Get paid faster. Stop chasing money.
Payment automation is the layer of software that handles getting paid so you don't have to chase it by hand. For an Australian service business it covers the whole money cycle: an invoice goes out automatically the moment a job is marked complete, polite branded reminders chase overdue accounts on a set schedule, a deposit is collected at the point of booking to lock in the work, failed card payments retry and recover on their own, and every payment reconciles straight into Xero or MYOB so the books stay clean. The problem it solves is real and well documented — late payment is a persistent cash-flow drag on Australian small business, and the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has reported repeatedly on slow payment times. Beyond the cash flow, it removes the admin of preparing invoices and the awkwardness of asking for money you're owed. LUNA Systems builds this on the payment and accounting tools your business already uses — Stripe and Square for card payments, GoCardless for direct debit, Xero and MYOB for the books, GoHighLevel to tie the SMS and email reminders to your CRM — configured around your real workflow, not a template. Card details are never stored by us or by you; they're tokenised by the PCI-compliant processor. Card surcharging, where used, is set to reflect only the actual cost of acceptance, in line with RBA and ACCC rules. Quoted per business after a discovery call. One monthly fee covers software, support, and iteration.
By Justine Coupland · Last updated May 2026
How It Works
How It Works
Discovery call
30 minutes on the phone. You tell us how money currently moves through your business — how you invoice, how you take card, what you use for the books, and where customers go quiet. We listen. No pitch deck.
Audit + plan
We map your current money cycle: how a job turns into an invoice, when deposits should be taken, how long accounts sit overdue, and how it all lands (or doesn't) in Xero or MYOB. You get a written plan covering what to automate first and the realistic timeline. The plan is yours whether you hire us or not.
Build phase
Typically 2–4 weeks. We connect your payment processor, your booking system, and your accounting software, then build the invoicing, reminder, deposit, and reconciliation flows. Each piece is tested with real (small) transactions before it touches a paying customer.
Launch and run
Once it's live, we run it. Monthly reports in plain English — invoices sent, days-to-pay, overdue accounts recovered, deposits collected, failed payments retried. We're inside the system most days during the first month, less often once it's stable.
Iterate quarterly
Every quarter we look at what's working: are accounts being paid faster, are deposits cutting no-shows, where's money still slipping. We adjust the reminder timing and the flows as your business changes.
What's Included
Features
Industry Examples
How Different Businesses Use This
Tradies (plumbers, electricians, builders)
Job marked complete in ServiceM8 or Tradify, invoice goes out the same hour with a pay-now card link, reminders chase the slow payers automatically, and the payment reconciles into Xero. You stop carrying a fortnight of unsent invoices in your ute. See /industries/tradies.
Clinics & allied health
Gap payments and consult fees taken by card at the point of service, deposits collected for longer appointments, automated reminders for outstanding accounts, and clean reconciliation into the practice books. Card data tokenised by the processor — never stored by the practice. See /industries/clinics.
Salons & beauty
Deposit required at booking for colour and longer services so a no-show doesn't cost you the chair, balance charged automatically on the day, and review-request and rebooking flows trigger off the completed payment. Typical result: fewer no-shows and faster end-of-day cash-up. See /industries/salons.
Professional services (accountants, bookkeepers)
Fixed-fee engagements billed on a schedule, recurring retainers collected by direct debit through GoCardless, overdue reminders that don't strain the client relationship, and automatic reconciliation into Xero or MYOB. See /industries/accountants.
How It Compares
See How We Stack Up
Most service businesses chase money one of three ways: by hand, with their accounting software's built-in reminders, or with a payment system built around how they actually work. Here's how those compare on the things that decide whether you get paid on time.
| Chasing by hand | Xero / MYOB auto-reminders | LUNA payment system | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invoice sent after a job | Manual, often days later | Manual, then auto-reminds | Automatic the hour the job's done |
| Chases overdue accounts | You do it, if you remember | Generic reminder emails | Branded SMS + email on a schedule |
| Deposit at booking | Rarely | No | Yes — locks in the work |
| Recovers failed card payments | No | No | Automatic retry + customer prompt |
| Reconciles to the books | Manual matching | Within that one tool | Automatic across Stripe/Square + Xero/MYOB |
| Built around your workflow | It's all on you | One-size-fits-all | Configured to your real money cycle |
FAQ
Common Questions
Do you handle the card processing fees, or do I?▼
The processor (Stripe, Square, GoCardless) charges its standard fee on each transaction and that comes out of your account, in your name. We don't mark it up and we don't take a cut of your takings. Those fees are listed transparently, and our build, support, and iteration sit under one flat LUNA monthly fee. Where it makes sense for your business, we can configure a compliant card surcharge so the customer covers the cost of card acceptance.
Is card surcharging legal in Australia?▼
Yes, surcharging a card payment is legal in Australia, with one hard rule: the surcharge can't be more than what it actually costs you to accept that card. You can't use it as a profit line. The ACCC enforces this and it's set by the RBA's surcharging rules. We configure any surcharge to reflect only your real cost of acceptance, so you stay on the right side of it. Plenty of businesses choose to absorb the fee instead — we'll talk you through both on the discovery call.
Will this work with Xero or MYOB?▼
Yes — those are the two we set up most. Payments reconcile automatically against the matching invoice in Xero or MYOB, so your books stay current without anyone doing manual matching at month-end. If you're on something else (QuickBooks, Reckon), we'll check the integration on the discovery call before we promise anything.
What happens when a payment fails?▼
Failed and declined card payments retry automatically on a sensible schedule (this is called dunning), and the customer gets a gentle, branded prompt to update their card details. The point is that a temporary decline — an expired card, insufficient funds for a day — doesn't quietly turn into a write-off you never chased. You see every failed and recovered payment in the monthly report.
Do you store my customers' card details?▼
No, and neither do you. Card details are tokenised by the PCI-compliant processor (Stripe or Square) — they hold the actual card data in their secure vault and hand your system a token that stands in for it. LUNA never touches a raw card number, and neither does your business. That keeps the PCI compliance burden where it belongs, with the processor, instead of on you.
Can I take a deposit at booking and the balance later?▼
Yes. A deposit is charged by card at the point of booking to lock in the work, and the balance is invoiced (or charged) automatically when the job's done or the appointment's complete. For service businesses this is one of the biggest single wins — it cuts no-shows and means you're never starting a job you haven't been part-paid for.
What if I want to leave?▼
You take everything with you. Every account — Stripe, Square, Xero, MYOB, GoCardless, your CRM — is already in your name, so there's nothing to hand back. We give you documentation of what's been built and what each flow does. The payments keep flowing whether your next person is another agency or someone in-house.
How much does it cost?▼
Depends on scope. Automating just invoice-and-chase is a much smaller build than the full cycle of deposits, direct debit, dunning, and reconciliation. We quote after the discovery call so the number matches the work. There's no public price list because no two payment setups are the same, and processor fees are always passed through at cost on top.
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Pricing
Custom quote
Every package is built and priced around your business, so the number matches the actual work. We quote after a 30-minute discovery call. No public price list, no lock-in.
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Who this works for
We've set this up for service businesses across Australia. Here are the industries we work with most.
Ready to Get Started?
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