Once Tips is set up and Allow Tips is on for a customer, that customer sees a gratuity block when they pay. This article shows what appears on each screen, what happens at the cap, and how bank payments and digital wallets behave. The block is labelled with your Gratuity item name, which defaults to Gratuity.
Where the gratuity block appears
| Screen | Card | Bank (ACH) | Apple Pay | PayPal, Venmo, Pay Later |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay panel on the Customer Portal home page (one or more invoices) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Invoice payment page | Yes | Yes | Not offered | No |
| Invoice payment link | Yes | Yes | Not offered | No |
| Statement payment page and statement payment link | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Auto-Pay charges and payment plan installments | Never | Never | Never | Never |
On the Pay panel the block appears once the customer has selected at least one invoice. When several invoices are paid together, the customer adds one tip to the whole payment.
The gratuity block
- Up to three preset buttons. Percentage presets show the percentage only, for example 15%; the dollar amount appears in the Total. Fixed presets show the amount, for example $5.00.
- Nothing is pre-selected. Tapping a preset adds it; tapping the same preset again removes it.
- Enter a custom amount opens a dollar field and hides the presets. Choose a preset amount brings the presets back and clears the tip. The link is not shown if you turned Allow Custom Amount off.
- The Total updates as the customer chooses, so they always see what their card or bank account will be charged.
Percentages are calculated on the payment amount
When you set a cap
- Presets that would exceed the cap are simply not shown. If none fit, the custom field opens directly (or, with custom amounts off, no gratuity block appears).
- A typed amount above the cap is rejected with "Tip cannot exceed $X.XX" and the payment does not go through until the customer lowers the tip. Biller Genie never silently reduces a tip.
Bank payments
Customers can tip on bank payments exactly as on card payments. The tip is charged with the payment, but because bank payments take a few days to settle, the tip is recorded in your accounting software when the payment settles. Until then the transaction shows: "A tip receipt for $X.XX will be created once this bank payment settles." If the bank payment never settles, no tip is recorded.
Apple Pay and PayPal
A customer paying with Apple Pay from the Pay panel on their home page can add a tip; the tip shows on the Apple Pay sheet under your label. Apple Pay on a statement checkout, and PayPal, Venmo and Pay Later, offer no tip entry today.
Tipping while enrolling in Auto-Pay
If a customer adds a tip and ticks Auto-Pay on the same payment, they see: "Your Gratuity applies to today's payment only. Future automatic payments will not include one." Auto-Pay charges never carry a tip.
Receipts and history
- The on-screen receipt lists the tip as its own row under your label, in the order Subtotal, Technology Fee, Gratuity, Total. See Receipts in Biller Genie.
- In their Customer Portal transaction history, a customer with a QuickBooks-synced invoice can click View Tip Receipt to open the tip's Sales Receipt.
- Receipts keep the label they were issued with. Renaming your Gratuity item later does not change old receipts.
What customers cannot do
- Tip on an Auto-Pay charge or a payment plan installment.
- Tip through PayPal, Venmo or Pay Later.
- Tip an invoice they have already paid. Tips are added at the moment of payment.
- Pay a tip separately from the invoice. The tip is always part of one payment.
Related articles
- Tips at a Glance
- Setting Up Tips
- How Tips Sync to QuickBooks and How Refunds Work
- What Your Customer Sees: The Dual Pricing Checkout Experience
- What Your Customer Sees: The Surcharging Checkout Experience
- Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Digital Wallets in Biller Genie
- PayPal Overview
- Receipts in Biller Genie: Customer and Merchant Copy