How to Collect a Payment on an Invoice Updated June 01, 2022 16:11

Overview

So you've been paid for your work. Congrats! Now we have to enter that payment in Jobber to balance your client's billing history.

Collect payment button on an invoice

Regardless of the method of payment, the first step will be to navigate to the invoice that the payment is for. Payments cannot be recorded on draft invoices, so the invoice will need to be either marked as sent (More Actions > Mark as Sent) or sent to the client by email or text. Once the invoice is sent, it will be in either awaiting payment or past due status based on when the due date is. When a payment is collected on the invoice and the balance is paid in full, the invoice status will change to 'Paid'.

Beside the More Actions button in the top right, you will see a button for Collect Payment. Click Collect Payment.

When you click, Collect Payment a pop-up will appear that will prompt you to enter the details of the payment.

You will be able to enter payment details here like method, amount, transaction date, and details. If you are charging the client's credit card through Jobber Payments, make sure that you have Jobber Payments selected in the method type, rather than "credit card". Otherwise, pick the payment method that the client used to pay. The payment methods available are Jobber Payments, cash, check, credit card, bank transfer, money order, and other. 

Once you save the payment, it will appear below the invoice total and you will see the payment amount removed from the invoice total. When your invoice is paid in full the invoice balance will be $0.00.

Clicking on the text for Payment will open a pop-up that shows the details.

Partial payments

If you are recording a partial payment against the invoice, when you are entering payment detail be sure to edit the payment amount. By default the amount field will show the invoice total, but this can be changed to reflect what the customer has paid. 

When you save the payment, the payment will be deducted from the invoice's total to give you a new invoice balance that represents what the client still owes on this invoice. There can be many partial payments recorded against an invoice. 

The invoice status won't change to 'Paid' until the invoice has been paid in full.

Note: Your clients can't pay partial amounts in the client hub, they will only see the option to pay the invoice in full. However if you have a client's card stored on file, you can charge them the partial amount– just make sure to change the amount first!

Close an invoice without a payment

Tip: For most workflows in Jobber you will want to be using the Collect Payment option rather than closing the invoice without a payment to ensure that the invoice balance is updated. However, if you do want to mark an invoice as paid but keep the balance open it is possible.

From the More Actions menu, click Close Invoice.

Selecting Close Invoice gives you three options to close this invoice With a Payment, as Bad Debt, or to close it Without a Payment. 

Click Without a Payment.

This option changes the invoice status to 'Paid' but doesn't actually record a payment on this invoice. That means the invoice will say it's paid but will still have an outstanding balance. You might use this option if you were recording payments entirely outside of Jobber, but want to track awaiting payments in Jobber.

Selecting With a Payment will take you through the same payment recording flow as clicking Collect Payment. If you chose this option, you will be prompted to enter the payment details and the invoice balance will be updated accordingly.  

If you select Bad Debt, the invoice status is changed to show 'Bad Debt', this deems it as uncollectible and removes the invoice from Awaiting Payment and Past Due lists. If an invoice has been partially paid, marking it as Bad Debt will only affect the remaining balance owed.