Charging percentage of the invoice

Cam

Hello,

I was wondering if it is possible to request a percentage of an invoice total. This would be in the case where you charge in milestones - 50% upfront and 50% after the roughs have been approved.

Thanks!

Alexia

Hi, @Cam.

There's no dedicated feature in Wave to handle invoicing by progress in Wave. There has bee a few other discussions on the subject recently, however, and I'd love to learn more about your own needs in terms of a feature like this one. What field do you work in? Is this how you invoice for all of your work? Can you break down your invoicing process as it is now?

While there's no such feature in Wave, you do have a few options for workarounds. You could set up recurring invoices to be repeated only twice, each representing half of your total invoice.

You could also simply require a payment for 50% of the invoice on the invoicing date, and another payment after approval of those roughs. You can record a partial payment to an invoice.

In either case, I would recommend outlining your terms in your invoice's "Notes" section to keep things as clear as possible.

Cam

Hello @Alexia ,

Thanks for the suggestions! I played around with the recurring invoice option and I'll try to avoid that for now. Your other suggestion seems like something that would require less fuss on my part and fewer items in the paper trail. I notice that when an invoice is sent the recipient has the option to enter a specific amount in the payment field. If a recipient enters 50% of the total and pays, am I correct in assuming that the invoice due and paid amounts will update on their own? You mentioned the following in your response: "You can record a partial payment to an invoice." Does that mean that when a client makes a partial payment that I have to record the payment manually? Or does the system do it on its own? If the system can update the quantities on its own then this solution will work fine for me for now.

To answer your question about my needs:
Note* I have recently gone back into freelancing after a few year hiatus but I think that most of this is probably still relevant.
I am an illustrator and the reason I need to charge some clients upfront is because of trust. These are usually clients that are working on their own independent projects that are not affiliated with larger companies. Although some are very honest and wonderful people, some just want free work. My process for invoicing these clients is to quote the job, send an invoice and collect 50% either by separate invoices or by having them pay 50% of one invoice (preferable) Most of my clients will fall under this category for a little while at least.

Most larger companies like established Ad Agencies are invoiced at the completion of the project and have a 30 day window.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Thanks!
Cam

Cam

Hello @Alexia ,

Thanks for your suggestions! I experimented with the recurring invoice option and I would like to try and avoid that for now because it seems to create more fuss and more of a paper trail. Your second suggestion seems like a better option for me. I do have a couple of questions on that second option:

1. You mentioned that “You can record a partial payment to an invoice.” Does this mean that if a client pays half of the invoiced amount that I will have to record that manually? Or were you referring to something else?
2. I see that the invoice recipient has the option to enter a custom amount in the payment field. Does this mean that if they enter and pay an amount other than the invoice amount that the Wave system will update the paid and outstanding amounts?

To answer your questions about my needs:
Note* I’m jumping back into freelancing after a few year hiatus but am pretty sure that most of this is still relevant.

I am an illustrator and storyboard artist. My reason for charging some clients in stages is because of trust. Ad agencies and companies that are stablished can be invoiced after the completion of a job. With smaller companies and independent clients, however, I find it safer to charge them in stages because of the number of people out there that just want free work. My process is as follows:
1. Quote the job
2. get estimate approval
3. request 50% upfront either by sending one invoice with the total amount of the job that the customer can choose to pay 50% of (preferable) or by sending one solitary invoice with the amount equalling 50% of the total of the entire job
4. Work on roughs and ideation of the project
5. after the roughs stages has been completed and approved, and before starting the final finished deliverables I would send a second invoice for the second half of the job.

For jobs totaling over $1000.00 I accept payments at milestones of 25% or in thirds, if the client wishes but 50% is usually acceptable.

Please let me know if you have any further questions and thanks in advance for your answers.

• Cam

Cam

Hello @Alexia ,

Thanks for your suggestions! I experimented with the recurring invoice option and I would like to try and avoid that for now because it seems to create more fuss and more of a paper trail. Your second suggestion seems like a better option for me. I do have a couple of questions on that second option:

1. You mentioned that “You can record a partial payment to an invoice.” Does this mean that if a client pays half of the invoiced amount that I will have to record that manually? Or were you referring to something else?
2. I see that the invoice recipient has the option to enter a custom amount in the payment field. Does this mean that if they enter and pay an amount other than the invoice amount that the Wave system will update the paid and outstanding amounts?

To answer your questions about my needs:
Note* I’m jumping back into freelancing after a few year hiatus but am pretty sure that most of this is still relevant.

I am an illustrator and storyboard artist. My reason for charging some clients in stages is because of trust. Ad agencies and companies that are stablished can be invoiced after the completion of a job. With smaller companies and independent clients, however, I find it safer to charge them in stages because of the number of people out there that just want free work. My process is as follows:
1. Quote the job
2. get estimate approval
3. request 50% upfront either by sending one invoice with the total amount of the job that the customer can choose to pay 50% of (preferable) or by sending one solitary invoice with the amount equalling 50% of the total of the entire job
4. Work on roughs and ideation of the project
5. after the roughs stages has been completed and approved, and before starting the final finished deliverables I would send a second invoice for the second half of the job.

For jobs totaling over $1000.00 I accept payments at milestones of 25% or in thirds, if the client wishes.

Please let me know if you have further questions and thanks in advance for your answers.

• Cam

Alexia

Hi, @Cam!

Thanks so much for following up, we appreciate the detailed breakdown!

I was thinking about recording payments manually, but if your clients are paying online through Wave, they can also pay a partial amount, which will be recorded by Wave automatically. So if they pay 50% of the invoice and you resend that invoice, it'll show how much was paid and how much is left.

I think your best option is to clearly outline your terms in your notes, make a single invoice for the full amount and get the first half of your payment on the invoice date.

Your only issue is going to be the invoice's due date, which will have to be approximate at first. You could set it on the day you start the project and change it to a future date as required for the second half of the payment.

Cam

Hi @Alexia ,

Thanks very much the suggestions! The partial amount option will definitely work for now. Thanks again!

Best,
Cam

Alexia

Happy to hear it, @Cam, and thanks again for taking the time to write out such detailed feedback!

kateallyson

This would be helpful for me too! My clients want to see the full price of the project, even if I'm only charging them a fixed percentage upfront. Is this feature in the works? Thanks!

Alexia

Hi, @kateallyson.

This isn't currently in the works, but you can simply send out a full invoice and get paid a percentage. As I mentioned earlier in this discussion, Wave allows you to simply accept a partial payment for an invoice. All you have to do is make it clear with your client that they only have to pay a given portion and send out the full invoice.

You can resend the same invoice later and it will reflect all previous payments.

DavidG

+1 from me on that request to invoice partly an ongoing service or project.
Thanks!

Timothy

Love to see this feature happening too. Is this in the pipeline?

ZoeC

Hey @Timothy, thanks for reaching out! There are big things on the way for invoices that our product teams are currently working on, I don't currently have an ETA, but I think you guys are gonna love it! So stay tuned