Request a card from the restaurant
The supplier clicks Request card on file and Clipp emails the restaurant a link. The restaurant opens it, types their card into a Stripe page, and agrees that the supplier may charge it for their invoices. The card is then on file for every invoice between that supplier and that restaurant.
Who uses it
- Supplier staff with full invoice access send, and resend, the request from any invoice for the restaurant.
- The restaurant's contacts receive the email and save the card. They don't need to sign in to Clipp.
How it works
1. The supplier sends the request
In the invoice's Manage Payments panel, the Card on file box shows, when the restaurant has no card on file and nothing is waiting:
- Request card on file (outlined button). While it sends, it reads Sending....
- Enter card yourself (see Enter a card yourself).
- The note "Only enter a card when you have the restaurant’s signed card authorization form."
Clicking Request card on file creates a new link, cancels any earlier link for this restaurant, and emails the new one.
The button only appears while the restaurant has no card on file. Once a card is on file, the same request is sent from Request new card, which appears only inside a decline message (Failed charges).
2. The box shows it's waiting
Straight after sending, the box shows one of two messages, each followed by a Resend link:
| What happened | Message |
|---|---|
| The email went out | "Waiting for the restaurant to save a card. Request sent to {emails} on {date}." |
| No email could go out | "We couldn’t email the restaurant. Make sure they have a contact with an email address, then resend." |
Below it, Enter card yourself and the authorization note stay available, so the supplier doesn't have to wait.
- It's per restaurant, not per invoice. Open a different invoice for the same restaurant and it shows the same waiting message. An invoice for a different restaurant still offers Request card on file.
- It survives a reload for as long as the link is live (14 days, or until it's used or replaced).
- Resend cancels the old link and sends a fresh one, with a fresh 14 days. It's disabled while sending.
- If the request fails, the error appears in a red box above the buttons.
- If the app can't check whether a request is already waiting, it shows that error instead of offering Request card on file, because a new request would cancel a link the restaurant might be about to use.
3. The restaurant gets the email
| Part | Content |
|---|---|
| Subject | {Supplier} would like a card on file for your invoices |
| Greeting | Hi {Restaurant}, (the name on the invoice) |
| Heading | {Supplier} would like a card on file for your invoices |
| Body | {Supplier} would like to charge your Clipp invoices to a saved card, so you don't have to pay each one separately. Your card details go straight to Stripe, our payment processor. Neither Clipp nor {Supplier} sees or stores them. |
| Button | Save my card |
| Small print | This link works until {date, e.g. Oct 29, 2026}. If it expires, ask {Supplier} to send a new one. |
| Sign-off | Thanks, The Clipp team |
Who receives it, de-duplicated: the restaurant's staff who can see orders (full or read-only order access), the restaurant's own business email, and the contacts the supplier keeps for that customer (primary contact, additional contacts and older "additional emails"). Anyone without an email address is skipped. There's no SMS or push for a card request.
4. The restaurant saves the card
- The link opens a Clipp page with a spinner, which sends them straight to a Stripe page for saving a card. Only cards are offered, not bank accounts.
- Next to the save button, Stripe shows the consent text (see below).
- They enter the card and save.
- They land back on Clipp: Your card is saved — "{Supplier} can now charge it for your invoices."
If they leave the Stripe page with its back link, they return to the save-card link, which opens a fresh Stripe page.
Back in the supplier's tab, the box picks the card up when the supplier switches back to the tab, or clicks the Refresh icon next to "Card on file". No page reload is needed.
When the link can't be used
The page reads This link can’t be used, with one of these lines:
| Situation | Message |
|---|---|
| More than 14 days since it was sent | This link has expired. Ask your supplier to send a new one. |
| The supplier resent the request since | This link was replaced by a newer one. Use the latest email from your supplier. |
| A card was already saved and confirmed with this link | A card was already saved with this link. |
| The link is mistyped or never existed | This link doesn’t work. Ask your supplier to send a new one. |
| Anything else (for example the supplier's Stripe isn't connected, or the restaurant isn't connected to the supplier) | Something went wrong. Please try again. |
If the return page can't confirm the save, it reads We couldn’t confirm your card — "Something went wrong. Please try again." That doesn't always mean no card was saved. If the supplier resent the request, or the link expired, while the restaurant was on Stripe's page, Stripe still saves the card and it is on file; only the confirmation is refused. The supplier sees it in the box after a refresh.
The consent the restaurant agrees to
Stripe shows this beside the save button. The fee sentence appears only when the restaurant pays the card fee:
By saving this card you authorize {Supplier} to charge it for invoices issued to your business through Clipp. Amounts vary per invoice. Each charge adds a card processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30. You can revoke this authorization at any time by contacting {Supplier}.
If the supplier's name is missing, it reads "your supplier". Stripe keeps the exact text with the saved card, marked as saved "through the restaurant's link", as the supplier's evidence if a charge is ever disputed.
Timings and limits
| What | Value |
|---|---|
| How long a link works | 14 days from when it was sent. The email prints the end date. |
| Live links per supplier and restaurant | One. Each request or Resend cancels the previous link. |
| Uses per link | Until a save is confirmed on the "Your card is saved" page. After that the link reads "A card was already saved with this link." A restaurant who saved a card but closed Stripe's tab before the return page can open the link again and save another card; the newer one wins. |
| When the supplier sees the card | When they return to the tab or click Refresh. |
What changes when you request a card
Example: Smoove Ice Cream requests a card from Corner Bistro on Oct 15, and resends on Oct 20.
| Thing | Before (Oct 15) | After Request (Oct 15) | After Resend (Oct 20) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live link | none | Link A, works until Oct 29 | Link B, works until Nov 3. Link A reads "replaced by a newer one". |
| — | Email with link A | Email with link B | |
| Card on file box (any Corner Bistro invoice) | Request card on file | Waiting… sent Oct 15 | Waiting… sent Oct 20 |
| Money, invoice status, books, stock | — | No change | No change |
| Supplier's Stripe account | — | No change | No change |
When Corner Bistro opens link B, Clipp creates a customer for them in Smoove's Stripe account if there isn't one yet. When they save, the card is on file and the box switches to the card and Charge. Nothing is charged until the supplier charges an invoice.
When the email doesn't go out
The request is still created, and the box shows "We couldn’t email the restaurant…". That happens when:
- nobody on the recipient list has an email address, or
- the email couldn't be handed to the email service, or
- Clipp has muted email for this supplier. In that case, if a link is already live, Clipp keeps it rather than cancelling it (a new link could never be delivered), and sends nothing. The box shows "We couldn’t email the restaurant…" right after the click, then the original "Waiting… sent to …" message after a refresh.
Decisions
- The request belongs to the restaurant, not the invoice. The card serves every invoice, so a request from any invoice counts as the one waiting. (#2421)
- Resend cancels the old link; only one link is live. An old email can't be used after a newer one went out. (#2397)
- Links last 14 days. Long enough for a restaurant to get round to it, short enough that a forwarded email goes stale. (#2397)
- A muted supplier's request keeps the live link. Rotating would strand the restaurant on a link nobody can receive. (#2452)
- The waiting message never claims an email went out when it didn't. (#2397, #2421)
Known limitations
- No card-request reminders. If the restaurant ignores the email, nothing chases them. The supplier resends by hand.
- A restaurant with no customer link to the supplier hits "Something went wrong." when they open the link, because Clipp can't create their Stripe customer. The lookup doesn't check the link's invitation status or whether it was deleted, so in practice this only happens when no link exists at all. (#2404 lists the not-yet-accepted invitation case as a follow-up; whether such a restaurant has a link is unverified.)
- The supplier isn't told when the card is saved. They see it the next time they look.
- Muted-email wording. When Clipp has muted the supplier's email, the box says the restaurant has no email contact, which isn't the reason.
- The email's end date is formatted on the server, so it could be a day off for restaurants far from the server's time zone (verify the server time zone).
FAQ
I clicked Request card on file on one invoice. Why does another invoice for the same restaurant say it's waiting? The request covers the restaurant, not one invoice. The card they save will be usable on all their invoices with you.
The restaurant says the link doesn't work. Check the message on their screen against When the link can't be used. Usually it's expired (14 days) or you've resent since, which cancels older links. Click Resend and ask them to use the newest email.
It says "We couldn't email the restaurant". What now? Add an email address to the customer's contacts (or ask the restaurant to add one to their account), then click Resend. Or, if you hold their signed card authorization form, use Enter card yourself.
The restaurant saved their card but I don't see it. Click the Refresh icon in the Card on file box, or switch away from the tab and back.
The restaurant says the page read "We couldn’t confirm your card". Did it work? Check the box: if the card shows, it worked. This happens when the link was replaced or expired while they were on Stripe's page; the card is saved anyway.
There's already a card on file. How do I ask the restaurant for a different one? The Request card on file button is hidden while a card is on file. It comes back as Request new card after a decline. See Replacing a card.
Can the restaurant see or change the card in Clipp afterwards? No. There's no card screen for restaurants. See Which card is on file.