First, if you don’t already have an account with one of our online payment partners, you’ll want to sign up for one with PayPal or Authorize.Net. If you’re not sure which one to choose, be sure to read our guide on choosing an online payment solution.

Once you’re set up to accept payments online, sign into your FreshBooks account as the administrator and follow these simple steps to integrate:

1. Click the Settings link at the top-right corner of any page in your account.
2. On the proceeding page, you’ll want to select Accept Online Payments, listed under Step 3.
3. Here you’ll see a lengthy list of all the online payment providers with which FreshBooks is integrated. Scroll down to the one you’re using, and enter the relevant information.If you don’t have this information, check the online interface of your payment solution, or get in touch with your representative there.
4. Finally, be sure to activate your choice! Some simply have a single box to enable them; others have options to separate activate credit card processing and eCheck processing. Check the box to activate the solution.
5. Finally, if applicable, scroll to the bottom of the page and select the credit card types you accept. With PayPal you don’t need to worry about this, since they handle everything for you.
6. Remember to save, and you’re ready to try your first payment!

See? That wasn’t so hard at all, was it? If we did everything right, you should now be ready to try your first online payment.

As our last step, let’s test things to make sure everything is working.

1. Get out your credit card — yep, your real one! We’re going to try making a real 1¢ payment. Yes, your payment solution probably has a test mode, but the only way to be certain everything is 100% working is to pay yourself real money.
2. Create a new 1¢ invoice, and send it to yourself. (If you don’t know how to do this, read our guide on how to send an invoice.)
3. Next, view the invoice. You can do this by clicking the link in the invoice e-mail you just sent to yourself, or by visiting the Invoices tab in FreshBooks and clicking on the number of the invoice you just created.
4. At the top of the invoice, you’ll see a new option that wasn’t there before — Pay Invoice. Click that!
5. Follow the steps to complete the payment, entering your real credit card information, along with your address if it isn’t already filled out for you. When you’re finished, press Submit once and wait.
6. If everything worked out, you should receive a success message.If you encounter any problems you don’t understand, please contact FreshBooks support and we’ll be happy to help.

Congratulations! You’re now ready to begin accepting online payments with FreshBooks.

More guides in this category

• Why would I want to accept credit cards online?
• Who are my options for accepting online payments?