When Clients Pay — Payment Timing Options

When a client pays isn’t a global setting you flip once — it’s a choice you make on each order form. One form can require full payment before the slot is held; another can bill a brokerage after the shoot. You set the timing per form, or let it inherit your business default.

For the bigger picture of how money moves through a shoot, start with the invoicing and payments overview.

The three payment timings

Every form uses one of three modes.

Pay upfront

Full payment is collected to confirm the booking. This is your no-show protection: pair it with a cancellation policy and the slot only holds once the client has committed. Use it on public forms where you don’t know the client yet.

Pay on delivery

The booking is confirmed right away, but media downloads stay locked until the client pays — the pay-to-download gate. The client can preview their gallery; the full-resolution files release the moment payment clears. No more delivering first and chasing the invoice after.

Invoice

You send an invoice after the shoot, due within your net terms. This suits repeat accounts and brokerages you already trust to pay on time. Invoices flow into your invoices and payment tracking records like any other.

If online payments aren’t connected

Bookings still go through. If you haven’t connected Stripe yet, the client is simply asked to arrange payment with you directly — and for the paid modes, the media stays locked until it’s settled. When the money arrives by cash, check, or transfer, record it on the order and the status and download gate update. You never have to leave the gate open just because you couldn’t charge a card.

What the client sees

On booking, the client gets a confirmation email with a payment-status line and an attached receipt if they’ve paid, or an invoice if a balance is due. From there, the order carries a payment status you can track: unpaid, awaiting payment, partial, paid, overdue, refunded, or partially refunded.

Per form or one default

Set a business default so new forms start with your usual timing, then override it only where a specific client needs different terms. Running different timing for different clients is one of the main reasons photographers run more than one order form — a brokerage form on invoice terms alongside a public form paid upfront, each with its own link.