Payment Links: How to Get Paid Instantly with Parpera

As a freelancer, sole trader or small business, you might be facing some of these key struggles when it comes to getting paid for your services or products:

1. Slow: If the only option is to pay by bank transfer, customers don’t always pay as quickly as you’d like, perhaps because setting up a new payee takes time or they’re worried about mistyping a digit and losing their money.
2. Unreliable: Methods of taking card payments can be expensive and aren’t always 100% reliable.
3. Inconvenient: If you see customers and clients face to face, it’s easy to forget to charge and carry a card terminal with you.
4. Security concerns: Customers can be concerned about security and professionalism if their only payment options are cash or bank transfer.

Payment links are an easy way for your customers to pay you instantly, both in person and online, without the extra work caused by sending a bank transfer or the need to carry cash. 

Plus, they’re quick and simple for you to create and require no extra device or card terminal – all you need is your smartphone. 

Note: If you’re ready to get paid instantly using payment links, download Parpera and start accepting payments immediately.  

How to create a payment link and get paid with Parpera

To show how quick and easy it is to get started using payment links, we’ll take you through the process step by step. 

First, download and set up the Parpera App. (If you’ve already done this, you can skip to the setting up a payment link section.) 

After you download the App, opening a Parpera account through us is a simple 4-step process:

1. Sign up and verify your details.
2. Set up your business profile (and apply for your ABN if you don’t yet have one).
3. Verify your identity.
4. Claim your unique Parpera ID. This sets up your exclusive business page.

5. That’s it! You’re ready to use the Parpera App.

You’re now immediately able to create a free payment link in just a few steps:

1. Go to the payments tab and tap on 'request' and then 'request payment'.

2. If you haven’t connected a Stripe account, we’ll redirect you to the Stripe website to log in or create a new Stripe account.
3. Once you’ve linked your Stripe account, you’ll come back to our app where you can create your free payment link.
4. Enter the payment amount, along with a short description. Your customer will see this and will show you the transaction and payment details.

5. Next, you'll see the payment request page. If you're with your client in person, let them scan the QR code on this page. Otherwise, tap the ‘share payment link’ button to send the link via email, SMS or WhatsApp.

6. Your customer then visits the payment page, where they tap the button to pay. They can enter their card details or pay with Google Pay or Apple Pay if they use a device that supports this.

7. When your customer clicks ‘pay now’, they’ll see the confirmation checkout page to indicate a successful transaction. You and your customer will get an email receipt, and Stripe will pay out the funds to your nominated bank account in accordance with their processing times.

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Currently, the first payment takes 7-14 days and after that, funds take two business days to become available, although payouts on cleared funds are available daily.

What’s great about using Parpera’s payment links? 

Here’s why Parpera payment links are great for freelancers and business owners alike: 

A quick and easy way to get paid instantly

Payment links make it easy for you to get paid quickly. It takes just three quick steps to set up a payment link, and there’s no additional device to remember to carry with you and keep charged. 

Fewer mistakes and a better buying experience: Your customers will also appreciate how quick and easy it is for them to pay by link. The payment experience is much quicker than setting up a new online banking payee and making a bank transfer. There’s no chance of mistakes when paying by link at checkout as they can’t accidentally type the wrong digit and get the bank details incorrect. 

Get paid more quickly: It also makes it much less likely that they’ll put paying you on the list of things to do later. Quick and convenient methods like debit card, credit card, Google Pay and Apple Pay make instant payment more likely. 

Here’s how a tradie used payment links to decrease their average payment time from 10 days to almost instant:

Paul used to send the invoice after the job was finished via email. He’d then have to chase the invoice until the customer paid, which often took weeks. His average payment time was 10 days.

With payment links, Paul now sends his invoice and payment link to his customer via SMS or WhatsApp two days before he’s due to do the job. On the day of the job, he arrives and gets on with his work. 

Once it’s finished, he then asks his customer to make the payment while he’s still with them, using the link he already sent them. They pay instantly, decreasing his time to get paidto almost immediately.

More secure payments and professional: If your customers are concerned about the security of bank transfers, being able to pay by card should help ease their worries. And it’s much quicker, easier and more secure than other payment solutions like trying to take card details over the phone. 

No extra charge to use payment links

With Parpera, there are no additional fees associated with setting up payment links and there’s also no monthly rental charge for a card terminal. 

The only charge is a monthly membership fee to access the Parpera App and a Stripe payment gateway processing fee when you successfully take a card payment as well as our small surcharge of 0.5% of the transaction value. That means the total is 2.25% +30c for domestic cards and 3.4% + 30c for international cards.

You can test out payment links to see how they benefit your business with a 30-day free trial when you sign up to Parpera.

Use payment links in-person and online

Payment links are a versatile payment method that you can use just as easily in person or online. 

Online: with your website, you can add a button like “Buy Now” which links to your payment link. It’s an easy and convenient way to accept online payments.

In-person: if you run workshops or classes, you can send your students a payment link via SMS or WhatsApp allowing students to pay before their session.

With Parpera, students will also be able to pay with QR code. They just need to scan the QR code, input their debit card details and pay in real time.  

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If you've previously used online marketplaces like Etsy or Amazon to sell products and are looking for an easy solution to start selling from your own website, online payment links are ideal. They make it easy to set up a simple button for customers to click and pay for their items. 

The same applies for classes and workshops. If you’d prefer your students to pay upfront rather than on the day, you can share your payment link as a button on your website or on your business social media and allow students to pay before their session. 

Save time by using one payment link multiple times

With Parpera, you can use one payment link multiple times. That’s very useful if you need to charge multiple people the same amount at the same time. 

A great example of this is if you run workshops or classes and your students pay in person. You only need to set up one payment link, and all your students can scan the QR code and pay by link at the same time, there and then. 

Payment links are also perfect for any last-minute joiners or walk-ins, removing any awkward conversations around how they can pay if they don’t have cash on them – they can pay instantly by the same link as everyone else. 

It’s much faster for you and your customer than if you had to generate a separate link for each payment. All in all, it’s a great user experience for both you and your customer. 

When does it make sense to use payment links?

Now we’ve looked at how Parpera payment links work and how to set one up, let’s look at when it makes sense to use payment links:

1. To replace card terminals: if you don’t want to carry or buy a card terminal to carry around, payment links are more convenient and reliable.  
2. To take card payments: If you want to offer your customers an alternative method of payment to cash or bank transfer, using payment links means your customers can pay by card or Google/Apple Pay. 
3. To take multiple payments at once: Those who run classes, workshops or similar in-person services can generate a payment link that all students can use to pay instantly.
4. To take payments in-person and large orders: If you sell your products to customers in person at markets or fairs, your customers can scan the QR code to pay. And if you’re taking a big order, you can also send your customer a payment link. 
5. To get paid more quickly: Payment links make it easier for tradies to get paid immediately, so you know you’ve already been paid when you wrap up your job. 
6. To take orders online easily: If you sell online, you can easily embed a buy button on your website that uses your payment link.

Start sending payment links with Parpera

We hope this article has helped you understand just how quick and easy it is to get paid instantly for your products and services when you start using payment links. 

To test the benefits of using payment links yourself, download the Parpera App and start your free trial today!