Progress payments between the deposit and the balance
A deposit and a balance suits a lot of bookings. It does not suit a wedding booked eighteen months out, or a conference where the client’s finance team wants to pay in thirds. Those were being handled on the side: a manual invoice here, a calendar reminder there, and a balance figure on the confirmation that no longer matched what the client actually owed.
Now the schedule lives on the confirmation, all of it.
Setting one up
On a draft confirmation, the deposit box is now Payment schedule. Under the deposit, click Add a progress payment and give it:
- a name the client sees, such as “Second instalment”;
- an amount, fixed or a percentage of the total;
- a due date.
Add up to four. They are paid in order: the deposit, then each progress payment, then the balance, which is whatever is left. 1pm checks the dates run in that order and the payments do not add up to more than the booking, and tells you what to fix if they do.
If most of your bookings follow the same pattern, set it once. Under Tax & invoicing, Deposits and payment timing takes default progress payments, each due a number of days before the event. Every new confirmation with a deposit gets them, dated from its own event.
The client’s side
Their booking page shows the whole schedule and asks for the payment that is due now, by its name. Once the deposit is in, the button pays the next progress payment, then the next, then the balance. Paying in full is still offered for a client who would rather be done with it.
Each progress payment is billed as its own invoice, so it reaches your books (and Xero) as a separate line of money, not a figure folded into the balance.
Chasing
An overdue progress payment rings your notifications bell, once per payment, the same as a late deposit or balance. Two new automation triggers, Booking payment due soon and Booking payment overdue, email the client about whichever payment is up, with a button straight to the page where they pay it.
The Deposits and balances report gains a Next payment column: which payment each booking is at, what is still owed on it, and when it is due. It is the list to work down on a Monday.
Deposits and balances has the details.