Payments honesty

A payment request on an Inkpacket envelope is a field on the envelope, not a live charge. On send you can enable Collect a payment, set an amount, an optional description, and USD by default. The public API accepts collectPayment plus paymentAmountCents or paymentAmount on POST /api/v1/packets/:id/send. That request is stored. It is not a receipt.

When Stripe keys are missing, or when STRIPE_CHECKOUT is disabled, Settings and the desk report Payments not live / not configured. The signer was not charged. Inkpacket does not open live Checkout and does not pretend the payment succeeded. Signing still works. This guide is that honesty — not a promise that card charging is on.

Desk help is Docs. Features is in-envelope payments. Workspace billing is a different state — Docs. The FAQ uses the same Payments not live / not configured sentence.

What is stored on the envelope

Open Documents → new, upload a PDF, then use Collect a payment before you send. The amount, currency, and description sit on that envelope. Settings shows paymentsLive. GET /api/v1/health reports the same flag. A true flag means Checkout can run. A false flag means the request is recorded and the charge is not.

Do not treat a completed signature as proof a card was charged. The audit trail records viewed, signed, completed. It does not invent a paid event when Checkout is off. If you need your own ledger to hear about status, listen for envelope events — listen for envelope status webhooks — and keep payment state in a system that actually charged someone.

Not workspace billing

In-envelope payments are a request on one envelope. Workspace billing is the published plan ladder: checkout and the customer portal are not open. Listed prices on Pricing are proposals. Workspaces start on Free. You can run the full desk without a payment method. Turning on Collect a payment does not upgrade the workspace and does not unlock Stripe charging for seats or envelopes.

What the signer sees

When payments are not live, the signing page does not pretend a card form succeeded. The envelope can still be signed. Required signature, date, text, initials, checkbox, and select fields still block submit. A payment request that cannot charge is not a required field that holds the PDF hostage.

If you set an access code, they unlock first. If you iframe the signer, the parent still hears viewed, signed, and completed — not a paid event. Embed signing versus a signing link is that door. Live card checkout is not part of the embed path.

Do not clone the envelope because Checkout is off

• The envelope id does not change.
• The signing URL still exists. Copy it when invite email was not sent.
• Void, correct, and resend still sit on that document.
• A second send to “retry payment” is a second envelope toward the monthly cap.

Stay on the same envelope. If the deal is off, void it. If the recipient is wrong, correct. If they never saw the mail, resend. Those verbs do not charge a card and do not need Checkout to be live — when to void, correct, or resend.

The click-path

1. Prepare the PDF and place fields as usual — or start from a template.
2. On send, enable Collect a payment and set the amount.
3. Send. If Resend is missing, copy the signing link from the desk.
4. Read Settings → Payments. If it says Payments not live, stop expecting a charge.
5. Let the signer finish. File the stamped PDF from the envelope.

Ask Inkpacket for payments not live or how in-envelope payments work to open help. Ask paymentsLive to open Settings. Those phrases stay on the product screens. This article is the public version of the same limit.

What this is not

• Not a paid-plan unlock. Free already runs send, sign, and file.
• Not a seat purchase. Seat counts are planning numbers; invite does not refuse when a workspace is full.
• Not an envelope-cap waiver. HTTP 402 ENVELOPE_LIMIT is a send that did not go out.
• Not Drive archive. A completed PDF still lives on the envelope when Drive is not configured.
• Not an SMS charge. Text-message (SMS) is coming soon.

The five-minute send still applies — send a document for signature in under five minutes. Collect a payment is an optional checkbox on that form. Skipping it is the honest default while Checkout is not open.

Caps and what is not open yet

One send is one envelope whether you requested a payment or not. Free allows 5 packets a month. Free at 5 packets a month is the live cap desk send, bulk rows, Web Form fills, and API send share. Hitting it returns HTTP 402 ENVELOPE_LIMIT. Starter is 20 envelopes — more than Free — plus 3 published Web Forms. Seat counts are planning numbers; invite does not refuse when a workspace is full.

Billing is published, not charging. Checkout is not open. Text-message (SMS) is coming soon. Drive missing: Drive not configured. Stripe off: Payments not live. Those flags do not invent a receipt. The FAQ and in-envelope payments on Features use Payments not live / not configured in the same words.

Store the request if you want the amount on the envelope. Do not tell a signer they paid when paymentsLive is false. Stay on that envelope id. Then file the stamped PDF — the charge, if it ever exists, will be a later pass. Open a workspace on Free — see published pricing and Free vs paid lanes — and send one envelope with Collect a payment on so the not-live copy is familiar before a real invoice depends on it.