Managing Payment Settings and Workflows for Client Orders

Last updated: November 11, 2026

Payment workflows in your booking system can be customized to meet different business needs. This guide covers key payment settings and how to configure them for optimal client experience.

Configuring upfront payment options

While upfront payment settings cannot be configured per individual customer, you can create different booking flows with varying payment requirements:

  • Create a separate booking flow with upfront payment enabled for customers who need to pay before order completion

  • Share the upfront payment booking flow link with specific customers who require this option

  • Keep your original booking flow (without upfront payment) private while selectively sharing the upfront payment flow

Important: Changes to payment settings, such as “Hide preview section until order is paid,” only apply to future orders and are not retroactive. Existing orders will not be affected by these configuration changes.

Payment timing controls

Your booking flow settings determine when clients can make payments during the order process:

  • When configured to allow payments only after order completion, clients cannot submit deposits or make payments until the order is marked as completed

  • If clients receive errors when trying to leave a deposit, verify your booking flow settings to check for payment timing restrictions

  • The “Lock files until paid” setting in your booking flow determines whether deliverables are locked until payment is received. Disable this setting to allow clients to access files before making payment.

  • To allow specific clients, such as brokerage members, to access downloads before payment, create a separate booking flow for those clients and disable the “Lock files until order is paid” feature in that booking flow. This allows you to maintain different payment workflows for different client types without affecting your entire portal.

  • Setting a client’s Billing Cycle to Weekly or Monthly on their individual client profile will automatically unlock files for that client without requiring payment per order. The system sends consolidated invoices on the selected schedule instead of per-order invoicing.

  • To override payment lock requirements for specific trusted clients while keeping the global setting enabled, navigate to Order Details > Delivery and toggle off “Lock until paid” for individual orders.

Important: Changes to payment requirement settings only apply to future orders created after the modification. Existing orders retain the payment settings that were in place when they were created.

Enabling payment on delivery for media

To allow clients to pay for media deliverables, you must enable the "Payment on Delivery" setting in your booking flow configuration:

  • The “Payment on Delivery” setting, also called pay-to-download, is configured at the booking flow level. Without this setting enabled, clients will not see an invoice page or payment button on the deliverables page. You can also enable the payment-before-download option to lock files until payment is received, preventing clients from downloading delivered files before completing payment. If a client’s order has unexpected download restrictions, verify which booking flow was used for that order, as different booking flows may have different download settings configured.

  • Payment on Delivery also depends on the specific order having “Lock files until paid” enabled; if this per-order toggle is off, clients may be able to access files without seeing the pay-before-download option.

  • If a client does not see the option to pay before downloading on an existing order, verify that order’s “Lock files until paid” setting in the order details, as changes to Payment on Delivery settings apply only to future orders and do not retroactively update existing orders.

  • Once enabled, clients can access payment options through their existing deliverables link without needing a new link

  • To manually unlock order deliverables for download without payment, such as when an order comes in through the wrong booking flow, navigate to Order details > Delivery and unlock the order there.

Important: The payment-on-delivery feature only applies to orders created after it is enabled in your booking flow. Orders created before enabling this feature will not have the payment option available to clients and need to be manually fixed to enable payment functionality.

Bulk management workaround: To disable pay-to-download for multiple agents under a brokerage without toggling each individually, create a dedicated booking flow for that brokerage with downloads unlocked by default. Alternatively, manually unlock orders using the Promised Payment status.

Client payment access and accounts

Understanding how client accounts work with payments helps ensure smooth transactions:

  • Clients do not need to be signed in to make a payment on an invoice

  • However, it's recommended that clients sign in if you want the payment recorded in their account transactions

  • When an order status is set to "Unpaid," the payment option becomes visible to clients through the order invoice link

  • Clients can create accounts without booking by visiting your portal login page at https://yourcompany.tonomo.io/login

Automated payment reminders

For "Pay to Unlock" orders, you can set up automated reminders to help ensure timely payments:

  • Automated reminders can be enabled for unpaid orders to send payment reminders to clients who delay payments

  • Only automated intervals can be configured - manual triggering of reminder emails is not currently available

By properly configuring these payment settings, you can create a streamlined payment experience that matches your business workflow while ensuring clients have clear access to payment options when needed.