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Setting up online payment options

Which online payment options can I use with Light Blue?

Offering online payment options makes it really easy for your clients to pay you. You can set up your Light Blue account to take payment for invoices or booking fees via:

  • Online payment via Stripe, with all of the payment methods that Stripe offers. This is the most popular option used by our customers, because the customer experience of using Stripe is really good, their customer support is excellent, and their fees are low.
  • Card payments via Square. The customer experience of using Square is really good and their fees are low.
  • Card or PayPal payments via PayPal. Using PayPal has some disadvantages compared to using Stripe or Square because your customers will be taken to PayPal’s website to complete their payment.

You need to open an account with one of these payment processors before you can use them with Light Blue. We don’t take a cut of the payments that you put through Light Blue, but the payment processor will charge you a fee.

Please note that, because they both offer very similar card payment options, you can only offer either Stripe or Square’s card payment. You can’t have both available as options at the same time.

Stripe

In Light Blue 2022.2 or later

  1. Open the Preferences window in the Light Blue desktop app.
  2. Go to the “Integrations” section, then into the “Online Payments” tab.
  3. Go to the “API Keys” page in your Stripe account.
  4. Copy your “Publishable Key” and paste it into the “Stripe Publishable Key” field in Light Blue.
  5. Copy your “Secret Key” and paste it into the “Stripe Secret Key” field in Light Blue.
  6. Set the “Payment Options” setting to “Card payments only” if you only want clients to be able to pay by card, or to “All payment methods” if you want clients to be able to use any of the payment methods you’ve enabled in your Stripe account.
  7. If you use the “All payment methods” option, there are a few things to be aware of:
    • Stripe will decide which payment methods to display to your clients, and the order they’re displayed in.
    • Some payment methods are only available if you’re billing your clients in specific currencies. e.g. iDEAL and Bancontact are only available if they’re paying in Euros.
    • ApplePay doesn’t work in an iFrame, so if you’re embedding one of your scheduling calendars in your website then it won’t be available as a payment option for the booking fee.
    • Some payments can take a while to complete (e.g. direct debit or iDEAL) so your client might be shown a “waiting for payment confirmation” page when they return to your payment page. We recommend always having a confirmation email for your scheduling calendars, contract booking fees, and online invoices, so that your client knows that the payment has been successful.
    • Some payment types will warn you that you should set up a webhook in your Stripe account. Light Blue will do this for you automatically.

Via your Light Blue account on our website

  1. Log into your account and go to the “Online Payments” page.
  2. Go to the “API Keys” page in your Stripe account.
  3. Copy your “Publishable Key” and paste it into the “Stripe Publishable Key” field in Light Blue.
  4. Copy your “Secret Key” and paste it into the “Stripe Secret Key” field in Light Blue.
  5. Click the “Save Changes” button.

Square

In Light Blue 2022.2 or later

  1. Open the Preferences window in the Light Blue desktop app.
  2. Go to the “Integrations” section, then into the “Online Payments” tab.
  3. To link your Square account, click the “Manage Square Account” button and follow the instructions to authorise Light Blue.

Via your Light Blue account on our website

  1. Log into your account and go to the “API & Integrations” page.
  2. Click the link to authorise access to your Square account.

PayPal

In Light Blue 2022.2 or later

  1. Open the Preferences window in the Light Blue desktop app.
  2. Go to the “Integrations” section, then into the “Online Payments” tab.
  3. Type your PayPal email address into the “PayPal Email Address” field.

Via your Light Blue account on our website

  1. Log into your account and go to the “Online Payments” page.
  2. Type your PayPal email address into the “PayPal email address” field.
  3. Click the “Save Changes” button.
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