Auto-Charge
Auto-Charge helps your office collect customer invoice payments automatically when customers have a saved card on file. It reduces manual follow-up for routine card payments while keeping retry attempts visible for billing review.
Use it for accounts that already collect payments through ToolbagCRM's Stripe connection and want a controlled retry workflow for invoices that come due.
When to use this
Use Auto-Charge when your team needs to:
- Charge saved customer cards automatically instead of manually collecting every recurring or overdue invoice payment.
- Retry soft card declines on a predictable schedule.
- Stop hard declines quickly so the office can contact the customer.
- Review a history of charge attempts, outcomes, errors, and processor references.
- Keep customer payment follow-up in the same billing workspace as invoices and Stripe payments.
Before you start
- Confirm online payments are set up and your Stripe account is connected in Settings → Integrations → Stripe.
- Make sure your customer has an approved saved card before relying on automatic collection.
- Decide which invoices are appropriate for automatic card collection and which should stay manual.
- Confirm who on your team can change payment settings or follow up on declined payments.
- Tell customers how saved-card charging works before enabling it for their account or invoice workflow.
Turn on Auto-Charge
- Open Settings → Integrations → Stripe.
- Confirm Stripe is connected and charges are enabled.
- Find the Auto-Charge card in the Stripe settings area.
- Review the retry notes on the card so your billing team understands what happens after soft and hard declines.
- Switch Auto-Charge on.
- Review invoices that have saved-card payment details and confirm they are safe to collect automatically.
The Auto-Charge card appears with Stripe payment settings because it controls how your business charges its customers. It is separate from the ToolbagCRM subscription billing page.
Settings
Auto-Charge has one billing setting today: the account-wide Auto-Charge toggle. The setting is saved from the Stripe payment settings area and applies to eligible customer invoices that use saved-card billing.
When the card is loading or saving, the switch is temporarily disabled so administrators do not accidentally send duplicate changes. Leave the toggle off for accounts that still need manual approval before charging saved cards.
How retries work
Auto-Charge is designed around two billing outcomes:
- Soft decline: ToolbagCRM can retry once per day for up to seven days. Use this for temporary card problems, bank holds, or network issues.
- Hard decline: ToolbagCRM stops retrying and flags the invoice for manual follow-up. Use the attempt history and customer notes to decide whether to request a new card, take another payment method, or pause service.
Each attempt records the invoice, attempt number, attempted time, amount, outcome, error details when available, and the processor charge reference when a charge is created.
Review charge attempts
Use the invoice's payment or billing history to check whether Auto-Charge has already tried to collect an invoice. When following up with a customer, look for:
- The most recent attempt date.
- Whether the outcome was successful, a soft decline, or a hard decline.
- Any error message from the payment processor.
- Whether another teammate already handled the invoice manually.
If an invoice was paid through another method, refresh the invoice before retrying so your office does not duplicate collection work.
Tips
- Start with a small group of customers who already expect saved-card billing.
- Keep customer communication clear: automatic charging should never surprise the customer.
- Review declined attempts daily so retries do not replace real follow-up.
- Use hard-decline follow-up as a billing task for the office, not a technician responsibility.
- Keep Stripe connection status healthy before relying on Auto-Charge for routine cash collection.
Troubleshooting
I do not see the Auto-Charge card
Open Settings → Integrations → Stripe and confirm Stripe is connected. The Auto-Charge controls only appear in the Stripe payment area after the account is ready to collect customer payments.
A customer's card keeps failing
Check the attempt history. If the failure is a hard decline, contact the customer for a new card or another payment method instead of waiting for more retries.
I do not want an invoice charged automatically
Keep that invoice or customer on your manual collection process until the billing details are corrected. Use notes so the office team knows why it should not be charged automatically.
A customer says they did not expect the charge
Review the invoice, saved-card agreement, and attempt history before taking action. If your team needs to reverse or adjust a payment, use the normal Stripe/payment workflow rather than deleting the invoice history.