Payment methods decide how a tribe can pay. They are managed in the store settings area, and until you add at least one, nobody can check out.
The four kinds
| Type | What it means | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Credit card | Charged through your payment provider at checkout, and stored for renewals. | Anything that renews. This is the one subscriptions depend on. |
| Bank account | Direct debit through your provider, where supported. | Larger recurring amounts where card fees hurt. |
| Invoice | The order is placed on account and settled later. | Tribes you bill on terms rather than collect from up front. |
| Custom | Anything you handle yourself, with instructions you write. | Payroll deduction, offsetting against a rebate, internal transfers. |
Invoice and custom methods do not collect money
Both let a tribe complete an order without paying at that moment. The order arrives unpaid and sits in Accounts Receivable until you record the payment. That is the intended behaviour, but it means the money is now your job to chase.
The payment message is what the buyer is shown when they pick the method. Use it to say exactly what happens next — where to transfer, what reference to quote, when payment is due. A vague message here becomes a support ticket later.
Subscriptions need a stored method
A renewal is charged automatically, so it needs something to charge. A tribe on a subscription with only an invoice method will generate an unpaid order every cycle, which somebody then has to chase every cycle.
The dashboard tile Will be billed, no card exists for exactly this — it lists tribes due to renew with nothing saved to charge.
Restricting methods per product
A product can limit which methods it accepts. Leave it open unless there is a real reason — a high-value item you will not put on account, or a subscription that should only ever be bought with a card that can be charged again.
Turning one off
Deactivating a method removes it from checkout. Existing subscriptions already charging against a stored card keep working — but if you are retiring a method entirely, move those tribes onto another one first, or their next renewal fails.