ThrivePay Installments gives your customers the flexibility to pay over time while you receive full payment upfront. By offering interest-free installments at checkout, you can remove the biggest barrier to purchase—affordability—and dramatically increase your conversion rates and average order values.
Research shows that merchants offering Buy Now Pay Later checkout options (BNPL) see 30-50% increases in average order value. With ThrivePay Installments, your customers can split their purchase into 3, 6, or 12 monthly payments with zero interest, while you get paid in full immediately (minus processing fees). As with any payments, there’s still minimal risk exposure to chargebacks and other payment disputes, but. ThrivePay Installments manages the full installment billing experience, including payment schedules and ongoing installment charges.
ThrivePay Installments integrates seamlessly into your ThriveCart checkout with white-labeled branding that maintains your professional appearance. Your customers never leave your sales funnel, and the entire experience feels organic to your brand. Plus, there are no credit checks required for customers, making this accessible to a wider audience over traditional financing options.
This is perfect for high-ticket products, courses, memberships, and premium services where price can be a barrier. Turn “I can’t afford this right now” into “I’ll take it!”
What makes this different from other payment plans?
While your customer pays over time, ThrivePay Installments pays you immediately, and you receive the full payment upfront (minus processing fees).
This means you get instant cash flow without waiting for installment completion, and you don’t assume any collection risk if payments fail.
The entire process is seamless. Your customer selects ThrivePay Installments at checkout, chooses their preferred payment plan, authorizes the installments with their credit card (no credit check required), and immediately receives access to your product or service. ThrivePay Installments handles all the monthly billing automatically—you don’t need to chase payments or manage dunning processes.
ThrivePay Installments uses your customer’s existing credit card, so there’s no separate application or approval process. The full purchase amount is authorized on their card, then charged in installments over their selected timeframe. This makes it accessible to customers who might not qualify for traditional financing.
Eligibility Requirements: Getting Started with ThrivePay Installments
ThrivePay Installments is currently being launched in phases. We are still in the initial rollout phase, and this feature is available to small groups of ThriveCart merchants. If you’re interested in offering ThrivePay Installments on your checkouts, join the waitlist here.
If you are on the waitlist and have not yet received an invitation email, be patient. It’s coming.
What You’ll Need:
- Approval from the ThriveCart team for ThrivePay Installments access
- Your product(s) configured in ThriveCart with pricing set to match one of our supported currencies
Eligibility Requirements:
ThrivePay Installments is available for:
- Both physical and digital products
- One-time purchases (not recurring subscriptions)
Supported Customer Countries & Currencies
ThrivePay Installments is available to vendors located anywhere, for customers who are specifically located in:
- United States (purchasing USD products)
- coming soon United Kingdom (purchasing GBP products)
- coming soon Canada (purchasing CAD products)
- coming soon Australia (purchasing AUD products)
The initial phase is currently only available to customers in the USA, purchasing in USD. Additional currency support will become available in additional phases.
Customers from unsupported countries will see any other payment options you have enabled on your product, and not ThrivePay Installments.
Customer requirements
- A valid Visa, Mastercard, Amex, or Discover credit card (not debit or pre-paid) with room for the full one-time price amount
- Billing address and card issuing country must match
The Customer Experience
When customers from supported countries reach your checkout page, they’ll see “ThrivePay Installments” listed alongside your other payment methods (credit card, PayPal, etc.). When they select ThrivePay Installments, they’ll immediately see the available installment plans with clear pricing breakdown.
For example, if your product is $495, they would see:
- 3 payments of $165/month – Total: $495 (Interest-free)
- 6 payments of $82.50/month – Total: $495 (Interest-free)
- 12 payments of $41.25/month – Total: $495 (Interest-free)
This transparency helps customers choose the option that fits their budget, dramatically reducing price objections and increasing conversions.
Customers choosing to pay with other payment methods such as Credit Card or PayPal, who may have selected an Installments pricing option, will see an error message directing them to choose the full priced payment option:
When your customer arrives at checkout and sees ThrivePay Installments as an option, they immediately understand they can split their purchase into manageable payments. The pricing breakdown is crystal clear—they see exactly how much they’ll pay per month and that there’s zero interest.
After selecting their preferred plan (let’s say 6 months for a $600 product = $100/month), they click to complete the order.
A secure payment form opens (maintaining your ThriveCart branding) where they enter their credit card details. The system authorizes the full amount on their card, but only their first payment is charged right away, then the system immediately grants them access to your product or service.
Within seconds, the authorization completes and they’re redirected to your success page and granted immediate access to your product.
They receive one confirmation email that includes:
- Order details
- Installment schedule (payment dates and amounts)
- First payment confirmation
They will also continue to receive the standard receipt email from ThriveCart (when enabled) that includes:
- Product and payment confirmation
- Product Access links (via the success page)
Monthly Payment Experience:
Each month, on the same date they made their initial purchase, ThrivePay Installments automatically charges the next installment to their card. They receive a reminder email 2 days before each payment, so they’re never surprised.
If their card is declined (expired card, insufficient funds, etc.), they receive an email notification with instructions to update their payment method. ThrivePay Installments provides a 7-day grace period and two reminder emails before taking any action. Your customer can update their payment information through a secure link, and the payment is retried automatically.
Credit Card Authorization:
Here’s an important detail your customers should understand: ThrivePay Installments places an authorization hold for the full purchase amount on their credit card. This authorization amount is the full payment amount, minus the first installment.
This means if they’re buying a $600 product with a 6-month plan, their credit card needs at least $600 in available credit.
Their credit card will show an authorization for $500, and a charge for $100.
Each month, one installment is captured. So they will be charged that first $100 today, then month two $100 captured, etc.
This authorization hold will fall off their credit card statement, and they will not be charged this amount.
This is different from traditional installment plans where only the monthly amount is charged. Your customers need a sufficient credit limit for the full amount, which makes ThrivePay Installments best for customers with established credit cards rather than low-limit cards.
What Customers See on Their Credit Card Statement:
- Initial authorization: Full purchase amount (minus initial installment amount) appears as a “pending” charge
- Monthly captures: Each installment appears as an individual charge from your business name
Some customers may contact you asking why they see a “pending charge” for the full amount. This is normal and expected behavior for installment plans. The pending amount isn’t actually charged—only the monthly installments are captured. We have a customer-facing guide that you can share with your customers to aid in explaining this authorization.
Immediate Product Access:
One of the biggest benefits for your customers is immediate access. Unlike some financing options that require approval delays, ThrivePay Installments authorizes in seconds. As soon as authorization completes, your customer can access their purchase—whether it’s a course, membership, digital product, or service.
They don’t have to wait for all installments to complete, as they get everything immediately and pay over time.
Managing Payouts:
Once the customer’s installment plan is authorized, you receive the full payment amount (minus ThrivePay Installments’s processing fees, payment method fees, and reserve holds).
How Payouts Work with ThrivePay Installments
ThriveCart uses Tipalti as its payout platform to distribute your ThrivePay Installment earnings.
Payouts are grouped transactions that are processed every 14 days and invoices with details will appear in your ThriveCart dashboard (under Settings > Integrations > ThrivePay > Payment History) with status updates as each payment progresses.
Understanding Your Payout Amount
When your payout is calculated, two amounts are withheld from your gross earnings:
- 15% ThrivePay Installment fee – the platform fee for using the installment payment feature
- 15% reserve hold – a temporary hold required for compliance and risk management purposes
For example, if your gross payout is $1,000, you will receive a net payout of $700.
What Is the Reserve Hold?
The reserve hold is a portion of your earnings that is temporarily withheld to protect against chargebacks, disputes, and other financial risk. Your reserve balance is held for 180 days (6 months), after which time it is automatically recalculated and added to your next payout.
Note: Additional payout method fees (based on the method for us to transfer your funds, as set in setup e.g., ACH, PayPal) and any applicable FX fees will also be reflected at the time funds are disbursed from your account.
Understanding the Funded Settlement Model:
ThrivePay Installments uses a “funded” settlement model by default, which means:
- You receive full payment upfront (minus processing fees)
- ThrivePay Installments assumes all collection risk (with the exception of refunds and chargebacks)
- If a customer defaults on installments, you don’t need to chase down customers
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
- Q: How do I get paid when customers use ThrivePay Installments?
- A: You receive the full payment amount upfront (minus processing fees) within 14 business days of the customer’s purchase. You don’t wait for customers to complete their installment plans. ThrivePay Installments pays you, then collects the installments from your customer over time. This gives you instant cash flow while your customers enjoy payment flexibility.
- Q: What happens if a customer doesn’t pay their monthly installments?
- A: ThrivePay Installments assumes all collection risk, so you’re protected. If a customer defaults on payments, it doesn’t affect you financially—you’ve already been paid in full. ThrivePay Installments handles all dunning, collection attempts, and ultimately absorbs any losses from defaults. The only exception is chargebacks, which are handled according to your standard chargeback policies.
- Q: Can I offer ThrivePay Installments on recurring subscriptions?
- A: Currently, ThrivePay Installments is designed only for one-time payments, not recurring payment products. It works for one-time payments that are split into installments, but not for ongoing monthly/annual pricing options such as subscriptions, and split-pay setups.
- Q: What if my customer is from a country that’s not supported?
- A: ThrivePay Installments payment plans are automatically hidden for customers in unsupported countries, and they’ll see your other payment options instead (credit card, PayPal, Stripe BNPL if available). The checkout experience remains seamless—they simply won’t see installment options that aren’t available to them. This prevents frustrating situations where customers try to use a payment method that gets declined.
- Q: Do my customers need good credit to use ThrivePay Installments?
- No traditional credit check is required. ThrivePay Installments uses the customer’s existing credit card and verifies they have sufficient available credit to cover the full purchase amount. As long as their card has enough credit limit and is issued from a supported country, they can use ThrivePay Installments. This makes it more accessible than traditional financing that requires credit applications.
- Q: How does this compare to Stripe’s BNPL options (Klarna, Affirm, etc.)?
- A: ThrivePay Installments provides an alternative that works in more countries and doesn’t require credit checks. Stripe’s BNPL options have limitations—they’re only available in specific countries, for specific currencies, and not for all product types. ThrivePay Installments gives your customers another flexible payment option, especially valuable for international customers or those who don’t qualify for Stripe’s BNPL services.
- Q: Can customers cancel their installment plan mid-way?
- A: Customers are committed to the full payment plan they selected. However, if they want to pay off their balance early, they can contact support to discuss options. Since there’s no interest charged, there’s no financial benefit to early payoff, but some customers prefer to close out payment obligations. Cancellations without payment depend on your refund policy and how much of the product/service has been delivered.
- Q: Will ThrivePay Installments work with my existing upsell funnel?
- A: Yes! ThrivePay Installments works with ThriveCart’s standard checkout flow including upsells and downsells. When a customer purchases using installments and then accepts an upsell, the upsell will be added to their existing installment plan. The system recalculates the monthly payment to include the upsell amount, maintaining a single consolidated payment schedule.
- Q: Can I connect more than one ThrivePay Installments account to ThriveCart?
- A: No. Unlike Stripe or PayPal, you are limited to one ThrivePay Installments connection per account.