Collect bank transfers in chat

On a workspace with Paystack connected, a pay link can open straight onto a bank account instead of a card form. The client copies the account number into their banking app, sends the exact amount, and Paystack watches for it: when the transfer lands, Paystack tells DMLY and the invoice settles on its own, exactly as a card payment would. Paystack calls this Pay with Transfer, and it is available in Nigeria and Ghana only. This page covers the transfer route. The general rules (how a pay link is minted, what each payment status means, what a missed webhook looks like) are the same for every gateway and live in Connect a payment gateway. If you would rather clients pay into your own bank account and confirm each transfer yourself, skip to Use your own bank account instead.

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Turn it on

Two of the three steps happen in the Paystack dashboard, because Paystack decides which payment methods its checkout offers. DMLY only decides which of those a given link is allowed to use.

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What the client sees

On WhatsApp the step sends your Message (or, if you leave it blank, a short line offering a secure link to pay the amount by bank transfer) with a Pay by transfer button; rename it under Button text if you like. Tapping the button opens a Paystack page that already shows the bank name, the account number and the amount, each with a copy button. The client switches to their banking app, pastes the details, sends the money and comes back. The page confirms the payment within seconds of the transfer landing, and the invoice in DMLY flips to Paid at the same moment. Under Finance → Payments the payment shows its method as Bank transfer. Three things about that account matter, and they are worth telling a client who has not paid this way before:

• It exists for this one payment. Paystack issues a fresh account number per transaction. A client who saves it and sends a later bill to the same number is paying an account that no longer exists, and that money is refunded to them.
• It expires 30 minutes after the page is opened. The clock starts when the client opens the link, not when you send it, so the link can sit in the thread until they are ready. A transfer that arrives after the window is refunded, and the client needs a fresh link; for an invoice, share its pay link again and it is re-minted for whatever is still owed.
• The amount must match exactly. Paystack accepts the amount on the page and nothing else.

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Wrong amount, late or duplicate

Paystack accepts a transfer only when it matches the amount on the page exactly and arrives before the account expires. Anything else (short, over, late, or a second transfer to an account that has already been paid) is refunded to the sender automatically, within 24 hours. The client learns this on the page itself: a message that the amount was wrong and a refund is on its way, and a Retry button that lets them try again on the same page. Nothing changes in DMLY when that happens. The payment stays Pending, the invoice stays unpaid until an exact transfer lands, and no partial amount is recorded, so there is nothing for you to reconcile or refund. If the client insists they paid, the money is on its way back to them; it is not sitting with you or with Paystack. Paystack does tell us, and the refusal is written to Reports → Logs as Payment transfer rejected, with the reason Paystack gave (usually an incorrect amount) and the payment it belongs to. That is where to look when a client says they sent the money and nothing settled.

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Use your own bank account instead

Not every business can take Paystack transfers. Your Paystack account may still be under review, you may be outside Nigeria and Ghana, or you may simply want the money landing straight in your own account. For that, DMLY sends your bank details in the chat and lets you confirm each transfer yourself. This is the manual route: nothing confirms the money except you.

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Let the client choose

Once you have both a gateway connected and your own bank account saved, a step can put the choice to the client rather than you deciding for everyone. Set Payment method to Let the customer choose. The client gets a short message — How would you like to pay NGN 25,000.00? — with Card and Bank transfer buttons. Tapping Card mints the usual gateway link. Tapping Bank transfer sends your own account details with the I’ve paid button, exactly as the manual route does, and you confirm it the same way. Typing card or transfer works too, for channels with no buttons. The step works this out when it runs, per client, so it keeps doing the right thing as your setup changes: If the client’s 24-hour WhatsApp window is closed, no question is asked. The step goes straight to the transfer option: your saved bank account, or the gateway’s in-chat account number where that applies. Those clients are not offered card.

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Reaching a client who has not messaged you

WhatsApp only lets a business send its own words for 24 hours after the client’s last message. Outside that window nothing but an approved template is delivered — and a deposit request usually falls outside it, because the booking came from your public booking page and the client has never messaged you. Two templates cover this, and DMLY sends them for you when the window is shut: Find both under WhatsApp → Templates. New workspaces are given them; on an existing workspace, install each one from that page and wait for Meta to approve it. Until then a payment request outside the window is simply not delivered, which is what happened before these existed.

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When something looks wrong

The link opens a card form instead of the account details

Three causes. Either Bank Transfer is not ticked under Settings → Preferences → Accept payments via in the Paystack dashboard, or the link was not minted on Paystack at all: Bank transfer only is a Paystack and Monnify feature, so a step whose Gateway resolves to Stripe, PayPal or another provider mints that provider’s ordinary checkout. Check the step’s Gateway and the default gateway under Finance → Settings → Gateways.With the box unticked, Paystack either ignores the restriction and offers card, or refuses to mint the link. In the second case the Paystack tile under Configurations → Integrations shows the error Paystack returned, and the flow leaves the step through its FAILED output, so wire that output to a human rather than leaving the client at a dead end.The third cause: on a Send Payment Link step in invoice mode, Bank transfer only is dropped in two cases. With tips on, the link opens DMLY’s tip page, which then mints an unrestricted checkout. And if the invoice already has an open link (for example one made from Payment link & QR), that link is reused as it is. Amount mode and Request Payment are not affected.

The client says they paid but nothing arrived

Three things to check, in order. Did they pay within 30 minutes of opening the page? A later transfer is refunded. Did they send the exact amount? Anything else is refunded, and the page told them so with a Retry button. Then look under Transactions in the Paystack dashboard: a successful transfer appears there within seconds, and if it is there but not in DMLY you have a webhook problem, covered in What a failed webhook means.Whatever the cause, don’t record the payment by hand while you wait. If the transfer did succeed, the webhook will record it, and the client would then show as having paid twice.

The account is named PAYSTACK CHECKOUT, not after us

That is the name Paystack puts on every checkout account until you have an approved Trading Name. Request one under Settings → Preferences → Virtual Accounts in the Paystack dashboard. Nothing in DMLY changes it, and the money reaches your Paystack balance either way; only the name the client sees is affected.

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