Payment links

Customers → Payment links — “share a link, get paid. Each link has its own rules: amount, how many times, for how long, in full or in parts.”

A payment link is an address on pay.paysigna.com that opens a payment page with your checkout branding. Send it in a message, put it on an invoice or a poster as a QR code, and payers pay on the page. You need no website and no integration.

Needs billing.read to see links and billing.write to create or change them.

The list

Each link shows its title, its amount (or Payer chooses), how much has been collected and how many payments, and where it stands:

State	Meaning
Taking payments	Open. A payer can pay it now.
Paused	You paused it. Payers are told it is not taking payments.
Not open yet	Its opening time has not come.
Closed	Its closing time has passed.
Completed	Its total was reached, every instalment was paid, or its last payment was taken.
All taken	Every payment, part or instalment is paid or being paid right now. If a payment in progress fails or expires, the link opens again by itself.
Archived	Ended for good.

Your account’s status matters too. While your account is still being set up, your test links work — the page takes test payments, so you can try a link end to end. Live links only take payments once your account is active and live payments are switched on; until then a payer sees “This link is not taking payments right now.” If your account is suspended, disabled or closed, every link stops taking payments.

New payment link

“Share it by message, email or QR code. You can pause or archive it at any time.” On a wide screen, a Preview beside the form shows the payment page as payers will see it, in your checkout branding.

Details

Field	Notes
Title	Required. “Shown at the top of the payment page.”
Description	Optional — what the payer is paying for.

Pricing

Choose one:

Choice	What it means	You set
Fixed amount	“Everyone pays the same.”	The Amount.
Payer chooses	“Donations, tips, top-ups.”	Optionally a Minimum and Maximum.
Towards a total	“Any amounts until the total is met.”	The Total to collect, and optionally the Smallest payment — “the last one may be smaller”, since it is whatever is left.
Instalments	“A total split into equal payments.” Payers pay them in order.	The Total to collect and the Number of instalments, 2 to 60. The form shows what each comes to; any remainder goes on the last.

The pricing choice is “Fixed once created”, and so is the currency. To change them, make a new link.

Payment methods

Mobile money and Card — at least one. Links do not take bank payments.

The form offers only the methods your account can take payments over today. A new link starts with all of them ticked. A method that can’t be used is greyed out, with the reason beneath it:

Reason	What it means
“Not enabled for this account.”	We haven’t enabled the method for your live account.
“Enabled from {date}.”	It’s enabled, starting on that date.
“No price applies until {date}.”	Your rate for it starts on that date.
“No price is set for this method.”	No rate covers it.

These checks are the same ones GET /v1/rails reports; see Which methods you can use. In test, every method counts as enabled, but a method still needs a rate.

On live, saving a link with a method your account is not enabled for is refused with 403 capability_disabled. A method that is enabled but has no rate yet can still be saved. The form notes “Payers will not be offered it until this is resolved”, and the payment page leaves it out until a rate applies.

If none of a live link’s methods can be used, the page tells payers “This link cannot take payments right now. Please contact the merchant.”

Customer details

“What the payer fills in before paying.” Name, email and phone number, each Required, Optional or Off. By default the name is required, the email optional and the phone off. A card payment always asks for an email, because the card partner sends the receipt to it.

Add a custom question — up to three, such as a student ID or an order number, each optionally Required. The answers appear on each payment.

Options

Each is a switch; turn it on to set it.

Option	What it does
Limit the number of payments	“The link closes itself once it has been paid this many times.” Set Payments allowed; 1 makes a one-time link. Offered for a fixed amount or payer chooses — a link towards a total or in instalments ends when the total is reached. Off means unlimited.
Schedule	“Open the link later, or close it on a date.” Opens — empty opens it now. Closes — empty keeps it open.
Custom thank-you message	“Otherwise your checkout branding’s message is shown.”
Redirect after payment	“Send the payer to your website after the thank-you.” An https:// address; the page goes there five seconds after a successful payment.

A link’s page

Opening a link shows:

• Share — the address, Copy, and a QR code of the same address;
• Where it stands — its state, what has been collected and, for parts and instalments, what is left and which instalment is next;
• Payments — each payment through it, with the payer’s details, your questions’ answers, its status and its reference.

Action	What it does
Edit	Change the link. The pricing choice and the currency cannot be changed after it is created; make a new link instead.
Pause / Resume	Stops payments until resumed.
Archive	“Payers will no longer find it, and it cannot be reopened. What was paid through it stays in your transactions.”

What a payment through a link is

An ordinary payment. It appears in Transactions, settles like any other, and can be refunded like any other. Its metadata carries the link (payment_link, the link’s short code) and each answer as answer_<key>. It records who created the link — your API key, or you, as the portal user who created it.

When your customers bear the fee, the payment page shows the amount, the fee and the total before the payer presses Pay {total}. See hosted checkout.

What payers see after paying. The page waits for confirmation and offers Check payment status, which asks the payment partner straight away. After two minutes it tells the payer they can close the page, because you’ll be told when the payment arrives. A payment that has expired is shown as “We have not had confirmation yet”, not as a failure, because the partner may still confirm it. The payer is told not to pay again if money left their account, and to Start again only if nothing was taken. The full table is in hosted checkout.

A payment that fails or expires does not use up the link: its use, part or instalment is free again at once.

An expired payment the partner later confirms as paid still counts, even if someone has taken its place since. The customer was debited, so it’s never refused. That can leave a link paid more times than its limit, or collecting more than its total. On an instalment link it counts as the earliest unpaid instalment, or as an extra payment once all are paid. Refund it from Transactions if you don’t want it.

Your server can create and follow links too — see Payment links and hosted checkout.