Payment QR Code Generator
A payment code is money changing hands with no cashier in between — worth testing properly before it ever reaches a till.
02 / Content
Where should the code go?
03 / Style
04 / Preview
Exactly what downloads
See it on
Previews only — the card, tent, poster and sticker are not in the download. You get the code.
What happens on scan
The code opens a link to wherever your payment provider hosts the transaction — a checkout page, a request-for-payment screen, sometimes a banking app if the provider integrates that way. The scan itself moves no money; the customer still authorises the amount on the page that opens, which is worth explaining nearby if this is the first payment code your customers have seen.
Test it with real money first
Payment link formats are not standardised the way a plain website URL is — different providers expect different payload structures, and some QR-generating tools produce a link format one provider reads correctly and another doesn’t recognise at all. Before printing a single copy, run an actual small transaction through the generated code exactly as a customer would. A code that “looks right” but was built for the wrong provider format is a silent failure nobody notices until a customer complains.
The fraud everyone forgets to check for
A printed payment code sitting on a table or a wall is a physical object, and physical objects can be tampered with. The known scam is a fraudulent sticker printed to match your code’s size and placed directly over it, quietly redirecting payments to someone else’s account. Check your codes are still yours periodically, especially in unattended locations, and treat any code that looks slightly raised, misaligned or freshly placed as suspicious.
Making it scan reliably
Use high error correction so a slightly scuffed or partially obscured code — common on till counters and tables — still reads correctly, and keep the printed size to at least 3cm so a phone camera can focus on it quickly without the customer needing to move around to find the right distance.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- Can I bake a specific amount into the code, or does the customer type it in?
- It depends on your provider — some payment link formats let you embed a fixed amount, useful for a set-price item or a table's bill, while others always open a blank payment screen for the customer to fill in. Check what your specific provider supports before assuming either way.
- Do all payment providers generate the same kind of QR code?
- No. Formats vary — some encode a plain URL to a hosted checkout, others use a provider-specific payload that only their own app or a compatible banking app understands. Check what your specific provider expects before encoding anything, since the wrong format can look fine but fail to open a payment.
- Is there a real fraud risk with printed payment QR codes?
- Yes, and it's a known scam: someone prints a sticker with their own payment code and sticks it over yours on a menu, a parking meter or a till, redirecting customer payments to themselves. Check your printed codes periodically for anything stuck over them.
Other QR code types
QR code guides
Printing, sizing, or troubleshooting a code? Read our QR code guides and troubleshooting articles.