Customer payments

When a customer buys on credit (takes goods now, pays later), the unpaid amount is added to what they owe you. A customer payment is how you collect that money afterwards — and the system works out which sales it clears.

Overview

Only a sale attached to a saved customer (with a credit limit) can be left partly or fully unpaid at checkout. When that happens, the unpaid part is added to the customer's outstanding balance — the running total of what they owe.

Later, when the customer settles up, you record a customer payment. The system automatically applies it across their unpaid sales, starting with the oldest, and lowers their outstanding balance. If they pay more than they owe, the extra is kept on file as store credit for next time.

Why it's useful

• Collect debts cleanly. One payment can settle many old invoices without you tallying them by hand.
• Always know who owes what. Every payment immediately lowers the customer's outstanding balance.
• No money is lost. Overpayments become store credit instead of being mishandled.
• Clear records. Each payment is logged with its method and the sales it cleared, ready for your reports.

How a customer comes to owe you

It starts at the counter. When you ring up a sale for a customer who has credit, you can take less than the full amount — or nothing at all — at payment time:

1. The customer buys on credit

   On the POS screen, the sale is attached to the customer and left partly or fully unpaid. The sale still completes normally.

2. Their balance goes up

   The unpaid amount is added to the customer's outstanding balance, and the sale records a balance due.

3. You collect later

   When the customer pays — that day, that week, or that month — you record a customer payment, covered below.

Recording a customer payment, step by step

1. Open Customer payments

   Go to Sales → Customer payments in the sidebar, then click Record payment. (You can also start from a customer's own record.)

2. Pick the customer

   Search for and select the customer who is paying. Their current outstanding balance is shown so you know how much is owed.

3. Enter the amount and method

   Type the amount they're handing over and choose how they paid — cash, card, or another method. Add a note or reference if you like.

4. Let it auto-allocate

   The system spreads the payment across the customer's unpaid sales, oldest first (this is called FIFO — first in, first out). You'll see which sales get cleared before you confirm.

5. Save

   Confirm the payment. The customer's outstanding balance drops by the amount paid, and any fully-settled sales are marked as paid.

How the money is spread out

You don't decide which invoice each rupee or dollar goes to — the system does it for you, in the fairest and simplest order: the oldest unpaid sale gets paid off first, then the next oldest, and so on, until the money runs out.

For example, if a customer owes 300 across three sales and pays 250:

The customer's outstanding balance falls from 300 to 50.

What happens with overpayment

If a customer pays more than they owe, the extra isn't lost. After clearing all their unpaid sales, the leftover amount becomes unallocated store credit on their account — money you're holding for them. It's used automatically as a payment method the next time they shop.

Seeing who owes you

To see all the money owed across your customers, open the Aged receivables report under Reports. It lists each customer's outstanding balance and how long it's been owed — so you know who to chase first.

Tips & best practices

Notes & warnings

Related: Customers · Reports · Sales history · The POS screen