Payment schedules

One invoice can be paid in stages. A deposit to hold the date and a balance before delivery is the common shape, and you can go further than two.

Turning one on

In the invoice editor, below the line items, find Payment type and choose Payment schedule. It starts with two payments, split evenly, and you can change everything.

Two things have to be true first: the invoice needs a total above zero and an invoice date. If either is missing you'll be told rather than left guessing.

Turning it back to Full payment restores the Terms and Due Date fields higher up the form.

A proposal can carry a schedule too, set in its Payment section. There the rows are percentages only. The total isn't settled until the client has chosen, so the amounts are worked out when they accept. See Creating proposals.

What each payment carries

Each row has four parts.

Label. What the client sees beside that payment. A fresh schedule names the first one Deposit and the last one Balance. Leave a label blank and it reads as "Payment 2 of 3".

Amount. Type a figure and the rest of the schedule adjusts.

Percentage. Type a percentage instead, if that's how you think. Amount and percentage are two ways to set the same thing.

Due date. Dates run in order, so a payment can't fall due before the one in front of it or before the invoice date. A date that breaks that shows a message under the field.

The last payment is the balance. Its amount and percentage aren't editable, because it's whatever the earlier payments leave. That's what keeps the schedule adding up to the total.

Add another payment adds a row before the balance, up to twelve payments in total. The bin icon at the end of a row removes it.

Changing the invoice total afterwards re-spreads the schedule, so add your items first and split afterwards.

What the client sees

The invoice shows a Payment schedule section listing every payment with its label, date and amount, and marks which one is due now. A payment that's been settled shows as paid.

The pay button asks for the payment that's due, not the whole total: Pay deposit, Pay installment or Pay balance, with the amount beside it. A small arrow beside it offers Pay in full, for a client who'd rather clear the lot.

They use the same link every time. It doesn't expire, and it always shows what's left.

As payments arrive

Each payment settles against the schedule, whether it came by card or you recorded it by hand. The invoice becomes partially paid, then paid when the last one lands.

Reminders follow the invoice's own due date rather than each payment in the schedule. A scheduled invoice takes its due date from the last payment, so reminders chase that final date.

When to use one

Weddings and anything booked far ahead. A deposit commits the client and covers you for the date you turned away.

Large commercial jobs. Thirds across commission, shoot and delivery is a familiar shape to an accounts department.

Anything you'd rather not chase in full at the end. Money collected along the way is money you don't have to ask for twice.

For payment taken at the point of booking rather than on an invoice, see Unpaid bookings and Pricing and deposits.