How payment links create and associate deals

Learn how payment links create and associate new deals, and in which situations these associations happen automatically. Understand the rules and settings that affect deal creation when a buyer completes payment through a payment link.

How payments are associated with deals and other records

When a buyer pays through a payment link, HubSpot creates a payment record and associates it with a contact based on the email address entered at checkout. Deal records are created based on:

• The status of the Allow payment links to create new deals setting, configured as a default setting or when creating a payment link.
• Whether there's an existing deal associated with the payment link.
• Whether the link is created from a record or from the payment links index page.

How the create new deals setting works

Learn how the Allow payment links to create new deals setting affects deal creation and association to other records. The setting is turned off by default.

Crete new deals setting turned off

When the Allow payment links to create new deals setting is off:

• No new deals are created from the payment link when a payment is made.

• HubSpot associates each payment with an existing deal, using the following rules:
  • There's a deal associated with the payment link.
  • The buyer is associated with the existing deal.
• If both conditions are met, the new payment is associated with the existing deal.
• If any condition isn’t met (for example, the buyer is a new contact who isn’t yet associated with the deal), the payment remains associated with the contact only, until you add a deal association manually.

You may want to keep the setting off if:

• You use a single primary deal representing an event or project.

• Multiple associated contacts can pay for the same engagement using the same, reusable payment link.

• You want all payments associated with a single open open deal rather than creating a new deal for each payment.

Create new deals setting turned on

When the Allow payment links to create new deals setting is on, each payment creates a new deal in the selected pipeline and stage, unless:

• There's an existing deal that's not in the Closed won stage.

• The existing deal is associated with the payment link and buyer.

• In this situation, HubSpot will associate any new payments made with the payment link with the existing deal, rather than creating a new one.

You may want to turn this setting on if:

• You want one deal per order or purchase. This is more typical for e-commerce.

• You want to automate onboarding tasks, fulfillment tickets, or per‑order revenue reporting for each new sale.

When a payment link is created from a record

When a payment link is created from a contact, company, or deal record, payments and subscriptions from that link are automatically associated to the record, regardless of the email used at checkout.

Recurring subscription payments

When a buyer uses a payment link to purchase a line item with a regular billing frequency (e.g., monthly):

• HubSpot creates a subscription to automatically charge the buyer at the specified frequency. This means that a new deal won’t be created for each subscription payment, even if the Allow payment links to create new deals setting is turned on.

• Payments will be tracked on the subscription record, which is associated with the original deal.

Example deal creation scenarios

The following table summarizes how deal creation is handled under different scenarios.