Taking payments

A payment marks an invoice paid - in full, or in part - and puts the money in one of your accounts, so your books and the client's balance stay right. Payments come in three ways:

• you record one that came in by check, bank transfer or cash
• the client pays online by card, from the invoice's link or the client portal, and it's recorded for you
• you charge a card the client saved, or a recurring invoice does it by itself with autopay

Record a payment

1. Open the invoice and click Add Payment - or use Add on its Payments card, or Add Payment in its row's menu in the invoices list.
2. Amount starts at what's owed. Change it for a part payment - the line under it says whether it pays the invoice in full.
3. Set the Date it came in, the Method (check, bank transfer and so on) and a Reference such as the check or transaction number.
4. Pick the account it went Into.
5. Leave Email a receipt on to send the client a receipt.
6. Click Add Payment.

A part payment leaves the invoice Partial, with what's still owed. When the balance reaches nothing, it's Paid.

One payment for several invoices

When a client sends one check for several invoices, record it once. In the client's Invoices, use the arrow beside New Invoice and pick Batch Payment.

It lists the client's unpaid invoices. The payment is spread over them oldest first: each is paid in full until the payment runs out, and the last one it reaches may be part paid.

Online payments

When your admin has connected a payment provider such as Stripe in Admin > Payment providers, invoices get a Pay Now button - on the invoice's link and in the client portal. The client pays by card - in the portal they can pay several invoices in one go - and:

• the payment is recorded on the invoice, into the account your admin picked
• the client gets a receipt
• the provider's fee is recorded as an expense a few minutes later, so your income and costs both add up
• an email goes to whoever your admin set to hear about invoices paid online

If your admin has clients pay the card fee, the client sees it before paying, it goes on the invoice as a Card Fee line when the payment goes through, and the payment includes it - so the invoice is paid in full. A client let off it, with No card fee on their details, pays just the invoice.

Your admin can limit online payment to invoices under a set amount.

Saved cards and autopay

A client can save a card in the client portal. Then:

• on a sent invoice, the arrow beside Add Payment has Charge Saved Card. The card is charged straight away, the payment is recorded and a receipt goes to the client. When the client pays the card fee, the window shows it and what is charged in all.
• a recurring invoice can charge the card by itself on the due date of each invoice it makes.

When an invoice is paid in full

However the last of it is paid - recorded here, online, by autopay or as part of a batch:

• A lead becomes a client. Your admin can turn this off in Admin > Settings > Invoices and billing.
• A ticket waiting on the invoice hears about it. It gets an internal note saying the invoice was paid, goes from On Hold back to Open, and the agent it's assigned to is emailed. A ticket waits on an invoice when it's one of the tickets of a quote that became the invoice, or was raised for it through the API - a sign-up form on your website, say. A billable ticket whose time is on the invoice is left as it is.

Change or remove a payment

Each payment is listed on the invoice's Payments card. Its ⋮ menu has Edit and Delete. Deleting a payment takes it off the invoice and its account, so the invoice is owed again - no money moves.

A card payment also has Refund through Stripe, which gives the money back to the client's card and takes the payment off the same way. A card fee the payment carried is refunded with it, and its Card Fee line comes off the invoice.

Every payment, and income that isn't for an invoice, is also listed in Finance > Income. Click one for its quick look, with Open Invoice, Email Receipt, Edit and Delete.

The quick look also says whether the payment has cleared on a bank statement, once you reconcile the account.