Introduction: When Payments Live Outside Salesforce

What happens after an Opportunity is marked as Closed Won, if payment confirmation is not visible in Salesforce? Sales considers the deal finished, while Finance checks a separate payment system, and RevOps tries to align reports that do not fully match. This gap between deal status and confirmed payment is a common operational issue, even in Salesforce orgs with well-defined processes.

This disconnect is not unusual. According to MuleSoft’s 2025 Connectivity Benchmark Report, 66% of organizations still do not provide an integrated user experience across their systems, and only 10% report experiencing no challenges caused by data silos. When customer, sales, and payment data live in separate tools, gaps in visibility become part of daily work, especially around revenue confirmation and reporting.

In many teams, payment data lives outside Salesforce, which makes it harder to understand real revenue, payment timing, and customer status. Salesforce payment gateway integration helps close this gap by making payment status visible alongside sales data, reducing blind spots between Sales and Finance.

This article explains how online payments can be centralized inside Salesforce, what payment gateway integration looks like in day-to-day admin work, and what Salesforce admins and RevOps teams should review before implementing such an approach.

Payment Gateway Integration in Salesforce: Why Visibility and Data Alignment Are Still Challenging

At first, the separation may be intentional. Finance teams rely on payment processors or billing tools that are designed for compliance, reconciliation, and audit needs. Sales teams, on the other hand, focus on speed and deal progress inside the CRM. However, over time this split creates operational friction. 

Common Operational Gaps Teams Run Into

When CRM and payment systems are not closely connected, several issues appear again and again:

• Separate systems for CRM and payments, with no shared source of truth.
• Manual data transfer between Sales and Finance, often by email or spreadsheets.
• Delayed or partial visibility in reports, especially around revenue timing.
• Inconsistent data, where Opportunities show success, but payments are still pending or missing.

These gaps do not always break processes, but they slow them down. RevOps teams spend extra time validating numbers, and leadership dashboards require explanation rather than confidence.

This is why teams start exploring Salesforce payment integration. The intent is not to move all finance work into the CRM but to reduce blind spots created by disconnected systems.

What “Centralized Payments” Actually Means in Salesforce

Centralization does not mean processing every payment directly inside Salesforce. In practical terms, it means visibility and linkage. Payment activity is connected to the same records teams already use, such as Accounts, Opportunities, and related billing records.

A centralized approach allows admins and users to:

1. See payment status without leaving Salesforce.
2. Understand how transactions relate to specific customers and deals.
3. Keep reporting aligned across sales and finance data.
4. Make payment data available for Salesforce automation and Agentforce use cases by storing it as Salesforce records.

Different tools support this in different ways, but the expectation is consistent data relationships and clear ownership rules. 

Choosing an Approach for Payment Gateway Integration with Salesforce

Start by deciding what you want to maintain long-term. Some teams use middleware and custom code. Others prefer an AppExchange app that installs into Salesforce and handles sync for you. If your goal is faster setup and fewer moving parts, many admins start by reviewing an AppExchange list in search of a native solution.

Payment integration solutions on AppExchange

When scanning AppExchange listings for native payment integrations, we found Breadwinner Payments as one of several tools that operate within Salesforce.

Breadwinner Payments on AppExchange

Breadwinner Payments is a Salesforce-native application that connects Salesforce records with external payment processors. It allows payment data, such as customers, transactions, invoices, and subscriptions, to be represented inside Salesforce and linked to standard objects like Accounts and Opportunities. This approach lets teams view and work with payment-related information from within Salesforce, while actual payment processing continues to happen in the connected payment platform.

Supported Payment Processors and Data Flow Considerations

Another point to consider is the payment processor you work with and what data needs to be available inside Salesforce. Different processors support different payment scenarios, and this affects both how the integration is set up and what teams can see or act on in Salesforce. For example, the solution from Breadwinner supports Stripe, Square, and Braintree.

From a data-flow perspective, the setup usually includes inbound sync into Salesforce and optional outbound actions from Salesforce back to the processor. For example, the inbound side can include customers, transactions, payment methods, subscriptions, and invoices. Sync runs on a schedule, with a default cadence of 15 minutes and an option to adjust it based on volume.

Once the integration approach is selected, the next steps focus on implementing and validating it inside Salesforce. The steps below describe a practical way to set up Salesforce integration with payment gateway using a selected Salesforce-native app as an example.

Step-by-Step: How Online Payment System Integration with Salesforce Works

After selecting an approach, setup usually begins with installing the package and configuring Salesforce payments integration appropriately.

Step 1: Install the Package and Connect Your Payment Processor

After selecting a Salesforce-native solution, the first practical step is installing the app from AppExchange. As with most payment-related tools, admins usually install it for Admins Only. This allows time to review objects, permissions, and data visibility before granting access to other users.

Once the app is installed, the next step is connecting a payment processor. You choose the processor, such as Stripe, Braintree, or Square, and complete authentication using the processor’s credentials.

Configuration page in Breadwinner Payments

In the screenshot above, you can see simple instructions that will guide you through the process of configuring the application in the most understandable and quickest way.

After the connection is confirmed, the application starts syncing data from the payment platform into Salesforce.

Step 2: Align Processor Customers with Accounts or Contacts

Customer matching defines how payment customers are linked to Salesforce records and directly affects data quality. In this step, you decide whether customers from the payment processor should match existing Accounts or Contacts, create new records, or be ignored.

Matching is usually based on identifiers such as email address or processor customer ID. Before moving on, review a small sample of matched records to confirm the relationships make sense for both Sales and Finance. If the matches are unclear now, reporting and daily use will be harder later.

Step 3: Make Payment Data Visible on Salesforce Records

After customer matching is in place, the next step is making payment data visible where users already work. This usually means adding related lists to standard record pages, such as Accounts or Contacts.

Once added, users can see payment customers, transactions, and related activity directly on Salesforce records. This step is important because it turns synced data into something teams can actually use, instead of data that exists but remains hidden.

Step 4: Choose Between View-Only Access and Active Actions

Many teams begin with read-only access so users can view payment data without changing anything in the payment processor. This helps Sales and Finance get comfortable with the data and confirm it looks correct.

If your process requires it, you can later allow users to create or manage transactions, invoices, or subscriptions from Salesforce. In Breadwinner Payments, this is controlled by switching from a view-only setup to an active mode that sends actions from Salesforce to the payment processor.

Step 5: Validate a Real Workflow

Before rolling the integration out more broadly, test a real workflow instead of a simple connection check. For example, review a paid invoice linked to an Opportunity and confirm the relationships and statuses make sense in Salesforce.

Transactions from your payment processor within Salesforce

Next, create a payment directly from Salesforce, run through the guided flow, and confirm that each review step behaves as expected before data is sent to the payment processor. This final check helps catch issues early, before the integration is used in daily work.

Best Practices for Payment Integration Into Salesforce

When rolling out Salesforce payment gateways integration, a few small decisions make a big difference later.

1. Start with controlled access.

Install for Admins Only, then grant access through the provided permission sets and your sharing rules, so payment-related records are not visible to the wrong users.

2. Agree on the system of record for key fields. 

Decide which team owns customer identity, amounts, status, and refund details. This reduces “double edits” across systems once data is syncing.

3. Begin in view-only mode. 

Let Sales and Finance validate customer matching and payment status visibility before you allow actions that write back to the processor.

4. Test with a sandbox and test accounts. 

Run sample transactions and confirm the same records display correctly on Accounts and Opportunities before you open it to more users.

5. Set expectations on sync timing.

Breadwinner Payments imports data on a schedule and can be tuned based on volume, so define what “near real time” means for your business reports.

If you apply these checks early, payment gateway integration Salesforce becomes easier to support because teams trust the data they see on core records.

Typical Issues Teams Face After Payment Integration

Even when the setup is clean, teams often run into a few repeat problems during payment processing integration Salesforce rollout. Most of them come down to access, matching, or connectivity.

• Users cannot see payment data on records: This is usually a permissions issue. For example, in Breadwinner Payments, access is controlled through permission sets, so missing assignments can block visibility.
• Customers do not link to the right Accounts or Contacts: If matching rules were too strict or inconsistent, the data may land in Salesforce without the expected relationships. A practical fix is to rerun the customer matching process after adjusting your approach.
• Sync stops, or data looks outdated: This often points to a processor connection issue. Checking the payment processor connection is a common first step.

Permissions description in the payments app.

Costs and Pricing Factors to Expect

When you plan Salesforce integration with payment platform, it is important to understand the cost of implementing and using the appropriate solution, taking into account various factors:

• Payment processor fees: Usually per transaction, plus extra fees for refunds, chargebacks, or cards in different regions.
• Integration solution cost: Paid AppExchange apps can be licensed by users, org, or volume.
• Implementation effort: Initial setup, customer matching rules, page layout updates, and testing a real workflow can take admin and analyst time.
• Ongoing admin work: Permission sets, monitoring sync jobs, and handling exceptions when data does not match cleanly.
• Security and compliance needs: Your approach may require extra controls around who can view payment-related fields.

 

Some vendors, such as Breadwinner, also offer a free trial so you can validate fit before committing.

Final Thoughts on Payment Integration in Salesforce

A successful payment setup in Salesforce starts with alignment, not automation. The goal is to make payment information easier to see and trust, without forcing all financial activity into the CRM. Clear visibility into payment status and customer context often delivers the most immediate value.

The steps and examples in this guide show what to plan for when linking payments to Salesforce records and where teams typically run into issues. When expectations are set early and data ownership is clear, Salesforce can reflect payment activity accurately while finance systems continue to do what they are built for.