What is the difference between an order, an invoice and a payment?

Understanding how to navigate the 'Sales Admin' section of your LoveAdmin account will help you to effectively monitor your anticipated and current revenue. This guide will walk you through the stages of the payment collection process.

Sales Admin > Orders

 

Orders can be thought of as scheduled invoices. During the Order stage, you have the flexibility to make amendments to the details of the scheduled invoice, such as the amount it is for and the date that it is due to be issued to the customer (the invoice date).

You can find Scheduled Orders by navigating to Home > Sales Admin > Orders.

How are orders generated?

Here are a few scenarios in which an order may appear in your Sales Admin > Orders section:

  • You have a product set up to accept payments in instalments

    When a user goes through your shop to book on and chooses to pay by instalments, you will see all of their upcoming instalments in your Orders section:

  • You have the 'auto-renew' setting enabled on a product

    If you have enabled the auto-renew feature in your product billing settings, upcoming renewal orders will appear in your Sales Admin > Orders, by default, 27 days before the invoice date. This allows you sufficient time to make any necessary adjustments to the price or invoice date. These 'renewal' orders will be marked with an 'R' for easy identification.




    For more information on renewals, scroll to the bottom of this page.
  • You have 'approve purchase before payment?' enabled 

If you have the 'approve purchase before payment?' billing setting for a product turned ON, you will see all bookings for that particular product coming through to Sales Admin > Orders.

These orders will require your approval before they become invoices, and you will find these under the 'Awaiting approval' tab. 

 

Tip: For the full guide to managing/approving your Orders, click here

 

Sales Admin > Invoices

 

Once the scheduled invoice date arrives, the Order will automatically transition to the Invoice stage. This means that the details of the transaction, including the price and other billing information, are finalised and cannot be edited.

The transition to the Invoice stage signifies that the payment is due and the customer will receive the official invoice for the transaction. This stage marks the completion of the order processing and sets the stage for payment collection.

You can view all invoices by navigating to Home > Sales Admin > Invoices.

 

Tip: For the full guide to manage your Invoices, click here 

 

Sales Admin > Payments

 

Payments refer to any payment activity made against an invoice. This may include online, offline, and transactions paid by account credit. Once a payment transaction begins against an invoice, the system will automatically capture and store all payment details in the Payments section of your LoveAdmin system.

Payments will be shown with a status indicating if the payment is completed, pending, cancelled, or refunded.

You can view all payments by navigating to Home > Sales Admin > Payments.

 

Tip: For the full guide to managing your Payments, click here

Reports > Renewals

 

Renewals are recurring orders that are automatically created based on the billing settings specified in your product settings, if applicable. Renewals can be generated on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis. 

Your renewals will appear in the renewals report until a set number of days before the renewal is due (the default is 27), whereupon they will become orders marked with an 'R' next to the order number, for easy identification.

If you wish to make amendments to the price/invoice date, you will need to wait until the renewal becomes an Order.

Tip: For the full guide to managing your Renewals, click here