Payment Pre-Approval

Collect and securely tokenise a client's card or bank details during signing, ready to charge later.

Overview

Payment Pre-Approval lets you collect card or bank details from your client as part of the signing process, without charging them immediately. Payment information is securely tokenised and stored by Stripe, ready for later charges.

This approach works well during client onboarding — gather payment methods alongside engagement letters or service agreements, then bill when invoices are issued.

Prerequisites

Your organisation must complete the Payments registration process before payment fields become available in envelopes.

Adding a payment method field

Payment Pre-Approval uses the Payment method field, configured like other envelope fields (signature, text, etc.).

Create your envelope normally by uploading documents and adding recipients.

Click Prepare documents to access the document preparation view.

Drag the Payment method field from the left panel onto your document, positioning it near explanatory text.

With the field selected, configure options on the right side:

Required — Toggle to make payment details mandatory or optional.
Payment options — Select which methods recipients can use:
- Card and direct debit (both available)
- Only card (card entries only)
- Only direct debit (BSB and account number for BECS direct debit)

Click Save changes and send the envelope as normal.

Completing a payment method field

When recipients encounter the payment method field:

They click the field, triggering a prompt to select their preferred payment method.
They choose Card, AMEX, or Direct debit and enter their details.
They click Submit payment method. The field turns green upon successful submission.
If optional, recipients may skip the field and continue signing without providing payment details.

Upon submission, payment details are securely tokenised by Stripe, establishing the recipient as a customer with a pre-approval on file.

Charging your client

After a pre-approval is established, you can charge the client at any time:

Manually — Initiate charges whenever you need to.
Automatically — Configure automatic charging on invoice due dates.