How your clients can close bigger deals without waiting for payment

The prospect accepted the proposal and agreed to the project details. Your client sent the invoice and waited. A few days later, the prospect replied, "This is a little more than we were expecting right now. Any chance we could break it up?" The project seemed set, but paying $8,500 at once was too much for the prospect.

Your client did what a lot of service businesses do and offered a discount. They gave 15% off, payable in two installments. The customer accepted the new price, but your client was not happy with the lower margins.

As an accounting pro advising clients on AR strategy, this is a pattern to watch. Every time an invoice is more than a customer can easily pay at once, your clients could face cash flow problems.

Instead of offering discounts to close deals, your clients can use the QuickBooks Payments Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) option to help protect their margins without making sacrifices.

How the Affirm integration works

When your client enables BNPL in QuickBooks Payments, their customers see an installment payment option on the invoice. Customers apply through Affirm’s usual process, which is handled between them and Affirm. If approved, your client receives payment upfront through QuickBooks Online. 

After that, repayment is handled only between Affirm and the customer. If the customer misses a payment, Affirm takes care of it. Your client’s receivable is settled as soon as the transaction clears.

For your client, QuickBooks records the payment just like any other completed payments. There is no installment schedule to track, no partial payments to reconcile, and no unapplied payments left in accounts receivable.

What is your client paying for when they offer BNPL?

Your client may think installments work like a payment plan, where payments are made in parts and collections need to be tracked, but Buy Now, Pay Later works differently.

With this feature, clients pay a transaction fee to eliminate two problems: credit risk and the hassle of collecting payments. In return, they have no follow-up tasks and receive the payment right away, minus a transaction fee.

If your clients already accept credit cards, PayPal, or Venmo, they’re likely already paying a 2.99% transaction fee. Affirm’s BNPL fee is the same, so for these clients, offering BNPL costs nothing extra, while giving customers a flexible way to pay. Instead of discounting to close a deal, your clients can hold their price and let BNPL handle the rest.  As an advisor, you can help your clients see that BNPL isn’t an added cost, but a way to protect their margins and give customers more flexibility.

How to advise clients on pricing and service packaging with BNPL

BNPL is more than a payment collection tool. It also raises the limit on what your clients can sell at full price.

Think about your service-based clients that often handle large invoices. Many offer discounts or break projects into smaller parts to make invoices easier for customers. Sometimes, they even lose contracts to competitors with more flexible payment terms. This is where BNPL makes a difference. 

Identifying the right deals is important. Your client should not offer BNPL to every customer by default. The best situations are high-ticket projects where the fee is worth the margin protection, new client work where upfront payment is a barrier, and upsell opportunities where a customer wants a premium package, but is unsure about the price.

Reframing the pricing conversation. Instead of discounting to close a deal, your clients can keep their rate and offer flexible payment options. Saying, "We can't move on price, but we can make the payment schedule work for you," is a different approach than giving a 15% discount that cuts into their margins.

Packaging services for higher ticket values. Some clients will find that BNPL lets them bundle services they were hesitant to offer as a package. For example, a marketing agency that usually sells single deliverables might now offer a six-month retainer as a BNPL-eligible package. The higher price is less intimidating because BNPL splits it into more manageable payments. Instead of waiting on a customer who’s hesitant to commit to a large invoice upfront, your client receives payment now, while the customer pays on their own schedule.

BNPL has many benefits, but it is not right for every situation. For smaller transactions, the fee may not be worth it. Also, some customers may not qualify with Affirm, so you still need to offer standard payment options for those cases.

FAQs for QuickBooks Payments

Does my client carry any credit risk if a customer uses BNPL?

No. Affirm assumes all credit and repayment risk. If the customer misses a payment or defaults, that's between the customer and Affirm. Your client receives the invoice amount, minus a transaction fee, , and everything is settled at the time of the transaction.

Does the BNPL option appear on every invoice automatically?

No. Your client decides which payment options appear on their invoices through their QuickBooks Payments settings. They can also choose to turn Affirm on or off for each invoice. Check out the Affirm payments guide for step-by-step instructions.

What happens if a customer applies for BNPL and Affirm denies their application?

In this case, the customer will see other standard payment options on an invoice. The customer can still pay by card, ACH, or another available method. 

Does BNPL affect how revenue is recognized in my client's books?

No. The payment records when Affirm pays your client, minus a transaction fee. The invoice closes at the time of payment, just like it does for other payment types like credit card or ACH. 

Is BNPL appropriate for all service-based businesses?

It’s best for certain situations. The invoice values need to be high enough to justify the transaction fee. BNPL is also more relevant for new client work, since your clients are likely already managing existing invoices with other payment methods. 

How does BNPL affect your reconciliation workflow?

Your reconciliation workflow does not change much with BNPL—and that’s the point. 

A BNPL transaction is recorded just like any paid invoice in QuickBooks. The invoice closes, the payment posts, and the bank deposit matches automatically. There is no separate Affirm integration to manage and no manual mapping needed.

When you close the books at month-end, a paid invoice from BNPL looks the same as one paid by card. The revenue is recorded, the invoice is closed, and reconciliation is complete. This is built into how Payments works in QuickBooks Online. It is not a workaround; it is the standard workflow.

This setup is important for clients with a lot of transactions. If a service business handles 20 or 30 BNPL-eligible projects each month, not having a separate reconciliation process for each one saves real time for both you and your clients.