Complete your Pinch onboarding with Xero

Outcome: By the end of this guide, your accounting integration and core Pinch settings will be configured, your customer invitation options will be clear, and you will know where to monitor payments and settlements.

Before you begin

Your Pinch merchant application is verified, or you understand that customer-facing payment links should not be sent until verification is complete.
Your Xero organisation is connected to the correct Pinch account.
You can access the settlement bank account details used during the Pinch application.
You know which payment methods, surcharging rules and customer communication workflow your business intends to use.
You have a square or landscape PNG/JPEG logo ready. Pinch recommends at least 250 x 250 pixels.

Step 1: Configure Xero invoicing

In Pinch, open Xero Config (sometimes labelled Invoicing Config). Xero invoice templates are called branding themes. Configure every branding theme that should use Pinch, then click Next to continue.

Setting	What it does	Recommended starting point
Accept Payments from Pinch	Makes Pinch the online payment option on invoices using that branding theme.	On for every theme that should accept Pinch payments.
Monitor for auto-debit	If the customer has a pre-approval, Pinch monitors invoices on that theme and collects them on the due date.	On for themes used for automatic collection.
Allow customer opt-in for auto-debit	Shows an option on Pay Now so customers can authorise future automatic payments.	On if you want customers to self-enrol.
Send invoice notifications	Pinch emails a Pay Now link when it detects a new invoice.	Off when Xero sends your invoice emails and reminders, to avoid duplicate messages.

Important: Turning on Accept Payments from Pinch can replace another payment gateway already applied to that Xero branding theme. Confirm the intended payment provider before saving.

Choose the reconciliation bank account

Click Next after configuring all branding themes.
Select the Xero bank account that corresponds to the physical bank account entered in your Pinch application.
Click Finish so the updated configuration takes effect.

Step 2: Review how you will get paid

In Pinch, go to Account Settings > Getting Paid. These are account-wide defaults, although many settings can be overridden for an individual customer.

Choose accepted payment methods

Enable card payments, bank account payments (BECS Direct Debit), or both.
Only enabled methods appear on Pay Now and pre-approval sign-up pages.
Review any account transaction limits shown for each payment method.
Confirm whether your business will absorb processing fees or surcharge customers for each method.

Decide whether to enable batch payments

Batch payments allow a customer, or your team, to pay multiple invoices in one combined payment. Enable this if customers commonly have several open invoices and should be able to settle them together.

Compatibility note: Batch payments are not currently compatible with Invoice Breakdown Plans. Leave batching off if you need generic invoice breakdown plans to remain available.

Step 3: Add your logo

Open Account Settings > Logo and upload the logo that should appear on payer-facing Pinch emails and pages, including Pay Now, pre-approval, notifications and the Customer Portal.

Use PNG or JPEG.
Use a clear file with a minimum recommended size of 250 x 250 pixels.
Open a Pay Now or pre-approval preview after uploading to confirm the logo is legible.

Step 4: Set failed-payment reattempts

Open Account Settings > Getting Paid > Reattempt Settings. These settings control how Pinch retries failed payments made under a pre-approval.

Choose the number of days between reattempts.
Choose the maximum number of reattempts.
Save the settings and make sure the timing suits your customer communication and collections process.

What happens at the limit: When the maximum is reached, Pinch stops retrying and notifies your team so you can decide what to do next.

Step 5: Set up pre-approvals

A pre-approval securely stores a customer's authorised payment method so eligible invoices or schedules can be collected automatically. Review your account-wide pre-approval text, terms link and any auto-debit limit before sending invitations.

For customers already in your accounting software

Use the customer record that has synced from Xero. Do not use the New Customer Pre-Approval Sign-Up Link for an existing contact, because doing so can create a duplicate customer.

Bulk invite: go to Customers, select the customers, then choose Send Pre-Approval.
Personalised mail merge: export the customer list as CSV. The export contains each customer's unique pre-approval URL, which you can merge into an email sent from your own domain.
One customer: open the customer record, copy the unique pre-approval link and send it yourself.
On the spot: open Launch Pre-Approval Page from the customer record and let the customer complete it securely.

For a genuinely new customer

Use the New Customer Pre-Approval Sign-Up Link only when the customer does not yet exist in Xero. Pinch creates the customer in Pinch, securely stores the authorised payment method and creates the customer in Xero.

Avoid duplicates: For any customer who already exists in your accounting software, always invite them from their synced Pinch customer record.

Step 6: Know where to find day-to-day information

Area	What you will find
Payments	Payments and scheduled payments, including status, failures and payment-level detail.
Settlements	Deposits paid to your bank account, the payments included in each settlement, statements and reconciliation information.
Transaction Report	A date-filtered CSV export of payment history, including successful, processing, failed and error statuses.

Step 7: Route team notifications

Open Notifications from the left-hand menu to control which email addresses receive each type of operational notification.

Review every user and email already listed.
Use Add Email to add a finance, operations or support address.
Use the pencil icon to assign or remove notification groups.
Use the trash icon to remove an address entirely.

Do not miss fallback alerts: If no address is assigned to Disputes, Refunds or Integrations, Pinch sends those notifications to the account's primary email. Updating the primary email does not automatically update notification preferences.

Final setup checklist

◻ Pinch is enabled on every intended Xero branding theme.
◻ Monitor for auto-debit is enabled on the correct themes.
◻ Customer opt-in is enabled only where desired.
◻ Pinch invoice notifications are off when Xero handles invoice emails and reminders.
◻ The Xero reconciliation bank account matches the settlement account.
◻ Accepted payment methods and surcharge rules are correct.
◻ Batch payments are enabled only if they suit the intended workflow.
◻ The business logo is visible on payer-facing pages.
◻ The failed-payment reattempt schedule is agreed internally.
◻ Existing customers will be invited from their synced Pinch records.
◻ The New Customer Pre-Approval Sign-Up Link is reserved for genuinely new contacts.
◻ Payments, Settlements and Transaction Report locations are understood.
◻ Notification recipients and notification groups are assigned to the right people.