Change Payment Terms on a Customer Invoice or Quote
Change Payment Terms on a Customer Invoice or Quote
Use this article when the Terms shown on a customer invoice or quote need to be changed from the default wording, such as Due Upon Receipt, to your preferred terms, such as Net 15 or Net 30.
Payment terms can be set in two places: on a specific customer profile or as the company-wide default in Settings >> Configuration Options.
What Payment Terms Control
The Payment Terms field controls the short value that prints beside Terms in the invoice or quote header. It is meant for simple billing terms such as:
- Due Upon Receipt
- Net 15
- Net 30
- Net 45
Payment Terms do not record a customer payment. If a customer has already paid part of a load and you need the invoice or quote to show only the remaining balance, enter that amount as a Payment Advance row on the load.
Change Terms for One Customer
Use the customer profile when one customer needs terms that are different from your company default.
- Go to the Customers tab.
- Open the customer profile for the customer you are billing.
- Find the Payment Terms field in the customer information area.
- Enter the terms you want to print on that customer's customer invoice or quote.
- Click Save or Save & Exit.
- Open the load again and regenerate the invoice or quote.
The customer profile value is the value that should print for that customer. This is the best option when only one customer needs a special billing term.
Change the Company Default
Use the company default when the standard terms should change for new customers or for customers that do not have their own customer-specific terms.
- Go to Settings >> Configuration Options.
- Find the Payment Terms field.
- Enter the default terms your company wants to use.
- Click Save.
Changing the company default does not always replace terms that were already saved on existing customer profiles. If an existing customer still shows the old terms, open that customer profile and update the customer-specific Payment Terms field.
Payment Terms vs. Customer Terms
Payment Terms and Customer Terms are different fields.
- Payment Terms: Short billing terms that print beside Terms in the invoice or quote header.
- Customer Terms: Longer customer-facing text that can print on invoices or quotes when the related settings are enabled.
- Quote Terms: Longer quote-specific text that can print on customer quotes.
If you are trying to add a longer paragraph of billing language, contract wording, customer notes, or quote terms, use the Customer Terms or Quote Terms workflow instead of the Payment Terms field.
Review the Invoice or Quote
After changing terms, open a customer invoice or quote from a saved load and confirm the Terms value in the header is correct.
If the PDF was already downloaded, emailed, or saved before the terms were changed, create a new copy after saving the updated terms. The old PDF will not update itself after it has already been generated or sent.
Troubleshooting
- The invoice still says Due Upon Receipt: Check the customer profile first. The customer-specific Payment Terms field may still contain the old value.
- The default was changed but one customer still shows different terms: Update that customer's profile. Customer-specific terms can override the default.
- The terms are missing from the invoice or quote: Confirm the customer has Payment Terms entered, then save the customer profile and regenerate the document.
- You need longer legal or billing text: Use Customer Terms or Quote Terms, not the short Payment Terms field.
- You need to show a partial payment or deposit: Use a Payment Advance row on the load so the customer document shows the reduced balance due.