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Confirm payments automatically

Forward your payment alert emails to Utilica and orders mark themselves paid. Here is the whole setup, step by step, and what to do if a test doesn't arrive.

Updated

Your bank and payment apps already email you when someone pays. Auto-confirm uses those emails: you forward just the payment alerts to your own Utilica address, and the order each one pays is marked paid by itself. Your customer gets their receipt, and nobody has to tap "I sent it".

It's free on every plan. We never sign in to your email, bank or payment apps. A filter in your email sends us copies of payment alerts, and only those; the originals stay in your inbox.

Before you start

  • Add the payment apps you take to your page (Integrations, then Payments, then Change how you are paid).
  • Your alerts need to arrive at a Gmail (or Google Workspace), Outlook (or Microsoft 365) or iCloud address. Yahoo and AOL Mail can only forward all of your mail, so they can't be used. Point your alerts at another address instead.
  • Have your phone handy for the last step: a $1 test.

Set up a payment method

Open Integrations, then Payments. Under Confirm payments automatically there's a card for Zelle, Cash App, Venmo and PayPal. Open the one you want; each card walks you through its own steps and checks them as you go.

  1. Pick your bank (Zelle only). Every bank words its Zelle alerts differently, so pick yours from the list. Not there? See My bank isn't listed below.
  2. Alert email. Follow the short guide to switch on the email alert for money you receive. Many banks leave it off. Then check Alerts come to: it starts as your main email; change it if that account uses a different one.
  3. Forwarding. Copy your Utilica address, then:
    • Gmail: open Gmail's forwarding settings from the link, click Add a forwarding address, paste your Utilica address and click Next, Proceed and OK. Gmail sends a code to your Utilica address, and it appears on your setup screen a few seconds later. Paste it into Gmail's Verify box. Gmail then switches on forwarding of all your mail, so pick Disable forwarding and click Save Changes. Then make the filter: open Gmail with the search from your setup screen, click the sliders button at the end of the search bar, then Create filter, tick Forward it to, choose your Utilica address and click Create filter.
    • Outlook: open Outlook's rules from the link and add a rule: From the senders shown, Subject includes the words shown, and Redirect to your Utilica address.
    • iCloud: in iCloud Mail, open settings, then Rules, and add a rule for each item shown, forwarding to your Utilica address. Then press I made the filter.
  4. Send yourself $1. From another account (yours or a friend's), send $1.00 to your business with the short code shown in the memo. When it arrives, the card switches to Live. Live means matching payments now confirm orders by themselves.

My bank isn't listed

Press My bank isn't listed on the bank step. Then either:

  • Forward one alert to teach us. Find a Zelle "you received money" email from your bank, press Forward and send it to your Utilica address. We read who sent it, and you confirm it's your bank. Then carry on with the steps above.
  • Request your bank. Type its name and we'll add it to the list.

How a payment is matched to an order

Every order has a short number, like #K7Q2M. It's put in the payment note for your customer: filled in for them in Venmo, and shown to copy for the others.

  • When an alert has an order's number and at least its amount, that order is marked paid.
  • When there's no number, an order is marked paid only if it's the one open order with that exact amount and the customer's name.
  • Anything less certain waits for you. One payment can never pay two orders.

You can change these rules under Advanced: how far back orders are matched, how far off the amount may be, and whether the order number must be in the memo.

When a payment needs your tap

If two orders could fit (the same amount, no order number), nothing is marked paid. You get a notification and an email with the likely orders, and the payment shows under Payments to confirm on the Integrations page. Tap Confirm on the right order, or pick another one.

What your customers see

When a payment method is Live, your customer's order page says it confirms by itself once the payment arrives, instead of asking them to tap "I've sent the payment". When it's matched, the page turns into their receipt.

If the $1 test doesn't arrive

  • Check the alert reached your inbox. If it didn't, the alert is still off at your bank or app.
  • Check your Spam folder. Mark the alert "Not spam" so your filter sees it next time.
  • Press Check forwarding on the test step. We send a check email to the address your alerts come to; if it comes back, your filter works and the problem is the alert itself.
  • If a payment email arrived that we couldn't use, the reason shows at the top of the Integrations page.

Turn it off

Turn off one payment method from its card, or everything under Advanced, then delete the filter in your email so nothing more is forwarded. Orders go back to being confirmed by hand. See Deleting your data for what we keep and for how long.