diff --git a/src/collections/payments.ts b/src/collections/payments.ts
index c90e692..797e140 100644
--- a/src/collections/payments.ts
+++ b/src/collections/payments.ts
@@ -106,6 +106,15 @@ export function createPaymentsCollection(pluginConfig: BillingPluginConfig): Col
       hasMany: true,
       relationTo: extractSlug(pluginConfig.collections?.refunds || defaults.refundsCollection) as CollectionSlug,
     },
+    {
+      name: 'version',
+      type: 'number',
+      admin: {
+        hidden: true, // Hide from admin UI
+      },
+      defaultValue: 1,
+      required: true,
+    },
   ]
   if (overrides?.fields) {
     fields = overrides?.fields({defaultFields: fields})
@@ -129,6 +138,9 @@ export function createPaymentsCollection(pluginConfig: BillingPluginConfig): Col
       beforeChange: [
         async ({ data, operation, req }) => {
           if (operation === 'create') {
+            // Initialize version for new payments
+            data.version = 1
+
             // Validate amount format
             if (data.amount && !Number.isInteger(data.amount)) {
               throw new Error('Amount must be an integer (in cents)')
@@ -143,6 +155,15 @@ export function createPaymentsCollection(pluginConfig: BillingPluginConfig): Col
             }
 
             await initProviderPayment(req.payload, data)
+          } else if (operation === 'update') {
+            // Auto-increment version for updates (if not already set by optimistic locking)
+            if (!data.version) {
+              const currentDoc = await req.payload.findByID({
+                collection: extractSlug(pluginConfig.collections?.payments || defaults.paymentsCollection),
+                id: req.id as any
+              })
+              data.version = (currentDoc.version || 1) + 1
+            }
           }
         },
       ] satisfies CollectionBeforeChangeHook<Payment>[],
diff --git a/src/plugin/types/payments.ts b/src/plugin/types/payments.ts
index 8307679..94246e5 100644
--- a/src/plugin/types/payments.ts
+++ b/src/plugin/types/payments.ts
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ export interface Payment {
     | boolean
     | null;
   refunds?: (number | Refund)[] | null;
+  version: number;
   updatedAt: string;
   createdAt: string;
 }
diff --git a/src/providers/utils.ts b/src/providers/utils.ts
index d70e284..75715fd 100644
--- a/src/providers/utils.ts
+++ b/src/providers/utils.ts
@@ -43,46 +43,39 @@ export async function findPaymentByProviderId(
 }
 
 /**
- * Update payment status and provider data with proper optimistic locking
+ * Update payment status and provider data with atomic optimistic locking
  */
 export async function updatePaymentStatus(
   payload: Payload,
   paymentId: string | number,
   status: Payment['status'],
-  providerData: any,
+  providerData: ProviderData<any>,
   pluginConfig: BillingPluginConfig
 ): Promise<boolean> {
   const paymentsCollection = extractSlug(pluginConfig.collections?.payments || defaults.paymentsCollection)
 
-  // Get current payment to check for concurrent modifications
+  // Get current payment to check version for atomic locking
   const currentPayment = await payload.findByID({
     collection: paymentsCollection,
     id: paymentId as any // Cast to avoid type mismatch between Id and PayloadCMS types
   }) as Payment
 
   const now = new Date().toISOString()
-
-  // First, try to find payments that match both ID and current updatedAt
-  const conflictCheck = await payload.find({
-    collection: paymentsCollection,
-    where: {
-      id: { equals: paymentId },
-      updatedAt: { equals: currentPayment.updatedAt }
-    }
-  })
-
-  // If no matching payment found, it means it was modified concurrently
-  if (conflictCheck.docs.length === 0) {
-    console.warn(`[Payment Update] Concurrent modification detected for payment ${paymentId}, skipping update`)
-    return false
-  }
+  const nextVersion = (currentPayment.version || 1) + 1
 
   try {
-    const result = await payload.update({
+    // Use updateMany for atomic version-based optimistic locking
+    const result = await payload.updateMany({
       collection: paymentsCollection,
-      id: paymentId as any, // Cast to avoid type mismatch between Id and PayloadCMS types
+      where: {
+        and: [
+          { id: { equals: paymentId } },
+          { version: { equals: currentPayment.version || 1 } }
+        ]
+      },
       data: {
         status,
+        version: nextVersion,
         providerData: {
           ...providerData,
           webhookProcessedAt: now,
@@ -91,13 +84,13 @@ export async function updatePaymentStatus(
       }
     })
 
-    // Verify the update actually happened by checking if updatedAt changed
-    if (result.updatedAt === currentPayment.updatedAt) {
-      console.warn(`[Payment Update] Update may have failed for payment ${paymentId} - updatedAt unchanged`)
+    // Check if the update was successful (affected documents > 0)
+    if (result.docs && result.docs.length > 0) {
+      return true
+    } else {
+      console.warn(`[Payment Update] Optimistic lock failed for payment ${paymentId} - version mismatch (expected: ${currentPayment.version}, may have been updated by another process)`)
       return false
     }
-
-    return true
   } catch (error) {
     console.error(`[Payment Update] Failed to update payment ${paymentId}:`, error)
     return false