Answers for merchants using PaidTerms

PaidTerms lets New Zealand B2B businesses offer instalments on invoices, so customers can pay over time instead of all at once.

It plugs into how you already invoice — through Xero or directly — and handles the instalment scheduling, collection, and reconciliation for you.

Pro is our non-funded product: your customer pays over time and you receive funds as each instalment is collected.

Capital is our funded product: you get paid upfront in full, and PaidTerms takes on the job of collecting the instalments from your customer.

You can apply from the PaidTerms website or book a call with the team. We'll ask a few questions about your business, invoicing volume, and typical order sizes.

Once approved, you'll get access to the merchant app where you can start offering instalments straight away.

No. You keep invoicing the way you already do. PaidTerms sits alongside your existing process — you simply send a PaidTerms payment link or connect your Xero invoices, and the instalment option appears for your customer.

Most merchant applications are reviewed within one to two business days. Some applications need a short follow-up call if we need more detail on your business or trading history.

There's no upfront cost to create a merchant account. PaidTerms charges a fee per transaction — see the Fees & Pricing section below for details.

Yes. Offering an instalment option is entirely up to you on an invoice-by-invoice or customer-by-customer basis — nothing is forced on your existing customer relationships.

Once connected, PaidTerms reads your outstanding Xero invoices and lets you turn any of them into an instalment plan without re-keying anything.

As instalments are paid, PaidTerms automatically reconciles the payments back against the original Xero invoice.

No changes are required to your chart of accounts. PaidTerms reconciles against your existing invoices and payment accounts as they're already set up in Xero.

We recommend finalising invoice edits before putting an invoice on an instalment plan. If an invoice needs to be voided or credited after a plan has started, contact support and we'll help unwind or adjust the plan correctly on both sides.

Yes. You can send PaidTerms payment links or invoices directly to customers without a Xero connection — the integration is an optional convenience layer, not a requirement.

PaidTerms connects to Xero using Xero's official OAuth integration and only requests the permissions needed to read invoices and write payment reconciliations. We don't store your Xero login details.

Purchasing power is the maximum instalment balance a specific customer is approved for at any one time — effectively their available credit limit within PaidTerms.

It determines the largest invoice (or combination of open invoices) that customer can put on an instalment plan.

Limits are set using a combination of the customer's trading history with you, information they provide during approval, and standard credit checks.

New customers typically start with a conservative limit that can grow as a positive repayment history is established.

Yes. The merchant app shows each customer's approved limit and how much of it is currently in use, so you know before you invoice whether an order will fit within their available balance.

You can still send the invoice — the customer can pay any amount upfront to bring the instalment portion within their limit, or you can request a limit review before sending the order.

Yes. You can request a limit increase for any customer from the merchant app. We'll review it against their repayment history and updated information, usually within one to two business days.

Yes. As a customer pays down an active instalment plan, their available purchasing power is freed up again automatically, up to their approved limit.

Yes. If a customer misses payments or their risk profile changes, their limit can be reduced or paused for new instalment plans while existing plans continue to be collected as normal.

A customer's overall credit assessment considers their activity across PaidTerms, but the purchasing power available to use with your business is tracked and managed specifically against your invoices.

Typical plans range from a few weeks up to several months, split into weekly, fortnightly, or monthly instalments. Available options can vary by invoice size and customer approval.

Your customer selects from the instalment options they're eligible for at checkout or when the invoice is issued. You can also set which plan lengths are available for a given invoice.

Repayments are collected automatically from the customer's chosen payment method on each instalment due date — you don't need to chase individual instalments yourself.

Yes, customers can pay out the remaining balance of a plan early at any time with no penalty.

Yes, merchants can set minimum order values for offering instalments, and maximum values are governed by each customer's approved purchasing power.

Yes. You can put the full invoice or just a portion — for example the balance remaining after a deposit — onto an instalment plan.

Dunning is the automated process of following up on a missed or failed instalment payment — reminders, retries, and escalation — so you don't have to chase customers manually.

PaidTerms automatically retries the payment over the following days and notifies the customer directly, prompting them to update their payment method or resolve the issue.

No. Reminders, retries, and follow-up communications are handled automatically by PaidTerms as part of the dunning process, so your team isn't spending time on collections admin.

Failed payments are retried automatically over a structured schedule (typically a few attempts across a week to ten days) before an instalment is marked as overdue and escalated further.

Yes. You'll see the status of every instalment plan in the merchant app, and you're notified when a customer's plan becomes overdue or requires attention.

On Pro, PaidTerms manages the automated dunning process on your behalf, though because payments flow to you as they're collected, persistent non-payment can affect your cash flow until it's resolved.

On Capital, you've already been paid upfront in full, so PaidTerms takes on the collections risk and process for any overdue instalments — it doesn't affect your cash flow.

Accounts that remain unresolved after the automated dunning process move to a further review stage, which may include additional collections steps. Specific terms depend on your merchant agreement and product (Pro vs Capital).

Yes — customers can raise a dispute through support, and PaidTerms will work with you to resolve it, pausing further collection attempts on the disputed amount while it's investigated.

Yes. Repayment history — including any late or failed payments — feeds into a customer's ongoing credit assessment and can affect the purchasing power available to them going forward.

On Capital, you're paid upfront in full once the instalment plan is confirmed and the invoice is approved — typically within one to two business days.

On Pro, you receive each instalment as it's successfully collected from your customer, following the plan's payment schedule.

Every payout is matched against the specific invoice and instalment plan it relates to, and reconciles automatically with your connected Xero account if you're using the integration.

Payouts are made by direct bank transfer to the NZ bank account registered on your merchant profile.

Yes, the merchant app shows a schedule of expected and completed payouts across all your active instalment plans.

PaidTerms charges a transaction fee on each invoice put on an instalment plan. The exact rate depends on whether you're using Pro or Capital and your typical order volume — your account manager will confirm your specific pricing.

Yes. Capital's fee is generally higher than Pro's, reflecting that PaidTerms is funding the invoice upfront and taking on the collections risk.

No monthly platform fee applies to standard merchant accounts — pricing is transaction-based, so you only pay when you use instalments.

The merchant fee is deducted from the invoice value before payout. You can choose whether to absorb this cost or factor it into your pricing — customers are not charged a separate PaidTerms fee for choosing to pay in instalments unless you decide to pass on a surcharge.

Repeated failed payment attempts may incur a small processing fee, in line with your merchant agreement. This is disclosed upfront and not a hidden cost.

Approval is based on a combination of credit checks, the customer's trading history, and information provided during onboarding. The exact criteria are proprietary but designed to keep approval fast for genuine trade customers.

Yes, you can send a customer a direct invitation to set up their PaidTerms profile ahead of their first instalment invoice, which speeds up approval when the invoice is ready.

If a customer isn't approved for instalments, you can still invoice them through your normal process — PaidTerms simply won't be available as a payment option for that invoice until their status changes.

Yes. Because you're paid upfront on Capital, PaidTerms carries the credit and collections risk for that instalment plan.

A light business verification is part of onboarding (to confirm you're a genuine, active NZ business), but this is separate from the credit assessment applied to your customers.

You can reach the team through the support option in the merchant app, or by booking time directly with your account contact.

Yes, you can invite colleagues to your merchant account with access to view and manage instalment plans.

Yes, this can be updated in your merchant profile — for security, changes to payout bank details go through a short verification step.

Contact support to close your account. Any active instalment plans will continue to be collected and paid out as scheduled before the account is closed.