Accepting online deposits saves you time, secures your customers’ commitment to your projects, and gives you a jump start on cash-flow. If you have both QuickBooks Payments and the newest version of Estimates in QBO, you can request s deposit from your customers that they can pay directly from the Estimate. When customers pay the deposit, QuickBooks automatically marks each Estimate accepted, then converts the appropriate Estimate to an Invoice, and records the customers' deposit as a partial payment toward the new Invoice.
Creating an Estimate and requesting a deposit:
- Select + New. Then select Estimate.
- Select + Add customer and select your customer from the ▼ drop-down.
- Select + Add product or service.
- Then, in the Product or service field, select the ▼ drop-down and choose your product or service.
- Then add the rate, if needed.
- To request a deposit, select + Request a deposit.
- Then enter the Amount.
- The payment methods for the deposit will display in the Ways to Pay section.
- To edit, turn on/off the switches under Payment methods.
- When you're done, select Email to save and send the Estimate to your customer.
When the customer gets the estimate email and selects the Review and pay button, they can review the Estimate and Accept and Pay the deposit online.
Check the Invoice Due Date and related settings:
When your customer accepts your estimate by paying a deposit online, a partially paid Invoice is created. The day the Estimate is paid becomes the Invoice date. It’s important to pay attention to this date, especially if you aren’t going to start the work right away. Be aware that the due date defaults to Net 30 payment terms on all partially paid Invoices created this way (even if you have a different global setting like Due on receipt or Net 15). So, unless you edit the Invoice date, the Invoice will be due 30 days from when your customer pays the Estimate deposit. This default Net 30 gives you time to adjust or edit the Invoice to better align it with when the work will start and also to prevent reminders or late fees from being processed.
Update the Invoice Due Date if needed:
Now that you understand the importance of the due date, take these steps to edit your Invoice date to align it with when the work is actually starting.
- Go to Sales or Invoicing.
- Select the Invoices tab.
- Find and select the Invoice.
- Select Edit invoice.
- Select the Invoice date field and enter a date in the future that is close to the time work will be completed.
- Select Save.
This process can greatly enhance the turn-around time from Estimate, to customer acceptance, to cash-in-the-bank with a deposit on new jobs.