Industry
Payments software for optometry and eye care practices
Optometry mixes a low-ticket exam with a high-ticket eyewear sale and a repeating contact lens supply. Enterprise Pay Gateway handles all three: checkout links for exams and frames, recurring billing for lens plans, and hosted invoices for balances left after insurance — with payouts to your own bank, a fixed subscription and a platform fee from 0.20% to 0.75%. Stripe bills processing separately.
Last updated 9 September 2026
Eyewear ticket
$200–$900
Frames and lenses carry the margin. A payment that fails or stalls at the dispensing table costs far more than a missed exam fee.
Subscription fit
High
Contact lens supply is naturally recurring, and a scheduled charge with automatic retries keeps that revenue from drifting to online sellers.
Balance after claim
Common
Vision plans rarely cover the whole order, so a fast, clear way to collect the remainder protects cash flow.
Where the money leaks
Deposits on custom eyewear are awkward to collect
Bespoke lenses are ordered before payment in many practices. A deposit checkout taken at the dispensing table removes the risk of an uncollected order sitting in a drawer.
Contact lens supply leaks to online retailers
A patient who has to reorder manually will eventually buy elsewhere. A scheduled subscription with a self-serve portal keeps the supply in the practice.
Patient balances are chased by phone
Once a vision claim settles, the residual balance is often pursued by staff calls. A hosted invoice with a link is faster and cheaper.
Two locations, two views of the money
Multi-site practices usually run separate terminals and reconcile at the end of the month. Consolidated reporting across locations removes that exercise.
The four payment flows you need
- 1
Eye exam
Send or display a checkout link for the exam fee so it settles before or at the appointment.
- 2
Eyewear order
Take a deposit or the full amount at the dispensing table, with the frame and lens option named in the checkout description.
- 3
Contact lens plan
Bill the supply monthly or quarterly, with retries on a declined card and a portal for the patient to update details.
- 4
Remaining balance
Invoice whatever the vision plan did not cover, with a due date and an optional bank-debit method for larger amounts.
What optometry payment processing costs
Stripe charges processing directly to your account — its published US online card rate is 2.9% plus 30 cents at the time of writing, with card-present and international pricing differing.
Enterprise Pay Gateway adds a fixed subscription from $49 a month plus a platform fee that falls with volume: 0.75% on Starter, 0.60% on Growth, 0.40% on Pro, and 0.20%–0.35% negotiated for groups.
Because eyewear tickets are large, the platform fee is the number to model. On $120,000 a month, Pro's 0.40% is roughly $480 plus the subscription, alongside Stripe's processing charge.
Deposits on custom orders
Custom lenses cannot be resold, so a deposit is reasonable and is best set as a fixed amount credited against the order rather than the full price up front.
State the deposit and the cancellation position in the checkout description, which is shown at payment and is the record a card issuer will look for if the charge is later questioned.
Refund quickly when an order is cancelled before it is cut. A refund costs less than a chargeback, which carries a fee and counts against your dispute ratio regardless of the outcome.
Keeping prescriptions out of payment records
Hosted checkout keeps card details with Stripe and out of your systems, which holds your PCI obligation at the simplest self-assessment level.
Prescription and clinical detail belongs in your practice management system. Keep product names and invoice descriptions commercial — they appear on receipts and card statements.
Frequently asked questions
- Can we take a deposit on custom eyewear?
- Yes. Create a deposit product at a fixed amount, take it at the dispensing table, and credit it against the final order. Put the terms in the checkout description.
- Can contact lens supply be billed as a subscription?
- Yes. Set the product to bill monthly or quarterly. Declines retry automatically and patients can update their card through a self-serve portal.
- How do we collect what a vision plan did not cover?
- Send a hosted invoice with a due date. For larger balances you can allow bank debit so the processing cost stays proportionate to the amount.
- What does it cost?
- Stripe's processing fee plus a platform fee. Enterprise Pay Gateway starts at $49 a month plus 0.75%, falling to 0.40% at higher volume.
Start taking deposits this week
Create your account, verify with Stripe, and share your first checkout link. Card processing is provided by Stripe under its own agreement with you.