Taking payments with Soclo
Getting paid is usually the least automated part of a small business, and the most annoying. Soclo Payments covers one specific job well today — a fixed price, sent as a link, recorded when it is paid. It is worth being precise about where that ends.
What is live today
Three things: connected merchant onboarding, fixed-price payment links, and payment activity. You get set up as a merchant in your own name, you create a link for a stated amount, and when someone pays it you can see that it happened alongside the rest of your business activity.
What is not live: wider checkout and booking-payment flows are planned rather than available, and the in-store card machine is still to come. Those are described in the future tense deliberately — the product updates page keeps that split honest and current.
Merchant onboarding, and why it asks so much
Before you can accept card payments you have to be identified. That is a legal requirement placed on every payment provider, not a Soclo formality, and it is why the process asks for business details and identification rather than just an email address. Expect to confirm who you are, what the business does and where the money should settle.
Complete these checks only inside the official onboarding flow. Never email identity documents, bank details, card numbers or verification codes to anyone — including anyone claiming to be Soclo support. Legitimate support will never ask.
Payments are made to your connected merchant account. Soclo creates the link and records the activity; your takings are not held by Soclo on the way through.
What a payment link is actually good for
A payment link is the right tool whenever you can state a price before the customer commits.
- Deposits — the single highest-value use for most service businesses, because it converts a verbal "yes" into a commitment and reduces no-shows.
- Booking or call-out fees — collected before you allocate the time.
- A defined service at a set price, where there is nothing to configure.
- Invoices you would otherwise chase — a link is easier to pay than a bank transfer, and easier to send again.
- In person, via the customer's own phone — which covers many counter and doorstep situations while the card machine is still to come.
It is the wrong tool when the price genuinely depends on choices the customer has to make. A link states one amount; if you find yourself creating six links for six variations of the same thing, you have outgrown the format rather than used it badly.
Setting one up well
- Complete merchant onboarding first. Until the checks clear you can create links but not get paid, which is a frustrating way to discover the order of operations.
- Name it the way the customer thinks of it. "Deposit — Saturday 14th, garden clearance" is recognisable on a bank statement. "Payment 4" causes a chargeback three weeks later.
- State exactly what the amount covers, including whether it is the full price or a deposit against a larger total. Ambiguity here is the main cause of disputes.
- Test with a real payment of a small amount before using it for real orders.
- Check both sides of that test. Confirm it appears in your merchant account and in your Soclo payment activity. A payment that succeeds at the card end while going unrecorded looks fine to the customer and wrong to you at month end — checking once at the start costs a couple of minutes and saves a genuinely confusing afternoon.
What Soclo will never do on its own
Money decisions sit permanently outside automation. Bank details, prices, campaign budgets, refunds and payment settings always require your confirmation, no matter how much routine work you have delegated to Autopilot elsewhere. If something appears to be changing a payment setting without asking, treat it as wrong and check it.
Getting paid faster, without being unpleasant
Most late payment is friction rather than refusal. A customer intending to pay still has to find their card, open their banking app and type your details. A link removes almost all of that, so send it at the moment agreement happens rather than later that evening, and put it where the conversation is already taking place instead of in a separate email they will not open.
For deposits, say plainly what it secures — a date, a slot, materials. People pay deposits readily when they can see what it holds, and hesitate when it sounds like a fee for existing.
Where to go next
If you have not set the account up yet, getting started with Soclo covers the first hour and the plans. Payment links do not consume credits to send — how Soclo credits work explains exactly where that line falls.
Common questions
Does the money go to Soclo first?
No. You complete merchant onboarding in your own name, and payments are made to your connected merchant account. Soclo creates the link and records the activity; it does not sit in the middle holding your takings.
What can I use a payment link for?
Anything with a fixed price you can state up front — a deposit, a booking fee, a set service, a specific item, an invoice you would otherwise chase. It is not a full shop checkout, and it is not intended to be one yet.
Can I take payment in person?
Not with a card machine yet — that is still to come. A payment link works in person if the customer can open it on their own phone, which covers a lot of counter and doorstep situations.
Can Soclo issue a refund automatically?
No. Refunds are a protected decision and always require your confirmation, as do bank details, prices, campaign budgets and payment settings. No Autopilot setting changes that.
Why does merchant onboarding ask for so much detail?
Anyone accepting card payments has to be identified under financial regulations. The checks are required of every legitimate payment provider, not something Soclo adds. Complete them in the official flow only, and never by emailing documents to anyone.
Does a completed payment prove the sale is recorded correctly?
Check both sides the first time. Take one real payment of a small amount and confirm it appears both in your merchant account and in your Soclo payment activity before you rely on it for real orders.
Still stuck? Tell us the screen or address, what you expected and what happened. Never send a password, verification code or full card details.
Email Soclo support →