Payment Providers

Maxio collects electronic payment on your e-Bills through Maxio Payments or through one of several third-party payment providers, each supporting a different set of workflows. This article compares the third-party options and describes the Credit Card Threshold, a Maxio feature that works with any of them.

You can configure at most two payment providers on an account.

Stax

Stax is Maxio's preferred third-party payment provider. It is a PCI-compliant credit card and ACH payment provider designed to protect sensitive customer and credit information. The Maxio and Stax integration lets you accept electronic payment on your Maxio e-Bills, so you can send an e-Bill and your customer can pay it by credit card or ACH. You can automate this with Autopay.

Stax acts only as a payment processor in this integration. It does not pull Stax invoices into Maxio. If you currently manage invoices in Stax, consider moving that invoicing activity into Maxio instead.

For help configuring the integration, see the Stax integration guide.

Stripe

Stripe is a PCI-compliant credit card and ACH payment provider designed to protect sensitive customer and credit information. It can act as both a subscription management engine and a payment processor, so the Maxio and Stripe integration comes in several forms.

Stripe for Payments

Stripe for Payments lets you accept electronic payment on your Maxio e-Bills. You send an e-Bill and your customer pays it by credit card or ACH, and you can automate that with Autopay. Stripe acts only as a payment processor here.

When a customer pays by ACH, Stripe for Payments verifies their bank account with micro-deposits: Stripe sends very small deposits to the account, and the customer confirms the amounts to complete the connection.

For help configuring this integration, see Stripe for Payments.

Stripe + Plaid

Stripe + Plaid works like Stripe for Payments but replaces micro-deposit verification with a faster process. Plaid authenticates your customer's bank account instantly, whoever they bank with, and generates a Stripe bank account token so you can accept their ACH payments. Plaid's secure login module guides the customer to the best way to link their account based on the institution they choose, and handles input validation, error handling, and multi-factor authentication. Once the account is linked, Plaid returns a token that lets you initiate ACH payments straight away. Plaid carries an additional cost.

For help configuring this integration, see Stripe + Plaid.

Stripe 1Way

Stripe 1Way is a separate integration that supports using Stripe as a subscription management engine. You manage recurring subscriptions in Stripe, and Maxio pulls invoice information from Stripe to produce the revenue reporting and analytics Stripe does not provide.

Stripe 1Way can run alongside Stripe for Payments or Stripe + Plaid, but each needs its own Stripe account. Do not connect Stripe for Payments to a Stripe account that is already connected through Stripe 1Way.

For help configuring this integration, see Understand the Stripe 1Way Integration.

Compare payment providers and integrations

Use this table to compare the third-party integrations and their pricing. Provider pricing is outside Maxio's control, changes without notice, and may differ from what appears here depending on your circumstances. Treat the table as a starting point for provider selection and confirm pricing with the provider directly.

ACH limits

Payment processors sometimes cap ACH transactions, which is worth weighing when you choose a provider. Stripe has been known to limit new customers to $2,000 per transaction along with some daily limits. Stax reserves the right to do the same, though its limits are usually in line with the upper bounds you describe during implementation. Verify current limits with the provider.

Currencies

Invoice currency also affects which provider handles a payment. Stax processes USD invoices only, while Stripe and Maxio Payments both handle other currencies.

When more than one provider is enabled, Maxio chooses among them in a fixed order: Maxio Payments first, when it is enabled and supports the invoice's currency, then Stax for USD invoices, then Stripe. For how currency routing works with Maxio Payments, see Set Up Multi-Currency Routing.

Credit Card Threshold

Credit Card Threshold enables or disables your customers' ability to pay an e-Bill by credit card based on the invoice amount. Once you enable it, you set the maximum amount at which credit card payment is allowed: an e-Bill at or below the threshold offers credit card payment, and one above it does not. With a threshold of $1,500, a $1,500 e-Bill can be paid by credit card and a $1,501 e-Bill cannot.

The threshold is part of each provider's own settings, so you configure it while setting up Stax, Stripe, or Maxio Payments. It is available only when credit card payments are enabled for that provider, and turning credit card payments off clears the threshold and its amount.

Important: When you enable the threshold, Maxio asks you to confirm, because any existing invoice currently set to inherit the customer default becomes subject to the threshold immediately.

Credit Card Threshold behavior