What You Can Build: Zapier + Payment Links
Zapier is the connective tissue between thousands of apps: Slack, HubSpot, Google Sheets, PandaDoc, Pipedrive, Airtable, Salesforce, Calendly, ClickUp, and more. Shuttle Links Checkout adds payments to that fabric. Once connected, any Zapier trigger can produce a payment link, and any payment outcome can fire a downstream Zap.
The pattern is simple: trigger → generate link → deliver → react to payment. The trigger comes from any Zapier-connected app (a deal moves to Won, a row appears in a sheet, a contract is signed). Shuttle generates a payment link with the right amount, currency, description, and metadata. The link gets delivered to the customer through whatever channel suits: SMS, email, Slack, WhatsApp, the original app's notification system. When the customer pays, the Shuttle "Payment Link Notification" trigger fires, and you can route it into your CRM, your accounting tool, your team chat, or your warehouse management system.
You don't need a developer. You don't need a custom integration. You don't need to lock yourself to a single payment provider. Shuttle works with 40+ payment gateways underneath, so you can change your PSP without rebuilding the workflow. Saved cards stay with the gateway that stored them.
Supported Payment Gateways via Zapier
Shuttle Links Checkout connects to the major payment gateways used by UK, European, and global merchants. When you build a Zap with Shuttle, the link uses the gateway you have configured, so the same Zapier workflow can run for different business entities, each on its own gateway.
Currently supported payment gateways include:
- Stripe: global card processing
- Adyen: enterprise-grade, multi-region
- Worldpay Access: UK and European merchants
- Checkout.com: global, popular with high-growth fintech and platform businesses
- Braintree (PayPal)
- Square: small business and US-led merchants
- Mollie: European merchants, strong on local payment methods
- GoCardless: direct debit and recurring collection
- Paysafe, Global Payments, FreedomPay, Authorize.Net, USAePay, Trust Payments, and more. See the full list in our payment providers directory.
PayPal Commerce and PayPal PayFlow are available on request.
Because Shuttle is a payment-layer abstraction, you can swap or add gateways without rebuilding your Zaps. The Zapier workflow stays the same; only the underlying PSP changes. Saved cards stay with the gateway that stored them, so they do not move to the new one.
Common Zapier Workflow Templates for Payments
Common patterns:
1. CRM deal closed → payment link sent
When a deal in HubSpot, Pipedrive, or Salesforce moves to "Closed Won" (or any custom stage), Zapier triggers Shuttle to generate a payment link with the deal's value and customer details. The link is delivered by email or SMS through Zapier's native sender, or routed through your CRM's email tool. Pay-on-the-spot conversion replaces the standard "we'll invoice you" step.
2. Proposal accepted → deposit collected
When a proposal in PandaDoc, Docusign, or Proposify is marked as accepted, Zapier triggers a Shuttle payment link for the agreed deposit. Suits agencies, consultancies, and managed service providers.
3. Slack command → payment link
A team member types /payment 250 Acme deposit in Slack. Zapier picks up the command, calls Shuttle to generate a £250 payment link with the description "Acme deposit", and posts the link back to the channel, or DMs it to the requester. Your sales, support, or ops team can collect payment from any conversation without leaving Slack.
4. Google Sheets row → bulk link generation
Add customer rows to a Google Sheet (name, amount, description, email). Zapier processes each row, generates a payment link, and either emails it to the customer directly or writes the link back to the sheet for your team to send manually. Useful for batch invoicing, deposit collection drives, and event ticketing.
5. Calendly booking → upfront payment
When a customer books a paid consultation in Calendly, Zapier fires a Shuttle payment link to be paid before the call. If the link isn't paid within a set window, a follow-up Zap cancels the booking and notifies the customer. Suits consultants, coaches, and professional services firms.
6. Form submission → payment
Typeform, Jotform, Google Forms, Tally: any form tool can trigger a Shuttle link. The form collects the customer's requirements, Zapier generates a payment link with the calculated amount, and the customer is redirected (or emailed) to pay. Useful for custom orders, event registrations, and lead-to-payment funnels.
7. Payment received → downstream actions
The reverse flow matters too. When a Shuttle payment is captured, Zapier can fire any number of downstream actions: post to Slack, update the CRM record, create an invoice in QuickBooks or Xero, add the customer to a Mailchimp audience, send a Slack alert to the team, generate a delivery ticket in your warehouse system. The Shuttle "Payment Link Notification" trigger is the start of an automation, not the end.
How It Works: Setting Up Your First Zap
Here's the high-level path to set up a Shuttle + Zapier workflow:
- Connect Shuttle to Zapier. In Zapier, search for "Shuttle", then log in to Shuttle and choose your Live or Sandbox account.
- Pick your trigger. Choose any of the thousands of apps Zapier supports as the start of your workflow. CRM, form, Slack command, scheduled time, anything.
- Add the Shuttle "Create Payment Link" action. Map the trigger's data into the link: amount, currency, description, customer email, and any metadata you want to track.
- Add a delivery step. SMS via Twilio, email via Gmail or Outlook, Slack message, or WhatsApp via the WhatsApp Business app. Pick whatever channel matches the customer.
- Optional: handle the payment outcome. Add a second Zap with the Shuttle "Payment Link Notification" trigger, then route the event into your CRM, accounting tool, or notification system.
The whole setup is no-code. No developer, no API integration, no engineering ticket.
Zapier vs Direct API: Which to Use
Zapier is the right choice when you want speed, flexibility, and no engineering overhead. Use Zapier when:
- You don't have a developer available, or you want your ops team to build payment workflows themselves
- The payment trigger lives in a SaaS app already connected to Zapier (CRM, form, scheduling tool, document signing tool)
- The volume is moderate: Zapier costs scale with task volume, so very high-volume workflows can become expensive
- You want the flexibility to change the workflow without redeploying code
Direct API integration is the better choice when:
- You're embedding payments into a product or platform that customers will use
- You need very high volume, where Zapier's per-task cost starts to add up
- You need custom logic that's hard to express in a Zap (multi-step approvals, complex pricing rules, sub-second latency)
- You want a single deployment with no third-party dependencies
A good path is Zapier first, then direct API for the workflows that justify the engineering investment. A common setup is a mix: Zapier for ops-team flows and direct API for product-embedded payments. Both paths work against the same Shuttle account.
Compatibility with Make.com and n8n
Shuttle also has a native Make.com integration. The capability set is the same: create, update and cancel payment links, and respond to payment events. The choice between Zapier and Make.com is largely a question of pricing and your team's familiarity with each tool. See our payment workflow automation guide for a side-by-side comparison.
For self-hosted automation, Shuttle's REST API is straightforward to call from n8n, Pipedream, or any HTTP-capable workflow tool.