Payments glossary
Payment link
A payment link is a shareable URL that opens a ready-made checkout for a set amount or product. Merchants send it by chat, email, SMS or on an invoice; the customer taps it and pays on a hosted page - no website or integration required.
How payment links work
The merchant creates a link - in a dashboard or via API - specifying the amount and a reference, say an invoice for R2,499.00, and shares it through whatever channel reaches the customer: a chat message, an email, an SMS, a QR code on a printed quote. Opening the link lands the customer on a hosted checkout carrying the full set of payment methods, and both sides are notified the moment payment completes. Links can be one-time or reusable, can carry expiry dates, and inherit the security of the hosted page - card details never pass through the merchant's hands, so PCI DSS scope stays with the provider.
Where payment links shine
Payment links are checkout for businesses that sell through conversations rather than carts: service providers quoting per job, sellers trading over chat and social channels, anyone collecting deposits or settling invoices. They also rescue sales a website cannot - a customer struggling at checkout can be sent a link directly, and an unpaid invoice becomes a one-tap payment instead of an EFT with a mistyped reference. Because each link carries its own reference, reconciliation is automatic: the payment arrives already matched to the sale that produced it.
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