How to Send Automatic Payment Reminders on PayPal Invoices (2026)

PayPal can remind your customers about unpaid invoices two ways: a manual reminder you send on a single invoice, and an automatic reminder setting that does it for you. Most people only ever use the manual one — or don't realize the automatic setting exists — so invoices sit unpaid longer than they need to.

This guide covers both, step by step, and where PayPal's reminders stop short — so you can decide whether they're enough on their own. (The steps follow PayPal's official help article on invoice reminders.)

How to turn on automatic reminders for PayPal invoices

Automatic reminders are the set-and-forget option — PayPal follows up on unpaid invoices without you doing anything. To switch them on:

1. Go to your invoices in your PayPal business account (the Invoicing area).
2. Select the Settings (gear) icon.
3. Select Automatic Reminders.
4. Turn automatic reminders on, adjust when they send, and save your settings.

How to send a manual reminder on a single invoice

Need to nudge one specific invoice right now? Send a manual reminder:

1. Click Activity and locate the invoice or money request you sent.
2. Click the invoice to open it.
3. Click Remind at the top right of the page.
4. Click Send a reminder. You can also copy the reminder to yourself and add a note to your customer on the same screen.

What you can and can't control

• Manual reminders: send one any time, with an optional note — full control, but you have to remember to do it.
• Automatic reminders: PayPal follows up on its own once you enable the setting — hands-off, but the scheduling controls are basic.
• Tone and sequence: there's no done-for-you cadence that opens gentle and firms up over time — PayPal's reminders are straightforward nudges, not an escalating series.

Where PayPal reminders stop short

PayPal's reminders are handy if you already invoice through PayPal. But it's worth being honest about the edges:

• It's off by default, and basic. The automatic setting isn't on until you find and enable it, and it doesn't give you a long, tone-shifting sequence.
• Everything is wired to the PayPal rail. The reminder's job is to get the customer to pay through PayPal — and when they do, PayPal takes a processing fee out of money you'd already earned. You're effectively paying to be reminded.
• It assumes your customer pays by PayPal. If they'd rather pay by check, bank transfer, Venmo, or a card link, the PayPal invoice-and-reminder loop doesn't fit as cleanly.

When a dedicated reminder tool makes more sense

If PayPal's reminders cover you, you're done — no new tool needed. A dedicated reminder tool earns its place when you want the follow-up handled for you, and kept separate from how the customer actually pays. That's the bet invoice reminder software makes, and it's what FieldNudge does:

• A longer, done-for-you cadence. Six polite touches — a nudge before the due date, on the due date, then 3, 7, 14, and 30 days overdue — with the tone written for you and escalating from friendly to firm, never debt-collector.
• It never touches your customer's money. There's no processing fee, because FieldNudge isn't the payment rail. Your customers keep paying exactly how they already do — check, Venmo, Cash App, ACH, or your own card link.
• It works no matter how you get paid. Use PayPal, use something else, use five different methods across your customers — FieldNudge just makes sure the invoice gets paid.

Here's the full cadence FieldNudge runs, versus a basic PayPal nudge:

None of this makes PayPal's reminders bad — if you already collect through PayPal, turning on the automatic setting is the highest-value thing in this guide. It's just worth knowing where a basic built-in nudge ends and a done-for-you follow-up system begins. If you'd like the exact wording to start from either way, we've published copy-paste payment reminder email templates you can drop straight in.