Selling
Quotes and Customer Invoices
Send a customer a quote they accept online, have it become invoices by itself, invoice wholesale customers directly, and get paid by card or Canadian pre-authorised debit on your own Stripe account.
Overview
Two screens put a price in writing for one customer:
- Finance → Quotes builds a quote, emails your customer a link to it, and turns it into invoices when they accept.
- Channels → Wholesale → Customer invoices issues an invoice straight away, with payment terms.
Both are on the Growth plan and above and need the finance permission. Your customer pays by card on your own connected Stripe account, so the money goes straight to you. On invoices in Canadian dollars you can also let them pay by pre-authorised debit from a Canadian bank account (see Pre-authorised debit below).
Your quote catalog
If you quote the same things often, add them once under Finance → Billing → Quote catalog: a name, a description, the kind (Setup fee, Add-on or Subscription, with Monthly, Quarterly or Yearly for a subscription), a default price and its currency, and whether it is taxable. In the quote builder, choosing a catalog item on a line fills in its description, kind, price and taxable setting, which you can still change. Deactivate takes an item out of the builder.
Create a quote
- Go to Finance → Quotes and click New quote.
- Enter the customer's name and email, the Currency, a Valid until date, and the customer's country (two-letter code, such as
CA) and region (such asON). The currency starts at your store's currency; pick another if this customer pays in a different one. - Add a line for each thing on the quote: pick a catalog item or Custom line…, then the description, the kind (Setup fee, Add-on or Subscription, with how often a subscription repeats), the quantity, the unit price, whether it is Taxable and, for a taxable line, its Tax category (General goods unless you choose another).
- Add Notes if you want terms or scope shown on the quote.
- Click Save draft, or Save & send to send it at once.
A draft can be edited, sent or deleted from the list. Edit opens it in the builder with everything you entered; change any of it and click Save draft, or Save & send. A quote that has been sent cannot be edited: use Revise (below).
Tax. Tax comes from your own rules under Finance → Tax rules, for the country and region on the quote, on the lines marked Taxable. Each line is taxed the way checkout taxes it: its tax category picks the rate (a rule's category rate, such as 0% on basic groceries, or the rule's own rate when it sets none; Not taxable (exempt) pays nothing), and a regional rule set to add to or compound on the country rate is charged with it. Each line's tax is rounded on its own. It is added when you save the quote and worked out again when you send it, so the subtotal, tax and total your customer sees are what the invoices charge. With no rule for that place, or no country on the quote, no tax is added. If you change your tax rules after sending a quote, it can no longer be accepted as it stands: your customer is asked for a revised quote, nothing is invoiced, and you are notified (A buyer could not accept a quote) with the quoted and the new total. Use Revise to send a new version with the current tax.
Send it
Send gives the quote its number (for example QUO-2026-000001), marks it Sent and emails your customer a link from your store's own email address. A box then says whether the email went out and shows the link so you can copy it.
The email goes out from your own email domain or not at all, and never to an address on the do-not-email list. If it cannot be sent, the quote is still issued and its link works: the box says it was not emailed and why, and you are notified. Copy the link and send it to your customer yourself, and set up your email under Settings → Email or check the address with your customer.
What your customer sees
The link opens a page with your business name, address and tax number, their name and email, each line, the subtotal, tax and total, and the Valid until date. They do not need an account. The first time they open it, the quote moves to Viewed.
- Accept quote. They can type their name as a signature, then accept. The invoices are created at once (see below), and the page tells them they have been emailed. You are notified (A quote was accepted), and the list shows the quote as Converted.
- Decline. The quote moves to Declined, the page confirms it, and you are notified (A quote was declined).
- Tax changed since sending. If your tax rules changed after you sent it, accepting is refused and nothing is invoiced. The page asks them to wait for a revised quote, and you are notified (A buyer could not accept a quote) so you can send one with Revise.
- Expired. A sent or viewed quote that has not been accepted is marked Expired within about an hour after its Valid until date, and can no longer be accepted. A draft never expires.
What accepting creates
- One invoice for the setup fees and add-ons, if the quote has any.
- One invoice for the first period of the subscription lines, if it has any. After that a new invoice is issued and emailed for each period. If a quote has several subscription lines, they are invoiced together on the first one's schedule, and a yearly line is invoiced once a year.
- A subscription for the recurring lines. It is listed under Subscriptions, where pausing or cancelling it stops the invoices.
Each invoice is due 14 days after it is issued and is emailed to your customer with a Pay this invoice link, under the same email rule as the quote. They appear under Customer invoices with the rest.
The quotes list
Finance → Quotes lists your quotes newest first, 25 to a page. Total quotes, Open (sent or viewed, not yet answered) and Accepted count all of your quotes, whichever page or filter you are on. Search finds a quote by customer name, email or quote number across all of them, and Draft, Open and Accepted narrow the list.
Revise a quote
Revise, on a sent, viewed, declined or expired quote, makes a new draft copy of it with the next version number. The earlier quote stays live while the revision is a draft. When you send the revision, the earlier quote (and any other revision of it you sent) is marked Expired, so your customer can only accept the newest one; the send message names the quotes it replaced. If your customer accepted the earlier quote before you sent the revision, the revision is not sent. An accepted quote cannot be revised.
Customer invoices
Channels → Wholesale → Customer invoices lists every invoice you have issued to a customer: the ones you create here, net-terms orders for your B2B companies, and invoices from accepted quotes.
To create one, click New invoice:
- Pick one of your wholesale customers, or type the recipient's name, email, country and region.
- Add lines: description, quantity, unit price and, for a taxable line, its Tax category.
- Choose Payment terms: Due on receipt, or Net 7, 14, 15, 30, 45, 60 or 90 days.
- Add notes if you like, then click Issue invoice, or Save draft to finish it later.
A draft has no number or due date yet, and the Drafts filter lists it. Issue, on a draft, asks for the Payment terms, then gives it its number and due date; Issue and send also emails it. The trash button deletes a draft. To change a draft, delete it and create it again.
Void (the ⊘ button), on an issued or overdue invoice with nothing paid, cancels it: for an invoice sent to the wrong customer or for the wrong amount. You give a reason, which is kept in your activity log. The invoice stays on your records with its number, its PDF is marked VOID, and its pay link stops taking payment, including a payment page your customer already has open. An invoice with a payment recorded cannot be voided: refund the customer from your Stripe account first. To bill again, create a new invoice.
An invoice is always in your store currency. Tax is added from your Tax rules for the recipient's country and region, line by line in the same way as on a quote: each line's tax category picks its rate, and the invoice shows each line's rate. The invoices of an accepted quote, and each later invoice of its subscription, tax every line under the category it had on the quote. An invoice already issued never changes: its tax stays what it was issued with, whatever you change in your tax rules or categories later.
Once its due date has passed with money still owing, an invoice is marked Overdue within about an hour and the Overdue filter lists it. Due on receipt means due at once, so such an invoice shows as Overdue from then until it is settled. Nothing goes out and no fee is added; following up is up to you. Money that arrives later still settles it.
Issuing does not email anything. Click Send to email the invoice with a Pay this invoice link, from your own email domain or not at all; if it cannot be sent you are told why, and it is not recorded as sent. PDF downloads the invoice, and Copy pay link copies the link the email carries, so you can share it yourself.
How your customer pays
Pay this invoice opens a Stripe payment page for what is still owed, on your connected Stripe account. Without a connected account, the email goes out with no pay link and asks the customer to pay according to your terms; connect one under Settings → Payments.
Your customer can pay online from that link until the invoice is paid: each time they open it, it takes them to a Stripe payment page for the balance, so there is no need to send a fresh one. Once the invoice is paid or void, the link says so instead, and while a pre-authorised debit for it is processing, the link says the payment is on its way. If you disconnect your Stripe account, it tells your customer to contact you to arrange payment.
After paying, your customer lands on a page that thanks them and says their payment is being processed; if they cancel, it says nothing was charged and that they can open the link in the email again. The invoice is marked Paid when Stripe confirms the payment to your account.
If your customer pays more than once, every payment is recorded on the invoice and shows as paid on its PDF. Nothing is refunded automatically: refund anything over the total from your Stripe account.
Pre-authorised debit (Canada)
Your customer can pay a CAD invoice, or the invoices from an accepted quote, straight from a Canadian bank account by pre-authorised debit (PAD). Stripe takes the debit on your own Stripe account, like a card payment; BestWebby never holds the money.
Turn it on. Go to Settings → Payments → Pre-authorised debit (Canada) and tick Offer pre-authorised debit on CAD invoices. Stripe must also have Canadian pre-authorized debit turned on for your Stripe account: turn it on in your Stripe Dashboard under Settings → Payment methods. The card in Settings shows what Stripe reports for your account. It is offered only while both are on, on invoices in CAD of at least 0.50 CAD; other invoices are card only. Stripe's pricing for pre-authorised debit applies to your Stripe account.
What your customer sees. On the payment page they choose to pay from a bank account, sign in to their bank through Stripe to connect it, and read and accept a PAD agreement for exactly one debit of what is still owed on that invoice. Stripe shows the agreement, checks the bank account, and emails them a confirmation of the agreement and a notice of the debit. A bank account that cannot be connected this way cannot be used; your customer can pay by card instead. An invoice to one of your B2B companies is a business debit; any other invoice is a personal one.
Processing. A debit usually takes up to 5 business days to confirm. Meanwhile Customer invoices shows Bank debit processing under the invoice's status, the invoice is not marked Paid, and its pay link tells your customer the payment is on its way instead of opening a second payment. Before the pay link offers a payment on an invoice that has offered a debit, it also asks Stripe about that debit, so a debit still on its way holds the link even if Stripe's notice about it never reached BestWebby. If Stripe cannot be reached at that moment, the link asks your customer to try again in a few minutes rather than risk a second payment. The invoice is marked Paid only when Stripe confirms the debit.
If the bank does not pay. You are notified (A payment failed) with the bank's reason, the invoice shows Bank debit failed, and it is still owed: its pay link works again. Contact your customer before asking them to pay another way.
Disputes. Your customer can dispute a pre-authorised debit with their bank: up to 90 days for a personal debit and 10 business days for a business one. Unlike a card dispute, it cannot be contested, and the bank's decision is final. If it happens you are notified (A payment was disputed) and the invoice shows that the bank reversed the debit; the invoice still shows the payment, so contact your customer to collect it again.
Refunds. Refund a debit from your Stripe account. A refund takes about 3 business days to reach your customer's account.