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ClientTether Support
Proposals & Work · Feature guide

TetherPay

Take card and ACH payments from customers inside ClientTether — the Stax application, the fees, and where payments show up.

New · Updated Sep 21, 2026 · 4 min read
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1What TetherPay is

TetherPay lets you take payments from your customers inside ClientTether — a deposit on a signed proposal, a balance on an invoice — instead of sending them elsewhere to pay. It runs on a partnership with the payment processor Stax: all sensitive card and bank details are held and managed by Stax, not by ClientTether.

Don’t confuse it with Billing & Self-Pay, which is how you pay ClientTether.

2Applying

TetherPay starts with an application, not a sign-up, and it can be declined:

  • Switch on the payment-collection add-on in Settings → Add-Ons, then open the TetherPay tab.
  • Complete the Stax application through the integration. It includes a soft credit check, which doesn’t affect your credit score.
  • Wait for approval. The three usual reasons for refusal are not finishing the application in the time allowed, inaccurate information on it, and a low credit score.
  • Once approved, the tab holds your API key and Web Payments Token, and payment options appear on proposals and invoices.

3Fees

Every transaction carries a fee, and the amount depends on how the customer pays and which banks are involved. From cheapest to most expensive: ACH (bank transfer), then debit card, then credit card. Accounts can choose which of these to accept, which is how businesses steer larger payments toward ACH.

Offer ACH for the big invoices

On a five-figure job the difference between ACH and a credit card is real money. Many accounts accept cards for deposits and ACH for balances.

4Taking a payment

With TetherPay live, a proposal or invoice can be sent with a payment option attached; payments recorded against it show on the Jobs Board as Payments and reduce the Balance Due. If QuickBooks is connected, those payments follow the invoice into your books — see QuickBooks Online Integration.

Accounts can also use other gateways — TetherPay Gateways and TetherFluidPay appear as their own Settings tabs when enabled.

5Troubleshooting

The application was declined

Stax makes that decision, not ClientTether. Your Success Manager can tell you what the next step is.

Customers can’t see a way to pay

Check the TetherPay tab holds both keys, and that the proposal or invoice was sent with payment enabled.