How great invoicing can get your business paid faster

Nothing compares to getting paid for doing what you love. Whether you sell products online across markets, provide professional services or run a local catering company, it’s always a win when you make money from selling your product or service. But how can you ensure your clients or customers know what, when and how to pay you?

When it comes to invoicing, many companies face unnecessary financial and operational burdens. Creating a process to quickly create, send, and save electronic invoices is essential. Digitising the creation and processing of invoices unlocks extensive benefits: saves significant time for businesses, reduces material and paper costs, lowers potential invoicing errors, and helps you get paid faster. What’s more, many find that e-invoicing solutions can help with compliance regulations.

Why switch to an online invoicing solution?

Online invoicing, also called electronic invoicing or digital invoicing, is a method of issuing invoices where transaction records between buyers and sellers are generated, transmitted, processed and stored in a standardised electronic format.

In contrast to paper invoices or invoices sent as PDF or Word documents, e-invoices contain structured data for the relevant transaction details and are created using specialised software. They can be transmitted quickly through electronic channels and seamlessly processed and validated without manual entry.

Business benefits of using an online invoicing solution like PayPal Invoicing:

• Get paid on time. E-invoicing helps you produce accurate invoices in a consistent format and keep track of them through to payment. That gives your business the best possible chance of minimising queries and getting paid on time. With a clear statement of the amount owed, your business’s payment terms and instructions on how to pay, a professional sales invoice ensures you and your client are aligned on payment expectations. PayPal invoices include a direct link to a payment page making it fast and simple for your customers to pay.

• Present a professional image in your branding. As a lasting record of your business interaction, a well-presented invoice customised with your company name and logo reflects an organised and professional image for your business.

• Expand and get paid in 200+ markets. If you sell across borders, your customers may require an invoice to determine any import duties or taxes before they can receive the goods. E-invoicing makes it simple to create and send invoices in 20+ currencies.

• Enable seamless B2B payments. If you sell to businesses rather than consumers, you’ll probably find your customer can’t pay until they have received your invoice. Sending an e-invoice with details like taxes, discounts and special notes makes that happen faster.

• Monitor cash flow, payment tracking, and business analytics. With a good e-invoicing process, you can keep track of what has been paid, what is still outstanding, and what requires a follow-up. Keeping track of paid and unpaid invoices can help you better forecast your cashflow as you can see what payments to expect in the coming days, weeks and months.

• Simplify tax filing and record-keeping purposes. When preparing your accounts and accounting for the taxes you owe, it’s essential you track the income you received during the year —using an e-invoicing solution makes that process much simpler.

Key points to include on your invoice

Giving your customer an invoice is often the first step towards getting paid. To avoid queries and delays, make sure you include the following information on every invoice.

1. Business name, invoice number, date and contact details. It might sound obvious, but these details are easy to forget. Including the legal name of your business helps ensure the payment comes to the right place. An invoice number and date help you and the customer know exactly what is being paid. Contact details help to speedily answer any questions the customer might have.
2. Write an itemised list of all billed goods/services. Minimise queries and delays by including a list of the products or services provided to the client. Include a description of each item, quantity, unit price, and total price for each line item. Calculate the subtotal for all items. If applicable, specify any taxes (e.g. sales tax, VAT) and their respective amounts. Be sure to include the currency. Even if you only sell domestically, it is good practice to be clear about the invoice currency. If you sell across borders, this is essential.
3. Provide a detailed description. When listing items on your invoice, be as detailed as possible. Including information on the services or products provided, such as size, colour, specifications and delivery/completion dates can minimise the risk of disputes and help protect your business from fraud.
4. Clearly show the total amount due. Ensure the total amount to be paid (including any shipping, taxes or additional costs) is clearly stated.
5. Add your payment terms. Clearly state your payment terms, such as the due date, and any late fees or discounts for early payments. These may be standard terms that you also display on your website or price list, but they can be special terms agreed between you and the customer when you agreed the contract, project or sale.
6. Include payment instructions. This is important. Make it easy for customers to pay you by including ways to pay on every invoice. You should include accepted payment methods – such as credit card or bank transfer. If you accept online payment by card or wallet (like PayPal) include a direct link or QR code taking the customer direct to a payment page to speed up payment. 79% of PayPal invoices are paid within one day of sending the invoice.¹

When to create an invoice

When you issue an invoice depends on your type of business. Often, invoicing occurs at the point of, or just after, delivery of the item or service. For example, if you’re a marketing company hired to create an event flyer, you may send your invoice once the flyer is completed.

However, if you run a services business – maybe a design consultancy, landscaping or personal training business– you may want to schedule and automatically send recurring invoices to your customers. With a solution like PayPal Invoicing, you can create recurring series for the frequency and period you require – maybe weekly, every two weeks or monthly until you decide to cancel. Scheduling recurring invoices saves you time and avoids the risk of forgetting when things get busy.

If you provide services or products on an ongoing basis, you can invoice each of your clients at the end of the month based on their consumption. In these situations, it can be helpful to use a batch invoicing solution or use an Invoicing API that PayPal offers to directly connect with your accounting or ERP system.

Whichever method you choose, remember to invoice promptly once an invoice is due. If you delay sending your invoice, it will take longer before you get paid.

How to create an invoice with PayPal Invoicing

Regardless of the size of your business, PayPal Invoicing makes it simple to create and send an online invoice that customers can pay fast using their preferred payment method, even if they don’t have an account with PayPal.

It enables you to turn estimates into invoices, track payment status and even schedule payment reminders—all from your merchant dashboard. There are templates for billing based on time, quantities, items or simple total amounts to suit every type of business. Schedule recurring invoices for subscriptions and similar regular amounts. And if you regularly create batches of invoices you can easily create batch invoices in bulk or leverage the Invoicing API with PayPal.

By offering multiple payment methods, including PayPal, credit and debit cards, and Apple Pay, you also increase payment flexibility and convenience for customers, increasing their satisfaction and likelihood of returning. 79% of PayPal invoices are paid within one day of sending the invoice.²

Here’s a step-by-step guide on creating an invoice with PayPal Invoicing.

• Log in to your PayPal business account.

• Under Quick links, choose Invoicing.

• Start to create your invoice by selecting a customer from the dropdown list or adding a new one. You can easily send to multiple customers by choosing additional recipients.

• Type in your item name and choose an existing item from the dropdown or create a new item.

• Click Item Details to add date, tax or any discount.

• To add an address, toggle on Shipping and click Add.

• Type in any notes to the buyer and add any terms and conditions. You can save these notes to add to future invoices and further streamline the process.

• Check your invoice in the preview panel and, if everything is correct, go to the top of the screen and click Send.

• If you have your customer’s email address, your invoice will be on its way. If you don’t have an email address, you can share in other simple ways such as sharing a QR code or sending an invoice link by text or chat.

Watch our 2-minute video to see how simple it is.