Record a Payment
Recording a payment is the core action in BayWise Payments. When a customer pays — whether by cash, card, bank transfer, or cheque — you record it against the vehicle entity so the balance updates instantly across the queue, dashboard, and cashflow views.
Who can do this: Cashiers, Service Advisors, and Finance Managers.
Open the Financial Modal
Find the entity in the Collection Queue
Open the Collection Queue (the default screen at /). Use the urgency filter chips (Overdue, Due Today, Watch) and the search bar to locate the vehicle. You can search by plate number, RO number, customer name, insurer, or invoice reference.
Click the entity card
Click anywhere on the EntityCard to open the Financial Modal. The modal displays the full financial lifecycle for that vehicle.
Navigate to the Collections sub-tab
Inside the Financial Modal, the Vehicle Tab is selected by default. The Collections sub-tab shows all cashflow events grouped by lifecycle stage (estimate, approval, invoice). Each event row represents a payment milestone.
Record against an event row
Find the event row
Scroll to the event you want to record a payment against. Event rows in State A (no transactions recorded yet) display a ”+ Record” button on the right side. This is the entry point for the recording flow.
Click ”+ Record”
Clicking the button reveals the method picker — a horizontal strip of payment method options:
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| Cash | Physical cash payment at the counter. |
| Card | Card payment processed through your configured payment processor (Stripe, PayTabs, etc.). |
| Bank Transfer | Electronic bank transfer (EFT, wire, RTGS). |
| Cheque | Physical cheque received from the customer. |
Select a payment method
Click the method that matches how the customer is paying. The method-specific form appears inline below the event row. Each method has slightly different fields, but the core flow is the same:
- Amount — enter the payment amount. Currency formatting applies automatically based on your location settings. For partial payments, enter the amount received (it does not need to match the full balance).
- Tax computation — if tax is configured for your jurisdiction (Settings > Tax), the tax strip shows the breakdown automatically. Tax is computed on the entered amount based on your configured rates.
- Contact — the customer contact is pre-filled from the entity. If you need a different contact (e.g., a fleet manager paying on behalf), use the inline search to find or quick-create a new contact.
- Method-specific fields — depending on the method:
- Cash: receipt reference (auto-generated or manually entered).
- Card: processed via the configured payment processor — no card details are entered in BayPay.
- Bank Transfer: bank name, transfer reference, credit terms (due date auto-calculated from your configured terms).
- Cheque: cheque number, bank name, cheque date, credit terms.
Confirm the recording
Click the confirmation button to create the transaction. BayPay automatically prevents duplicate entries. On confirmation:
- The transaction is saved to the ledger with a unique receipt reference.
- The entity card balance updates immediately.
- The collection queue totals refresh.
Understand settlement behaviour
Different payment methods settle at different speeds. Settlement status affects how the transaction appears in the queue and when the amount counts toward your day close totals.
| Method | Settlement status | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Cash | Confirmed immediately | The money is in hand. Counts toward today’s cash total for day close reconciliation. |
| Card | Confirmed immediately | From BayPay’s perspective, the charge is confirmed. The processor handles the actual fund transfer to your bank. |
| Bank Transfer | Pending | The transfer has been initiated but funds have not cleared. Moves to confirmed when you mark it as received, or auto-settles based on credit terms. |
| Cheque | Pending | The cheque has been received but not yet deposited/cleared. Moves to confirmed when you mark it as received. |
Cash and card payments settle instantly — the balance updates and the entity moves closer to “Fully Paid” immediately. Bank transfers and cheques enter a pending state governed by credit terms, and the balance reflects the pending amount until settlement is confirmed.
Duplicate detection
BayPay checks for potential duplicates before saving. If a transaction with the same entity, contact, amount, and direction was recorded within the last 5 minutes, a warning appears asking you to confirm that this is intentionally a separate payment and not a double-entry.
You can proceed if it is genuinely a second payment (e.g., a customer paying two invoices back to back), or cancel to avoid the duplicate.
Day-close enforcement
Transactions can only be recorded against the current open day. If yesterday’s day has not been closed:
- The Day Close gate banner appears at the top of the queue.
- The ”+ Record” button is disabled on all entity cards.
- You must close yesterday before recording any new transactions today.
Server-side triggers enforce this rule independently of the UI, so the restriction cannot be bypassed.
If you see the Day Close gate banner, close the pending day first. Go to the queue header and click “Close Day”, or see Close the Day for instructions.
Common questions
Can I record a payment without an entity? Yes. Use the Business tab in the Financial Modal to record ad-hoc inflows (business sales, fleet credit payments) that are not linked to a specific vehicle job.
The ”+ Record” button is missing on the event row. The event row may already have transactions recorded (State B or State C). In State B, the row shows the existing transaction details and you can record additional payments. Check the row’s current state — only State A rows show the ”+ Record” prompt.
I entered the wrong amount. Can I fix it? Financial fields (amount, method) cannot be edited directly after recording. Instead, void the incorrect transaction and record a replacement. See Void a Transaction. Non-financial fields like notes and reference can be edited in place.
Tax is showing but I did not expect it. Tax is computed automatically based on your jurisdiction configuration in Settings > Tax. If tax should not apply to this transaction, review your tax settings or consult your account administrator.
The contact shown is wrong. How do I change it? Use the contact search field in the recording form to find the correct contact. You can search by name, phone, or email. If the contact does not exist yet, the quick-create option lets you add a new contact inline without leaving the recording flow.