Import clients and saved cards from Stripe

If your clients already have cards saved in another Stripe account, you can bring those customers into Tidyflow instead of asking every client to enter their details again. Stripe copies the customers to the account connected to Tidyflow, and Tidyflow links each one to a client.

Importing never charges anyone.

Before you start

• Turn on online payments in Settings under Billing. See Accept online payments.
• You need to be the account owner, or have billing permission with access to every client.

Copy your customers in Stripe

1. In Tidyflow, go to Settings and open Billing. In the Online payments section, click the ⋯ menu next to Stripe account and choose Import customers
2. Click Copy next to your Stripe account ID
3. In your other Stripe account, use Stripe’s data copy to share your customers with that account ID. See Stripe’s guide to copying customer data
4. Accept the copy in the Stripe account connected to Tidyflow. If your customers have US bank accounts saved, Stripe asks whether you hold their ACH mandates (their authorisation to debit the account). Answer Yes only if you do; otherwise Stripe leaves the bank accounts out of the copy

Stripe copies each customer’s name, email, phone, address and saved payment methods. It does not copy subscriptions, invoices or payment history.

Review and import

Back in Tidyflow, choose Import customers again, then click Scan Stripe customers. You can close the window while the scan runs. Until the import is finished, an Import from Stripe row in the Online payments section shows its progress; when it says Customers ready to review, click Review to continue.

Tidyflow lists every customer it doesn’t already know, sorted into three tabs:

• Ready: customers matched to a client by contact email, and customers with no match that will become new clients
• Needs review: customers that match several clients, share an email with another customer, only match a client by name, or have no name in Stripe
• Skipped: customers with no saved payment method, and customers you skipped before

For each customer, choose Link to client, Create client or Skip. Tick several customers to change them together, or search by name or email. A new client gets a billing contact from the customer’s email, without client portal access. Change a new client’s type between Individual and Organization if the guess is wrong.

Two options apply to the whole import:

• Fill empty address and contact details copies the Stripe address and phone onto clients that have none. It never overwrites details you already have
• Turn on autopay turns on Auto charge invoices for imported clients with a saved card or bank account. You confirm that these clients authorised you to charge their card or bank account

Click Import to apply your choices. Each client’s Billing tab then shows the saved payment method.

Before you switch over

If your other system charges these clients on a schedule, stop it on the day Tidyflow starts invoicing them, so nobody is charged twice.