You can now send your customer a secure payment link to pay for a manually created order.
This makes it easy to handle:
Custom orders
Add-on requests
Orders created outside of a normal drop
"Send customer link to pay" is designed to make manual ordering easier while keeping everything tracked inside Hotplate.
How to send a payment link for a created order
In your Portal, go to the Orders tab
Click the 3 dots in the top right, + Create Order
Choose Quick create or Attach to a drop
Add
Customer information
Fulfillment location & time
Items and quantities
Click Continue
Toggle on Send customer a link to pay for this order
Review the order summary
(Optional) Customize the customer text message
Click Create Order & Send Payment Link
Your customer will automatically receive a text message with a secure checkout link.
What your customer sees
Customers receive their payment link by text message.
Since you've already built their order (customer info, fulfillment date & location, items), all they have to do is pay. As usual, they can
Pay by credit card (and external methods like Cash, Venmo, Zelle, if enabled)
Use loyalty points
Apply discount codes or gift cards
Pending Payment status
Until the customer completes payment, the order will show:
A red banner indicating payment is still needed
A Customer Owes amount
No revenue recorded yet
A Copy pay link button so that you can manually resend the link to your customer, if needed
If the customer pays by credit card
When a customer pays through the manual pay link by card:
The order automatically updates from Pending status to Received
Red message on order ticket goes away, the receipt gets updated from displaying Customer owes amount to Revenue
In transaction history export, the Outstanding balance column gets zeroed out and the Total revenue column is updated
Manual orders can be identified by an order number beginning with #M-
If the customer pays with Venmo, Cash, or Zelle
If a customer chooses an off-platform payment method:
The order will remain in an unpaid state
You must click Mark paid after you receive payment
Until you mark the order paid:
Revenue will not appear in reporting
The order will show an outstanding balance
Insights and exports will not include the revenue for this order
Once marked paid, everything updates automatically.
Exports & Reporting
Exports now include an Outstanding Balance column.
An order will show an outstanding balance if:
The customer has not completed payment
You have not marked an offline payment as paid
Once payment is completed or marked paid, Outstanding balance is zeroed out and the Total revenue column is updated.