Take a deposit on a quote

A deposit turns "they said yes" into money down. Set it on the quote and, when your customer accepts online, they're taken straight to an invoice with the deposit to pay first.

Before you start

• To take the deposit by card, you need Stripe connected. Without Stripe, the customer is asked to arrange payment with you directly.
• Deposits are set while the quote is a draft. Once sent, the field is locked.
• The deposit is asked for only when your customer accepts online. If you mark the quote accepted yourself, no invoice is raised and no deposit is requested.

Steps

1. On the draft quote, find Deposit (optional), under the Valid until date.
2. Type the amount in pounds, like 310.00. It saves when you tap away from the field — there's no separate save button.
3. Add your lines first if you haven't: the deposit must be more than zero and less than the quote total.

The deposit shows in the quote totals as Deposit on acceptance, and your customer sees it on the quote page before they accept. With Stripe connected, the page says: "Accepting asks for a deposit of £310.00 to secure the booking, payable by card." Without Stripe, it tells them they'll arrange payment with you.

What happens when they accept

1. The customer types their name to accept the quote.
2. An invoice for the whole quote is raised and sent automatically, with the deposit due first. They're taken straight to it.
3. With Stripe connected, the invoice has a Pay deposit button. When the card payment lands, the invoice shows the deposit received and the balance still to pay, and the job's activity records the payment.

The balance

The balance is already on that invoice, so do not raise another one. From quote copies every line again, so a second invoice from the same quote bills the whole job twice.

After the deposit, the invoice's pay link takes the balance. Bank transfers and cash you record yourself — see Record a payment.

Worth knowing

• The invoice's due date is set when they accept: that day plus the Payment terms (days) in your Settings. It cannot be changed afterwards.
• If the balance isn't paid by then, the usual reminders go out 7, 14 and 30 days after that date. On work booked months ahead, that means the customer is chased for the balance before the job happens.
• The invoice raised on acceptance treats every line as materials. It does not apply CIS or the reverse charge, and hourly labour is billed at the hours quoted rather than the hours you confirm.

To remove a deposit

Clear the field on the draft quote. On a sent quote, deposits can't be changed — create a new quote if the terms have moved.