Payments and Checks Settings

Use the Payments page when you decide how and when customers are charged, which bank receives and pays money by default, how ACH risk is handled, and when overdue reminders go out. Payment Terms (under Settings > Purchasing) and the Processing Fee, Check Configuration and Deposit Layout pages are summarized below.

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Open Payments

1. In the deck, open Settings.
2. Under Payments & Checks, choose Payments.

The breadcrumb reads Settings > Payments & Checks > Payments. You can also reach it from the command palette, and from the link to Payments on Settings > Payments & Checks > AR & Invoicing. The other pages in the group are Processing Fee, Card Readers, Check Configuration, Deposit Layout, Payment Method GL Routing, Late Fees, Dunning Levels and AR & Invoicing. Any role that can open Settings (settings.view) can read the page. Saving needs settings.edit, and the server refuses a save from a role without it.

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Payment Terms

Payment Terms define the net terms that can be selected on accounts and orders. A term includes a name, number of days, active status, and whether it is the default.

• Name: the user-facing term name, such as Due on Receipt, Net 15, or Net 30.
• Days: how many days after the invoice or order date the payment is due.
• Default: the term Arcus can use when no account or order-specific term overrides it.
• Active: whether the term appears in account and order dropdowns.
• Import: bulk create or update terms from a CSV file.

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Payments

The Payments page holds entity-wide payment behavior. Every control on it is saved together with the one Save Changes button at the bottom of the page, and nothing takes effect until you save.

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Capture Timing

Card payments decides when a customer’s card is charged:

• Manual (default; collect payment explicitly): no card is charged automatically. Confirming an order places no card hold, and your team collects payment with Collect Payment. An unpaid order that is not on net terms is blocked at pack and ship until payment is collected or net terms are assigned.
• Authorize at confirm, charge at ship: the saved card is authorized when the order is placed, and the final total, including shipping, is captured once at ship. The customer is charged exactly what they owe, with no recharge prompt.
• Charge immediately at order: the card is charged in full the moment the order is confirmed. Shipping added later is not captured against that charge.

Both automatic choices are audited. Net-terms orders are always billed on the invoice and Point of sale / pay now payments always capture at the time of sale; those two fields are shown read-only because only one timing makes sense for each.

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Direct-to-Bank Deposits

Default deposit bank account pre-selects the Deposit to bank on External, Wire and bank-direct ACH payments. Money recorded against a bank posts straight to that bank’s account in your books instead of waiting in Undeposited (clearing). Choose Undeposited (clearing) to keep no default; the person recording a payment can always pick a different bank, or clearing, on the payment itself. If no bank account exists yet, the page says: “No bank accounts configured. Add one on the Bank Reconciliation page first; until then External and Wire payments stage in Undeposited (clearing).”

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Bank deposits

A deposit is often written up one day and taken to the bank days later. Days a bank line may follow its deposit ticket sets how many days after the ticket’s own date a bank line can still be offered as its match in bank reconciliation. A bank line is never offered for a ticket dated after it.

• The window runs from 0 to 30 days. The default is 10 days.
• 0 means the bank line must carry the ticket’s own date.
• A wider window finds deposits that sat in the safe longer, and offers more tickets to choose between.
• If you type a number outside the range, the field corrects it and says: “The window is 0 to 30 days, so 45 was changed to 30.” (the numbers match what you typed).

Reconciliation uses the value you saved. If the stored value is missing or unreadable, the page shows the default of 10 days so it never displays a number the books are not using. See Bank Reconciliation.

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Direct-from-Bank Disbursements

Default disbursement bank account pre-selects the Pay from bank on Wire, Cash and ACH vendor payments, so money paid from a known bank posts straight from that bank’s account. With no default, those payments credit the standard cash account unless the person paying picks a bank. Checks are not affected: they always post to Check Clearing when created and move into the bank only when the check is marked cleared. If no bank account exists yet, the page tells you to add one on the Bank Reconciliation page first.

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Default Payment Term

Default term pre-selects a payment term on new orders. The order of precedence is: a term chosen on the order, then the sales channel’s default, then the customer account’s default, then this entity-level default. The first choice, No default (user chooses per order), leaves it blank. Terms show their length, such as “Net 30 (30 days)” or “Due on Receipt”. If none exist, the page says “No payment terms configured yet” and points you to Settings > Purchasing > Payment Terms.

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Payment Intent Gate

The gate is always on and shows an Always on badge. An order can be fulfilled only when it has payment intent: a recorded payment (full or partial), an authorized card hold, net payment terms, a COD term, or a zero balance. Orders can never ship without payment intent, and that floor cannot be changed. Migrated historical orders are exempt. Require payment intent before chooses the earliest point the gate applies:

• Packing (recommended): staff cannot even stage an order into boxes until it has payment intent. Unpaid orders never appear as packed or reach the pack queue.
• Shipping only: staff may stage any order into boxes, and payment intent is enforced only when the shipment is fulfilled. Use it if you pack before you collect payment.

The pack triggers that start packing automatically, Auto-pack on payment and Auto-pack on net-terms confirm, are no longer on this page. They live on Mighty Packing under Pack automation.

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Dispute Freeze

Freeze fulfillment on open chargeback is on by default. While an order has an open chargeback or marketplace dispute, it cannot be packed or shipped. A won dispute unfreezes the order automatically.

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ACH Hold Until Cleared

Hold ACH orders until cleared is on by default. An order paid by ACH moves to Awaiting ACH clearance and cannot be packed or shipped until Stripe confirms settlement. When it clears, auto-pack runs again if Auto-pack on payment is on in Mighty Packing. With the hold on, ACH clearance window appears. It is used only when Stripe does not report an expected availability date for the debit. Choose 2 business days (T+2, faster settlement), 3, 4 (standard, the default), 5, or 7 business days (conservative).

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Terms Overdue Reminder

Enable overdue reminders is off by default. When on, a daily sweep emails the customer account as a net-terms invoice passes its due date, with escalating friendly, firm and final reminders. The Per-bucket dedup window (days) field appears once it is on: it sets how long to wait before sending another reminder of the same level. The default is 7 days. Levels themselves are set on Dunning Levels.

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Separation of Duties

Require a second person to refund or void payments is off by default. When on, the person who recorded a payment cannot also refund or void it. It only takes effect when at least two people on your team hold the Refund / Void payments permission; with only one qualified person, the action is allowed and recorded in the audit trail. An organization owner can always complete the action, and owner overrides are audit-logged.

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Customer Deposits

Recognize customer prepayments as Deposits liability is off by default. When on, a payment captured on an order that is not yet fulfilled posts to cash and to a Customer Deposits liability account instead of creating negative receivables. At fulfillment the deposit is drawn down per package against the customer’s receivable. Orders already paid are not re-journaled. Turn it on only after talking to your accountant.

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Save Changes

Click Save Changes. The page confirms “Payment settings saved”. If the save fails, you see “Failed to save:” followed by the reason the server gives, and nothing is saved even if a saved message also appears; on success you see “Saved” and “Payment settings saved”. Every save writes an audit trail entry that records which settings changed and their before and after values, and other administrators with Settings open see the new values refresh without reloading.

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Processing Fee

Processing Fee settings let the entity add a credit card fee to eligible payments. The fee is only for credit cards and does not apply to debit cards, prepaid cards, ACH, cash, or checks.

• Enable fee: turns credit card processing fee behavior on or off.
• Fee percentage: the configured rate, limited by the settings page.
• Fee label: the customer-facing label shown for the charge.
• Applies to: whether the fee applies only to sales orders or to all credit card payment surfaces.

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Check Configuration

Check Configuration controls the AP check layout used when printing vendor checks. It includes check stock type, bank information, memo defaults, signature settings, stock presets, alignment, numbering, font settings, and printed elements.

• Check Stock Type: choose pre-printed stock when the paper already contains MICR, borders, labels, and company information.
• Bank Information: stores bank name, address, routing number, and only the account last four digits.
• Check Printing Defaults: sets format, memo text, and stub style for outgoing AP checks.
• Authorized Signature: optionally uploads a signature image and signature name or title.
• Print Alignment: adjusts stock preset, global offsets, and per-field positions.
• Check Numbering: sets the check number prefix and the next starting number.
• Element Visibility: controls whether check number, company info, bank info, MICR, borders, labels, void warning, and detach lines print.

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Deposit Layout

Deposit Layout controls deposit slip printing per bank account. It is used when the team prepares bank deposits and needs printed slip fields to align with either blank or pre-printed deposit slip stock.

• Bank account picker: selects the bank account whose deposit layout is being edited.
• Slip Stock Type: choose blank slip stock or pre-printed slip stock.
• Global Alignment: shifts all fields horizontally or vertically to compensate for printer drift.
• Per-field positions: fine-tunes each printed field using inches from the top-left of the slip area.
• Printed Elements: decides whether bank info, borders, boxes, and field labels print.
• Print alignment test: prints a calibration page before using real deposit stock.

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Recommended Setup Order

1. Create or clean up Payment Terms.
2. Choose the default payment term and Payment Intent Gate behavior on Payments.
3. Confirm ACH hold and chargeback freeze behavior.
4. Decide whether processing fees are allowed and enabled.
5. Configure check stock, bank information, numbering, and signature settings.
6. Print a check alignment test and adjust offsets before printing real checks.
7. Configure deposit slip layout for each bank account that needs printed deposits.
8. Run a test order payment, test vendor bill payment, and test deposit workflow.

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What to Test After Changes

• Sales order payment: record a card, ACH, terms, or manual payment and confirm status behavior.
• Payment Intent Gate: with Packing, confirm an order without payment intent cannot stage a package or box through automation or manual packing. With Shipping only, confirm a person can stage boxes manually before payment intent but cannot ship the order until payment intent exists.
• Bank deposits window: after changing the window, open Bank Reconciliation and confirm a deposit ticket is offered for a bank line dated within the window.
• ACH hold: confirm ACH orders show the expected hold behavior before fulfillment.
• Processing fee: test a credit card payment and confirm the fee label and amount are clear.
• AP check: print an alignment test and preview a vendor check before using live stock.
• Deposit slip: print a calibration page for each bank account and compare it to the physical slip.

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Common Blocks

• Payment term is missing: confirm the term is active.
• Packing automation did not start: check the pack triggers in Mighty Packing, then check payment status, terms status, ACH hold, dispute status, and the Payment Intent Gate.
• A deposit ticket is not offered for a bank line: the bank line may be dated before the ticket or more days after it than the Days a bank line may follow its deposit ticket window allows. Widen the window on Payments, up to 30 days.
• ACH order is stuck: confirm the clearance window and whether Stripe has reported settlement.
• Processing fee is not added: confirm the payment method is a credit card and the fee is enabled for that payment surface.
• Check prints in the wrong place: use the alignment test, stock preset, global offset, and per-field position controls.
• Check number is wrong: stop printing and reset the next number before using additional check stock.
• Deposit slip does not line up: confirm the selected bank account, stock type, global offset, and field positions.

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