Charge a Customer

There are two ways to charge someone: once, for an amount you choose, or on a plan, every billing period. Either way, the customer gets an invoice and a payment link, and the invoice is marked paid as soon as the payment is confirmed.

In the dashboard

Use Charge a customer on the Overview or the Invoices page, or Charge in a customer's menu on the Customers page:

1. Choose the customer.
2. Choose One-time amount (what it's for, the amount and the currency) or A plan (the plan, a currency it's priced in, and optional trial days).
3. Choose how they pay:
   • Send a payment link: you get a link to copy into WhatsApp, SMS or email, or Email it to the customer from PimaBill.
   • Already paid: for cash, a bank transfer or a payment taken elsewhere. The invoice is recorded as paid, with the method.

With the API

Once

Create an invoice with checkout to get the payment link in the same call:

curl -X POST https://api.pimabill.com/api/invoices \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "customerId": "cus_123",
    "currency": "UGX",
    "items": [{ "description": "Installation", "quantity": 1, "unitAmount": 150000 }],
    "dueDate": "2026-11-02",
    "checkout": { "callbackUrl": "https://shop.example.com/paid" }
  }'

The response is the invoice, plus checkout.checkoutUrl to send the customer. Pass checkout.providerName to use a specific provider; otherwise the highest-priority active one that can take the payment is used. The invoice.paid webhook tells you when it's paid.

Already paid? Create the invoice without checkout, then POST /api/invoices/{id}/mark-paid with { "paymentMethod": "cash" }.

Selling a product from your catalogue, or taking a deposit and the rest later? See One-time products & partial payments.

On a plan

Subscribe the customer:

curl -X POST https://api.pimabill.com/api/subscriptions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "customerId": "cus_123", "planId": "plan_home_20", "currency": "UGX" }'

The first invoice is created within a few seconds (unless there's a trial). Find it with GET /api/invoices?subscriptionId={id}, and get its payment link with POST /api/invoices/{id}/checkout. Renewals are invoiced and emailed automatically every period, and failed payments are retried. See Subscriptions.

Without an invoice

To take a payment that isn't a bill, such as a deposit or a top-up, use a collection: a mobile money PIN prompt or a hosted checkout, recorded in the ledger.