Setting up instant billing

Finish a job, get paid in the same minute. Here's how to turn it on and what it actually does behind the scenes.

Most lawn businesses spend more time chasing money than they do cutting grass. Instant billing flips that. When a crew marks a job complete, Mowzey auto-generates the invoice and charges the customer's card on file. The money lands in your Stripe balance before you've packed up the trailer. This guide covers what you need to turn it on and how it behaves in the wild.

How instant billing works

The traditional flow is: do the work, mail or email an invoice, wait 15 to 45 days, follow up, eventually get paid. The Mowzey flow is:

  1. Crew taps Complete on the job in the field.
  2. Mowzey generates the invoice using the service line items on the job and the customer's pricing.
  3. Stripe immediately charges the card on file for the service subtotal plus the $3 platform fee (and optional surcharge if you've turned on gross-up).
  4. The customer gets a receipt email. You get a "paid" event in your dashboard.

No invoice mailing, no net-30, no late-payment phone calls. The job is closed out the second it's finished.

What you need before you turn it on

Two things have to be true:

  • Stripe is connected. Instant billing runs on Stripe Connect direct charges, so your account has to be onboarded and verified. See Connecting your Stripe account if you haven't done this yet.
  • The customer has a card on file. No card, no auto-charge. You can collect cards via the self-onboarding invite link, or by typing one in from the customer profile while you're standing next to them. See Collecting cards on file for the full rundown.

Good to know

If a customer doesn't have a card on file when a job is completed, Mowzey still generates the invoice but sends it as a pay-by-link email instead of auto-charging. Nothing breaks. The money just shows up a day or two later instead of in real time.

Turning it on

1
Go to Settings in the left sidebar, then pick Billing.
2
Find the Auto-charge on job completion toggle and switch it on.
3
Pick whether the $3 platform fee is absorbed by you or passed to the customer. Absorb means you eat it (your customer never sees a "$3 platform fee" line). Pass-through means a small surcharge line is added so you net the full service amount. You can change this anytime.
4
Hit Save. From the next job completion onward, billing is automatic.

What the customer sees

The customer gets two emails: a job-complete notification (with photos, if your crew took any) and a Stripe receipt for the charge. The receipt has your business name on it because you're the merchant of record on direct charges. The customer sees you on their bank statement, not Mowzey.

If you've turned on the pass-through surcharge, they'll see a small line item labeled Service fee on the invoice. Most customers don't blink; it's smaller than a tip.

When a card fails

Cards expire, get reissued, get locked for fraud. When a charge fails, Mowzey does three things automatically:

  • Emails the customer a one-tap link to update their card.
  • Retries the charge 24 hours later, then again at 72 hours.
  • Flags the customer with a red badge in your customer list so you can follow up if needed.

Heads up

Failed cards don't pause future jobs. The crew will still show up next week and do the work. If you'd rather pause service for non-payment, set a credit limit on the customer profile and Mowzey will block new jobs once it's hit.