Payment method and apparatus

The invention discloses a payment method and apparatus. The method comprises: a payment order is obtained; an order serial number corresponding to the payment order is generated, wherein the order serial number is a unique identifier of the payment order; a payment way corresponding to the payment order serial number is obtained; according to the payment way, one or more payment bills are generated, wherein the one or more payment bills are associated with the order serial number; and the payment state/states of the one or more payment bills is/are verified by determining a payment progress of the payment order. According to the invention, a problem that payment is not done successfully because the payment limit is set or the balance of the account is not insufficient when one-off payment of a payment order is done on line in the prior art can be solved.