Introduction
The Payments button near the top of a booking opens a screen headed Booking payments, with the booking number and the customer underneath. Its first tab, Payments, holds a row of buttons, the payments already recorded on the booking and a list of card authorisations; the second, Invoice reconciliation, shows how they are matched to the booking's invoices.
Company administrators also have the Payments tile under Financials, listing every payment in the company — the route for a payment against one invoice.
You will use this when:
- a customer pays the deposit at the counter before driving off
- a customer pays the rent in cash or by card when bringing the vehicle back
- a bank transfer arrives for one invoice
Words used on these screens
The method names appear exactly as below:
| The screen says | It means |
|---|---|
| Rental | Rent: money towards the price of the booking |
| Deposit | The deposit held against damage, fuel and the like |
| Invoice | A payment against one invoice. It also counts on that invoice's booking |
| Other | A payment linked only to the customer |
| iDeal / Bancontact | The Dutch and Belgian online bank payment |
| PointOfSale | A card terminal connected to the app |
| Batch | A refund paid out through a bank file, see Refunds |
| Broker | Money a broker passed on for a booking, see Work with brokers and rate codes |
Every way to record a payment
| Route | What you get | Covered here |
|---|---|---|
| Payments on the booking, then New Payment | A payment dated now; you pick deposit or rent and the method | Yes |
| Payments on the booking, then New Payment (manual) or Deposit (manual) | The same, with a choice of date and quick-fill amounts | Yes |
| Financials menu, Payments tile, New payment | Any payment type, for any customer, with or without a booking | Yes |
| The Terminal tile on New Payment | The customer pays on the terminal | No, see Card and online payments |
| Financials menu, Outstanding balances tile, banknote icon | One sum spread over a customer's open invoices | No, see Split one bank transfer over several invoices |
Use the booking for rent and deposit; use the Payments tile for one invoice.
How to use
Configuration
One company-wide setting decides which payment method is already filled in on New Payment.
- From the main menu open Admin, then Settings, then click the Financial tile. The screen is headed Financial settings.
- Set Default payment method to the method most of your customers use at the counter. It starts as DebitCard.
- Press Save. It applies to the next payment you start. Payments already recorded keep their method.
The two (manual) buttons ignore this setting and always start on DebitCard.
Before you start: recording a payment on a booking works with a normal staff account. The Financials menu, the Payments tile and Financial settings need a company administrator account. The booking must already have a customer; if it has none, every payment button answers Please assign a customer first.
Using the payment screens
On the booking
- From the main menu open Bookings, then Overview, and open the booking.
- Click Payments near the top of the booking. The Booking payments screen opens on its Payments tab.
- Choose one of three buttons:
| Button | Use it when | Amount it fills in |
|---|---|---|
| New Payment | The customer pays now, at the counter | Everything still open on the booking: rent plus deposit, minus what is paid |
| New Payment (manual) | The customer paid rent, possibly on an earlier date | The rent still open |
| Deposit (manual) | The customer paid the deposit, possibly on an earlier date | Rent plus deposit still open |
With New Payment. A window opens with three numbered parts.
- Under 1. Deposit or Rent? set Payment type. It starts on Deposit.
- Under 2. Payment amount? change Amount to what the customer is actually paying. It starts at rent plus deposit still open, and switching Payment type does not change it.
- Under 3. Payment method? click the Manual payment tile (it gets a green border), then pick Payment method. The tile resets the method to DebitCard, so click it first. Terminal is covered on Card and online payments.
- Check Location, where the money was received. It starts at the booking's pick-up location.
- Click Register payment. The payment is saved, dated now, and the window closes. Cancel closes it without recording anything.
With New Payment (manual) or Deposit (manual). A window titled Edit Payment opens.
- Set Payment date if the money came in on another day. It starts at now.
- Payment type is already set by the button you pressed. You can still switch it.
- Check Amount. The links under it copy an amount still open into it: Deposit + Rent and Deposit for a deposit, Rent for rent.
- Choose the Payment method. Location starts at the booking's pick-up location; change it if the money was received somewhere else. Payment reference (a receipt number) and External reference (a bank transaction number) are optional.
- Click Save. Cancel throws the payment away.
The payment appears on Booking payments and the paid totals update at once.
On the Booking details screen: Payments is on the Financial tab. Register payment, under Next step: Payment at the top, and View payments on the Overview tab open the same Booking payments screen. See Find your way around the Booking details screen.
From the Payments tile
- From the main menu open Financials, then click the Payments tile. The screen is headed Payment overview.
- Click New payment. A window titled Payment opens, with Payment type already on Invoice.
- Fill in the fields, top to bottom. The ones that appear depend on Payment type:
| Field | Starts as | What goes in it |
|---|---|---|
| Amount | 0 | The amount received. Anything but 0; a minus figure is accepted |
| Payment type | Invoice | Deposit, Rental, Invoice or Other |
| Invoice | Empty | Shown for Invoice. Lists sent invoices not yet fully paid or credited. Picking one fills in Customer, Booking and, if still 0, Amount |
| Customer | Empty | Required. Type part of the name to search. For Invoice it comes from the invoice and cannot be changed |
| Booking | Empty | Required for Deposit and Rental; lists that customer's bookings. For Invoice it comes from the invoice. Hidden for Other |
| Location | Empty | Where the money was received. Required; left empty, the booking's pick-up location is used where there is one |
| Payment date | Now | The day the money arrived |
| Payment method | DebitCard | How it was paid |
| Payment reference | Empty | Optional, your own reference |
| External reference | Empty | Optional, for example the bank transaction number |
- Choose Invoice first for an invoice payment, Customer first otherwise.
- Click Save. Cancel closes the window without recording anything.
After Save, Amount, Payment date, Payment method, Customer and Booking are locked.
Key details
Deposit or rent decides where the money counts: deposit paid or rent paid.
A worked example. A van is booked for €480 including value-added tax (VAT), with a €250 deposit. Nothing is paid yet.
| What you do | Amount filled in | Result on the booking |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit (manual), click Deposit 250, method CreditCard, Save | 730.00, then 250.00 | Deposit paid 250, rent paid 0 |
| On return, New Payment (manual), method Cash, Save | 480.00 (the rent still open) | Deposit paid 250, rent paid 480 |
An invoice payment pays the invoice and counts on its booking. A payment of type Invoice raises the invoice's paid amount, so it reads Partially paid or Paid; see See which invoices are paid and open. It also counts as rent paid on the invoice's booking. An invoice that covers several bookings splits the payment over them in proportion to their invoice lines; the window says so. An Other payment changes no booking's paid totals.
What to do next: if the customer still owes money, send a payment request; to hold a card for the deposit instead, see Deposits and pre-authorisation.
Q&A
Why does the booking show the whole amount as deposit paid? The payment was recorded with Payment type Deposit, which is where New Payment starts, and it counts the full amount as deposit. Click the payment's row on Booking payments, set Payment type to Rental and click Save. If the amount has to be split between rent and deposit, see Deposits and pre-authorisation.
How do I correct a payment? Click its row on Booking payments. In the Edit Payment window you can still change Payment date, Payment type, Location and both references, then click Save. Amount and Payment method are locked once saved. To fix those, a company administrator ticks the payment on Payment overview and removes it with the red bin button, and you record it again. That only works while the payment has not yet reached your accounting package. Read Payment problems first for what removing a payment does.
Why does an invoice still look unpaid after I recorded rent on its booking? Rent paid on a booking only counts on its invoices once the app has matched the two, which may not have happened yet. Open the Invoice reconciliation tab on Booking payments and click Allocate to invoices. How matching works is on Match payments to invoices. To pay one invoice directly, record the payment from the Payments tile with Payment type Invoice. See See which invoices are paid and open.
Why is an invoice missing from the Invoice list on the Payment window? The list only holds sent invoices that are not yet fully paid or credited. A draft has to be sent first.
How do I see the total of several payments? On Payment overview, tick them, also across pages. The line above the table then reads Selected: with the number of payments, what was Received, what was Refunded (deposit and other refunds apart) and the Net total. Above 1,000 ticked payments it asks you to narrow the selection with the filters instead. The Payment location column shows where each one was received.
Does the customer get an email when I record a payment? A payment above zero on a booking sends the payment- or deposit-received email, if switched on for your company. Invoice and other payments send nothing.
Why does "Please choose the location where the payment was received." appear? Location was empty and the app could not fill it in, because the payment has no booking with a pick-up location. Pick the location and click Save again.
Why is there no Register payment button on New Payment? It is hidden when Payment method is Batch, and when the Terminal tile is chosen. Click Manual payment and pick another method.
Why did "Not valid" appear after Register payment? Amount, Payment type or Payment method was left empty. Fill it in and click Register payment again.
Why does the Booking list stay empty on the Payment window? No Customer is chosen yet, or that customer has no bookings. Choose the customer first.
Why does "Booking is not linked to selected customer." appear? The customer was changed after the booking was picked. Pick the booking again from the list, which now shows the new customer's bookings.
Why does "Only deposit, rental and invoice payments can be linked to a booking." appear? A booking is still filled in while the type is Other. Set the type to Deposit or Rental, clear Booking, then set the type back to Other.
Why does "Booking is not linked to the selected invoice." appear? The booking on the window is not one of the invoice's bookings. Pick the invoice again, so the booking is filled in from it.
Why does "Amount cannot be nul." appear? Amount is 0 on the Payment window. Enter the amount received. The misspelling is the app's own.
Why does "Please assign a customer first." appear? The booking has no customer. Add one on the booking, then press Payments again.
Why can I not find the Payments tile? The Financials menu needs a company administrator account. Record the payment on the booking, or ask your administrator.
Why is the SyncID cell red on Payment overview, and what are Resync and Mark synced? They show whether a payment has reached your accounting package. See Accounting sync.
Related pages:
- Check what a customer owes and take a payment, for money owed on invoiced bookings.
- Match payments to invoices, for payments that are not on an invoice yet.
- Follow up bookings with outstanding payments, for bookings that still owe money.
- Card and online payments, for the card terminal.
- Refunds, when the customer has paid too much.
- Split one bank transfer over several invoices, for a bank transfer that covers several invoices.