Upstock gives you the flexibility to choose how and when to take payment, and to choose your invoice dates. To get started, go to Settings › Payment terms › Details.
Important: Depending on your integrations and payments set-up, you may see different options on this page to what is described here. If you have any questions or want some help, please chat with us in-app.
The three main payment terms settings
As noted above you'll see different options on the Payment terms page, depending on whether you have payments set up, and whether you have any invoicing integrations in place. Although the exact sections will look and behave a little differently, there are three main settings to consider:
What payment options you will offer your customers.
What the invoice date will be.
What the payment date will be.
The simplest situation is an Upstock account which has never set up payments, and has no integrations. For more complex situations, read on.
Payment options - choose how your customers will pay
You can give your customers the choice of how they pay. Currently we offer the choice of Credit/debit card and On account. You need to be accepting payments to be able to offer Credit/debit card, but everyone can offer On account.
It's worth noting that these options are for when your customers are making their own orders - if you're entering orders on behalf of your customers then you'll be able to choose payment on account, even if that option isn't selected here.
Tip: If you have both options selected, please note that your orders will default to On account. If you want to ensure card payment is made, un-tick the On account option. Remember you can set up different Payment terms for different groups of customers, to fine tune your settings.
Invoice dates - choose when your invoices are created
If you are integrated with an app that creates invoices (like Xero, Quickbooks etc.) then you may see some options for choosing when the invoice is created and when the invoice due date will be.
If you have the Woolworths integration, you will probably only have the option to choose the invoice creation date, as the payment dates are decided elsewhere. If you are using an integration like Unleashed that controls these days, you'll not have any settings to change, and that will be noted in the Invoices section.
Invoice options
If you have an integration that creates invoices, here's where you set when invoices are created and dated.
Create invoice
On approval - the invoice is created when you mark the order as approved.
On shipped - the invoice is created when you mark the order as shipped.
On delivered - the invoice is created when you mark the order as delivered.
Invoice date
Delivery date - the invoice's due date is the delivery date set in the order.
Ordered date - the invoice's due date is the date the order was created.
When invoice is created - the invoice's due date is the date the invoice was created.
Payment date - choose when payments are made
Also known as "net days", The Payment date section lets you delay when payment is taken. You can set it to be delayed for a set amount of days, or for a specific day of the following month.
If you are connected to an integration that creates invoices (like Xero or Quickbooks etc.) but haven't selected a payment date in Upstock, the date from the integration will be used. If so, there will be an info panel on the page explaining that.
If you choose to set a payment date, you have various options, depending on your particular situation:
Days after invoice
Day of following month
On approved or shipped
Select the option, and then enter in the number of days or date of the month that is relevant for the group of customers who are in this payment term.
Important: delayed payments only apply to customers that have an Upstock account. You can still request payment from customers that don’t use Upstock by sending a payment link, however their payment will be processed immediately.
Similar to taking payment on shipment, this option gives you the flexibility to adjust orders before payment is taken. If a payment is delayed it will show in the scheduled status on an order. You can see when payment will be taken in the payments menu.
Using payment terms
You don’t have to choose one option for all customers. Our payment terms feature gives you the flexibility to set different options for different groups of customers.
E.g. if you have a small group of late payers, you could take payment for their orders up front, when their orders are approved. For other customers, you could take payment when their orders are shipped. This lets you mitigate the risk of failed payments, while giving yourself the flexibility to adjust orders for most customers.
Taking payment manually
If an order is set to take payment on or after shipment, you have the flexibility to manually process the payment earlier. You can do this from the payments menu on an order.
Manually taking payment is another way to mitigate the risk of fail payments. E.g. when you are sure there are no further adjustments needed to an order, you can take the payment, then continue to fulfil the order if the payment is successful.
In this way, you can ensure payment is taken before shipping any goods, however it adds another step to your fulfilment workflow.