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cglo
November 18, 2019
Question

Best Practices for Receiving Payments Through QBO

  • November 18, 2019
  • 1 reply
  • 0 views

We are considering activating Quickbooks online payments but I have some questions about how it works / best practices "in real life." 

 

Here's what I'm thinking of doing: 

1. Add a line to the invoice for a "convenience fee" (knowing this will also have the fee added)

2. Comment the invoice to the effect of "If paying by cash, cheque or bank email transfer by (date) please enjoy a discount of (the convenience fee) and pay only (amount of invoice without the convenience fee)." 

 

Then: 

1. If they pay by cash, cheque or bank transfer, I'd simply remove the convenience fee line (or put in a discount amount) on the original invoice to remove the convenience fee. 

 

Does this make sense or is there a better way? I'm assuming the function isn't built in yet where the fee gets added when they click "pay now online" - is that still correct? 

 

Thanks!

1 reply

L
LauraAB
November 18, 2019

Hello again cglo,

 

I love that you're considering QuickBooks Payments for your business! It's a fantastic way to easily accept credit card payments from your customers.

 

You're right, there isn't a built-in method for adding the convenience fees when your customers pay by credit card. Rather, it would be a line item you would add yourself. I get a sense that you know how to do this, but essentially you'd set it up as a service in your Products and Services area, then add it as a separate line to the invoice.

 

You've definitely given this a lot of thought and I like that you're giving your customers the option to choose whether they want the convenience or not. I recommend touching base with an accountant to see if it's more appropriate to edit the invoice to remove the line or to add the discount to zero it out before recording the payment manually. Simply activating and using the discount feature, for instance, would show from an accounting perspective that your customers are getting a different rate because of the payment method they've chosen rather than just removing the fee all together.

 

If you haven't already, here's how you'd activate the discount line on invoices.

 

  1. Select the Gear icon.
  2. Choose Account and settings.
  3. Click Sales in the left menu.
  4. Find the Sales form content section.
  5. Check off the box to enable the Discount line.
  6. Click Save.

On the sales form itself, you'll have the option to choose whether the discount is a dollar figure or a percentage. I recommend choosing the dollar figure option to reflect the amount of the service fee line. Once you've edited the form, follow this article to receive the customer payment: Record a customer payment. When you record the payment, be mindful to uncheck the box for recording it as a credit card payment, otherwise your customer will be charged again.

 

To connect with an accountant, head to the My Accountant tab. Here, you can both invite an accountant you're already working with by email so they become a user on your account and find an accountant that know QuickBooks through the Find a Pro to Help button.

 

I hope that helps! I'm here if you have further questions.

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