Invoices and getting paid

ArchiveSend does not take your client's money. It writes the invoice, chases it, and records the payment when it reaches you. The money goes directly between you and them, by whatever means you already use.

Drafts and numbers

A draft has no number. It gets one when you issue it, counting up without gaps, and that number never changes afterwards. That is why an issued invoice can be voided but not deleted: removing one would leave a hole in the sequence, and tax authorities in several countries require there not to be one.

An issued invoice also cannot be edited. Your client may be holding it. Void it and raise a new one if something was wrong.

Packages

Save the things you sell once on the Packages page and pick them on any invoice. The price is copied onto the invoice at the time, so raising your prices next season never restates an invoice you already sent.

Payment schedules

Split an invoice into stages, usually a retainer to hold the date and the balance before the shoot. You do not have to say which stage a payment was for: money received fills the schedule in order, which is what both of you assume anyway.

Reminders

If the invoice has a due date and the client has an email address, reminders go out three days before, on the day, then a week and three weeks after. Then they stop. An invoice unpaid after a month needs a phone call, not a fifth email.

They come from your name with your address as reply-to, so your client is dealing with you. Recording a payment stops them immediately. On a schedule, only the next unpaid stage is ever chased.

Recording a payment

When money arrives, record it against the invoice. Partial payments are normal. The methods in the dropdown are the ones you added on the Payment methods page, and whatever you write under each is what your client reads on their invoice under "How to pay". A method with no instructions is no use to them, so it is left off.

Tax

Set your rate once on the Tax page and new taxable lines will use it. Any line can override it.

We cannot tell you whether your work is taxable and we will not guess. It varies by state, and the rules move. Ask your state's department of revenue or your accountant, and put what they tell you here.

If you are VAT registered, add your VAT number on the same page and your invoices switch to the format HMRC and the EU require, including the reverse charge for business clients in another country who give you their own number.