# Invoice template with online payment Most invoice templates are a document you fill in, export to PDF, and email into the void. This one is different: it's a complete QuizGen JSON definition. POST it (or hand it to an AI assistant) and you get a hosted invoice page at a short link — your client opens it, confirms the charges are right, approves, and pays by card without leaving the page. You get a timestamped approval and the payment in your own Stripe account. Card payment inside the invoice needs the Business plan and a one-time Stripe connection. Everything else here — the itemized invoice, the recorded approval, the paper trail — works on any plan, and there's a payment-link fallback below for plans without native payments. ## How the flow works 1. You (or your AI assistant) fill in the line items and POST the template. 2. Your client gets a short link — `https://quizgen.dev/q/x7km2p`. 3. They review the itemized charges, approve, and pay by card in place. 4. The money lands in your Stripe account. The response records `paid: true` and the `payment_intent` id, so it reconciles cleanly against your Stripe dashboard. 5. You read approvals back via `GET /quizzes/:id/responses`, or get a [webhook](/blog/quiz-response-webhooks) the moment one completes. An invoice, an approval record, and the payment — without asking the client to create an account or open an attachment. ## The template Replace the line items and amounts before posting. `amount_cents` is the total in cents, so $3,300.00 is `330000`: ```json { "schema_version": 1, "kind": "form", "title": "Invoice #2026-014 — Acme Design Co.", "description": "Due within 14 days. Questions? Reply to the email this came in.", "settings": { "collect_respondent": "email_required", "completion": { "message": "Thanks — payment received. A receipt is on its way." } }, "sections": [ { "key": "invoice", "title": "Invoice details", "questions": [ { "id": "line_items", "type": "statement", "title": "Invoice #2026-014 · due August 19, 2026", "body": [ "Website redesign — homepage and pricing page: $2,400", "Contact form + CRM integration: $600", "Rush delivery (agreed July 28): $300", "Total due: $3,300" ] }, { "id": "details_correct", "type": "yes_no", "prompt": "Do the charges above match what we agreed?", "required": true }, { "id": "correction", "type": "long_text", "prompt": "What looks off? I'll send a corrected invoice.", "show_if": { "question": "details_correct", "op": "eq", "value": "no" } }, { "id": "approval", "type": "consent", "prompt": "I approve this invoice for $3,300.", "show_if": { "question": "details_correct", "op": "eq", "value": "yes" }, "required": true }, { "id": "pay", "type": "payment", "prompt": "Pay this invoice", "amount_cents": 330000, "currency": "usd", "button_label": "Pay $3,300", "show_if": { "question": "details_correct", "op": "eq", "value": "yes" }, "required": true } ] } ] } ``` What each piece is doing: - `kind: "form"` — tells QuizGen this is a form rather than a quiz, so it renders as one page instead of one question at a time. Advisory only: anything you put in `settings` still wins. - `collect_respondent: "email_required"` — the approval is tied to your client's email address, so the response is attributable. - The `statement` holds the line items. It's display-only; respondents can't edit it, which is exactly what you want on an invoice. - `details_correct` + `show_if` — a "no" opens a correction box instead of pushing a confused client toward paying; a "yes" reveals the approval and the payment button. - `consent` — the approval is a required, timestamped agreement stored on the response, separate from the payment itself. - `payment` — the card field. Because it's hidden by `show_if` when the charges are disputed, and hidden questions are never required, a client who flags a problem can still submit without paying. ## What you need for card payments - The **Business plan**, and Stripe onboarding finished once at https://quizgen.dev/dashboard/payments. Without it the create call returns 402 `payments_not_ready`. - Money goes to **your own Stripe account** — QuizGen never holds it. QuizGen takes a 2% platform fee; Stripe's own processing fees apply as normal. - **One payment question per quiz.** Use `amount_cents` for a fixed total, or `price_options` (2–10 entries of `{value, label, amount_cents}`) when the client picks — handy for "pay in full" versus "50% deposit now". For the non-invoice cases — order forms, paid registrations, deposits taken alongside an intake questionnaire — the same `payment` question is covered more generally at https://quizgen.dev/form-with-payment. ### If you're not on Business yet Drop the `pay` question and send the client onward to a payment link you already have: ```json "completion": { "message": "Thanks — taking you to payment now.", "redirect_url": "https://buy.stripe.com/YOUR_PAYMENT_LINK" } ``` You still get the itemized invoice and the recorded approval; you just reconcile "approved" against "paid" yourself. ## Let an AI assistant do the filling in The fastest path isn't editing JSON by hand. Connect [QuizGen's MCP server](/mcp) and say: > Read https://quizgen.dev/blog/invoice-template.md and make me an invoice > for Jordan at Acme: 12 hours of consulting at $150/hr and one $200 setup > fee, due in 14 days, payable by card. Give me the link to send. The assistant adapts the template, POSTs it, and hands back the live link — and can tell you later whether it's been paid. ## Knowing when you've been paid Set a [webhook](/blog/quiz-response-webhooks) and each completed invoice POSTs itself to your endpoint — client email, answers, `paid`, and the `payment_intent` id — so you can route it to Slack, your CRM, or your bookkeeping without polling. The `payment_intent` is the same id you'll see in Stripe, which makes reconciliation a lookup rather than a guess. ## FAQ **Is this a real invoice, legally?** It's an itemized bill with a recorded, timestamped approval and a matching payment record — for most freelance and small-business work that's what matters. If your jurisdiction requires numbered tax invoices with specific fields, put them in the `statement` body and keep your own numbering. **Can I take a deposit instead of the full amount?** Yes — use `price_options` with "50% deposit" and "Pay in full" as the two choices. A [quote](/blog/quote-template) with a deposit is the natural step before this one. **Can I limit it to one client?** Send the link only to them — `email_required` records who responded. Add `"max_responses": 1` to `settings` if you want the link to close after the first completion. **Can it expire?** Yes — `"close_at": "2026-08-19T00:00:00Z"` in `settings` closes it at the due date. **What about recurring invoices?** POST the same template monthly with updated line items — one API call, or one sentence to your assistant.