can add the link without parameters — the customer will enter the amount and invoice number themselves, or simply drop the PDF invoice onto the payment page and the details will be read automatically.

The link is worth placing in two spots: in the PDF invoice itself (for example next to the payment details, labelled “Pay online”) and in the body of the email the invoice is sent with. Some customers never even open the PDF — for them a button in the email is the shortest path to paying.

What your customer sees

Clicking the link takes the customer to a payment page with your business name, the amount and the invoice number. Every field is already filled in, but can be corrected if needed. The customer then picks a payment method and confirms — the whole thing usually takes less than a minute.

The money goes straight to your connected Stripe account — HexaBee never holds it — and the invoice is automatically marked as paid in your workspace. The customer doesn't need to create any account: the payment page is one-off, works on desktop and phone alike, and shows a confirmation right after the payment.

A step further: automatic invoice bookkeeping

A payment link becomes even more valuable when the system knows which invoices have been issued in the first place. For that, HexaBee gives every merchant a personal email address: when sending an invoice to a customer, add this address as a BCC (blind copy) — in most accounting programs this is done once, in the email template. The invoice is read automatically and added to your invoice ledger.

From that moment the chain closes: the payment page checks the amount against the ledger, the customer is warned if the invoice has already been paid, and for unpaid invoices you can switch on automatic reminders — the system itself politely nudges the customer until the invoice is paid, and stops the moment the payment comes in.

Who covers the fee

Each payment carries a transaction fee, and you choose who covers it:

  • You cover the fee. The customer pays exactly the invoice amount, and the fee is deducted before the funds are paid out to your account.
  • The customer covers the fee. The amount is grossed up at checkout, so you receive the full invoice amount.

The default mode is switched in Settings. In business relationships merchants more often choose to cover the fee themselves — it's usually smaller than the time spent chasing late payments. You'll find the exact rates on the pricing page.

Where to start

  • Create a merchant account at merchant.hexabee.buzz — you sign in with a Google account, it takes a few minutes.
  • Connect Stripe — payments will go straight to your bank account.
  • In Settings, copy the template link and paste it into the invoice or email template in your accounting software.
  • Issue a test invoice to yourself and walk the whole path through your customer's eyes — you'll see exactly what your customers will see.

From that moment on, every invoice you issue will carry a “pay now” button. And that, as practice shows, is the simplest way to get your money faster.