How you can collect money
Each service specifies which payment options a client is offered, so you can run different rules for different offerings. A first consultation might be free, ongoing therapy paid online, and a home visit paid in cash.
| Option | How it works | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Online | The client pays at booking through your payment gateway. The booking is paid before you commit time. | Your default for most sessions. |
| Cash or pay later | The booking is created unpaid, an invoice is generated, and you mark it paid when money arrives. | In person practice, bank transfers, or established clients you trust. |
| Free | No payment is collected. | Discovery calls, and sessions covered by an arrangement outside PracFlow. |
Choosing a payment gateway
Set your gateway in Business Settings. This choice affects how quickly you receive money and how commission is collected if you are on pay as you go, so it is worth understanding before you switch.
| Gateway | What you set up | How money reaches you |
|---|---|---|
| PracFlow Razorpay | Nothing to create. Add your bank details so PracFlow can settle to you. | PracFlow receives the payment and transfers your share automatically, with commission already deducted. |
| Your own Razorpay | Connect your Razorpay account. | Money lands in your account directly. Commission, if any, is taken from your wallet. |
| Stripe | Add your Stripe credentials. | Money lands in your Stripe account. Commission is taken from your wallet. |
| PayPal | Add your PayPal credentials. | Money lands in your PayPal account. Commission is taken from your wallet. |
Which should you pick?
Using your own gateway means funds reach you directly and you keep the payment relationship, but you must top up your wallet to cover commission if you are on pay as you go. PracFlow Razorpay is simpler because commission is netted off automatically and there is no wallet to monitor.
Tax, gateway fees and convenience fees
Also in Business Settings, you decide who absorbs the cost of taking payments and how tax is presented.
- GST or sales tax. Turn it on, set the percentage, and record your registration number so it appears on invoices.
- Pass gateway fees to the client. When enabled, the processing fee is added to the client's total rather than reducing what you receive. The default rate applied is 2 percent.
- Convenience fee. An additional charge you set, shown separately to the client.
- Pay later options. Offer bank transfer, UPI, a direct payment link, or your own written instructions for clients not paying by card.
Passing on fees is visible to clients
An added processing fee appears on the client's total at checkout. Some clients react badly to a fee that was not in your advertised price. If your market is fee sensitive, it is often better to build the cost into your rate.
Working the transactions page
Transactions lists every order in your practice, which is where you go to answer any question about money. Filter by payment status, payment mode, order status, settlement status, team member and date range, or search by name, email, phone or order reference.
From a row you can act directly:
- Mark cash payment received once money is in hand.
- Send a payment link to chase an unpaid booking.
- Send the invoice to the client.
- Accept or reject payment proof a client has uploaded for a bank transfer.
- Record a refund against the order.
- Cancel the order.
- Settle with a team member on the Teams plan.
- Download the invoice as a PDF, or open the client's checkout page.
Export to Excel downloads the filtered list, which is what you hand to an accountant at period end. The page also updates live, so payments appear without refreshing.
Reading payment and order status
Two separate statuses sit on every order, and confusing them causes unnecessary worry. Order status tells you whether the booking exists. Payment status tells you whether you have the money.
| Status shown | What it means |
|---|---|
| Paid | Money has been captured online, or you have marked a cash payment received. |
| Pending | Not paid yet. Normal for a cash booking, and worth chasing on an online one. |
| Refunded | Money has been returned to the client. |
| Failed | The payment attempt did not succeed. The client needs to try again. |
| Created | The order is fulfilled: the appointment exists or the pass is issued. |
| Cancelled | The order was cancelled. |
Cash paid in the room
Cash handed to you in session stays Pending until you mark it received. If your invoices and reports look short, unmarked cash payments are usually why. Make marking them part of your end of day routine.
Bank transfers and payment proof
When a client pays by bank transfer or UPI they can upload a screenshot or receipt as proof. It arrives for your review, and you accept or reject it. Accepting marks the booking paid and updates the appointment, so you are not doing that separately.
Check the amount and the reference against your bank statement before accepting. Accepting proof is what tells PracFlow you have been paid, so an accepted proof for money that never arrived leaves your records wrong.
Ad hoc payment requests
Not every payment relates to a booking. Adhoc Payments creates a one off request for anything else: a late cancellation fee, a report you wrote, supervision, or a balance carried over from before you joined PracFlow.
Create the request with an amount and description, then share the link. You can send reminders on requests that go unpaid, and they appear in your transaction records alongside session payments.
Invoices
PracFlow generates an invoice for each order, which you can view, download as a PDF or email to the client. Clients can also retrieve their own invoices from the portal at https://sites.pracflow.ai, which removes a recurring admin task.
Invoices reflect what PracFlow knows. A cash payment you have not marked received still shows as outstanding, so keep cash marked up to date if clients rely on invoices for reimbursement.
For a statement covering several sessions, typically for insurance or reimbursement, use a charge slip instead. See Charge Slips and Billing Statements.
Refunds
Refunds usually begin with a cancellation, where you choose full, partial or no refund. See Appointments for how the cancellation window constrains that choice.
For online payments PracFlow requests the refund through your gateway, and the money follows that provider's timeline, commonly several working days. For cash you transfer the money yourself and record the amount in PracFlow, optionally attaching proof of transfer.
Refunds also unwind the related records. Coupon redemptions are voided so the code can be used again, package sessions are returned, and commission on a pay as you go plan is reversed to your wallet.
Could not find what you needed? Email support@pracflow.ai or use the Need Help button in your dashboard.