How invoice if you work with a Pre-payment & Balance

Do you work with a pre-payment and then collect the remaining balance?

For example 25% pre-payment at the time of booking, then 75% due prior to arrival.

If so, you have a few options on how to invoice for this. Perhaps the guest requires an invoice per charge for tax or work reasons? This particular guide covers how to invoice for this set-up, as some guests may require an invoice/s to match their transactions.

We cover two methods, choose which you prefer to work with:

Creating ONE combined invoice for Prepayment and Balance

Creating TWO separate invoices (x1 for Prepayment & x1 for Balance)

So let's get started with the guide on how to create 1, 2 (or more!) invoices for your prepayment and balance. This guide works best if you have first set up your invoice template.

Firstly an explanation of the Details page. When you open any booking, it takes you to the Details page. At the top are Price (total) and the Prepayment amount you have set. In most cases it's a % amount.

For this example the Prepayment % was set to 25% on the Booking Tool ahead of time.

When the guest booked, they immediately pay 25% and the remaining 75% can be collected a few different ways. This guide has more information on how to collect a Balance.

Let's move on, as this guide is all about Invoicing. So to start, locate the booking you want to work from. Open the booking by clicking it and selecting Details. You are taken to this page, and it shows you some financial and price information.

Remember for this particular objective we want to refer to the Price and Prepayment figures, and leave the Financial/Payment details section alone.

OPTION A

Creating ONE invoice for x2 payments (Prepayment and Balance)

So to start locate the booking you want to work from. Open the booking by clicking it and selecting Details and scroll down to the Invoices section, as we'll be making an invoice.

Press the + button to create an invoice

It automatically creates the line items based on the Payment Details section (seen on the previous page). This isn't what we want, so let's edit it. You can delete these pre-populated line items using the bin:

Then press the blue + button to create new lines. Create two lines, one called Prepayment and the other is the Total amount. Write your description however you wish.

Tip: If you add the Prepayment as a minus figure (e.g. -100.00) it will calculate the balance remaining automatically!

Then you can save it by pressing Create, or Create and Send

OPTION B

Creating TWO separate invoices (1 for Prepayment & 1 for Balance)

Open the booking by clicking it and selecting Details and scroll down to the Invoices section.

Press the + button to create an invoice

Delete all the line items and replace it with the Prepayment amount. You can save this invoice by pressing Create, or Create and Send

Then go back to the Details page and create a new invoice again by pressing +

Delete the automated line items and add your own. This time it will be an invoice to request payment of the remaining balance. Create a line item for the amount of Price minus the Prepayment

Save this balance invoice by pressing Create, or Create and Send.

So there you have x2 invoices! One for the Pre-payment amount and the other for the and Balance amount.

Using Stripe and want to collect the balance?

If the guest paid their Prepayment via Stripe, you can collect the remaining How to charge the balance / remaining amount via Stripe

Want to collect the balance via a button on the invoice? (PayPal.me)

First you need to have a PayPal account, and then quickly you can register for PayPal.me

Why? Because if you have PayPal.me activated, you have the choice for an automatic payment button on your invoice. When the guest clicks here on the invoice:

They would then be forwarded to PayPal to pay the remaining amount!

Read on if you have first connected PayPal to Smoobu

How to connect and us Paypal.me to include payment links on your invoices 

Go to Smoobu Settings / External Integration / PayPal.me and follow the steps:

• First have a pre-existing PayPal account
• Register for PayPal.me
• In Smoobu here, enter your chosen PayPal.me name only
• Choose the currency
• Save

For example:

Done!

Then create your invoice, and download to preview it (if you wish)

Invoice Preview

When the guest receives the invoice, they click on the PayPal button and are redirected to pay instantly!