Recently, in a selling group on Facebook that I belong to, the topic of using PayPal INVOICING (instead of REQUEST MONEY) to make it easier for your customers to determine what the invoice is for, and who it was from, was brought up. I thought this was a great topic and thought I'd show you how easy it is to use.
When you log into your paypal account, you have the following screen:
Go to the TOOLS section, and choose INVOICING.
In the upper right hand corner, you will see a tab CREATE NEW INVOICE. Click on that option.
Here's what you will see.
You can go through and customize your templates, but you don't have to. If you don't want to upload a logo, you don't have to!
To begin, click in the BILL TO: section and add the person's email address that you wish to send the invoice to.
I just put in anyone@gmail.com for an example! Next, go down to the row that says DESCRIPTION. Here is where you will list what the person purchased.
Notice there are two ways you can do this.
1. Add the item (in my example, Headpins x 3) and add the total for all the headpins in the price section (in this case, $30 for three sets of headpins).
2. Add the item (in my example, Beads - Sets of 5) and then add how many in the quantity line (in this example, 3) and paypal will add the total for you.
If you click on ADD/REMOVE DETAIL you can customize your invoice and your view.
In my case, I'm happy with the way the invoice already comes from PayPal, so I'll stick with that. Next, you can add a DISCOUNT - say you are giving someone a 10% customer loyalty discount (or whatever) just add the discount percent in the correct box.
In this case, I showed a 10% discount. Next, add your shipping. I'm going to add $4.
Notice how the application is adding everything for you - you barely have to do any work except for typing in your items and numbers!
Next, add a note to make the invoice more personal!
You can also add terms and conditions, if you like. I chose not to do this. Finally, you can even add photos to your invoice. The item called ATTACH FILES will allow you to add a photo(s) to your invoice, so you customer can reference exactly what they are paying for! Just click on ATTACH FILES, and it will allow you to access your photos - choose one or several to add them to the invoice.
Finally, you have the option to PREVIEW, SEND or SAVE your invoice. If you PREVIEW, you will see what your customer will receive - minus the photos; they can click on the photo image icon to see the photos. If you SAVE, you can save it as a draft or a template. And then SEND will send your invoice right away!
There are other options within this INVOICE application, things you may or may not need to run your business. You can explore them as your time permits; I hope this small tut helped you see that using the INVOICE option in PayPal is quick and easy, and really a good choice for your customers. It allows them to see who they purchased from, what they purchased, and the totals in an easier manner - some people buy many items on Facebook and this makes it easier to see who is requesting money from them!
Susan Kennedy
