In the Transport Management System EasyTrans, you can create and send proforma invoices. A proforma invoice is an unofficial, provisional invoice that provides a buyer with information about the services you will deliver. The established data in the order, such as prices and goods, are hereby transferred to the proforma invoice. Besides providing information, a proforma invoice is also often used for advance payments on deliveries.
Prepayment via online payment
Because you use the Online Payments module, you can offer customers the option of making payments online. Just like sales invoices, advance payments can be paid online using a proforma invoice. Have you set the payment method ‘Online payment’ or ‘Bank transfer or online payment’ for a customer? Then a payment link will also be shown with the proforma invoice, allowing the customer to transfer the requested amount online.
In most cases, a proforma invoice is sent after acceptance of an offer, but before you actually start delivering. In EasyTrans, it is possible to send a proforma invoice for both quotations and order confirmations. If a customer is allowed to pay online (payment method ‘Online payment’ or ‘Bank transfer or Online payment’), the e-mail and the proforma invoice contain a payment link that allows simple and quick online payment. In addition, the e-mail states that the order will be executed as soon as you receive the payment.
Send with order confirmation
From the planning environment, you can send customers an order confirmation by e-mail. You can optionally attach a proforma invoice to an order confirmation.
- From the main menu, go to ‘Planning’ > ‘New order’.
- Add a new order as usual.
Check the price calculations at the rates and other details that are important for the proforma invoice.
- Send the proforma invoice as an attachment to the order confirmation:
- Under ‘Order details’ click at the mail icon at ‘Customer’.
- (If necessary) Select the contacts who should receive the order confirmation with the proforma invoice.
- Check the settings regarding the sharing of sales charges.
- Click ‘Send with proforma’.
The proforma invoice was sent as a pdf document, attached to the order confirmation.
Tip: You can also send order confirmations of several orders at once via the order overview. Select the orders and use the quick edit ‘Order confirmation to customer’.
Send with quotations
From the order overview, you can send customers a quotation by e-mail. You can optionally attach a proforma invoice to the quotation.
- From the main menu, go to ‘Planning’ > ‘New order’.
- Add a new quotation as usual.
Check the price calculations at the rates and other details that are important for the proforma invoice.
- Send the proforma invoice as an attachment to the quotation:
- Under ‘Order details’ click at the mail icon at ‘Customer’.
- (If necessary) Select the contacts who should receive the quotation with the proforma invoice.
- Click ‘Send with proforma’.
The proforma invoice was sent as a pdf document, attached to the quotation. Once the customer has made the payment, the quotation is automatically accepted and changed into an order.
When you have sent or created a proforma invoice, an additional field appears in the price calculation in the order, the ‘Prepaid’ field. (Partial) Payments can be logged in this field. Online payments are automatically processed, thanks to the connection with your Mollie account.
Viewing payments
Online payments are automatically recorded in the order. It can happen that a customer pays less than requested, or that additional costs arise at a later point in the order process. For example, costs due to waiting times.. The amount paid online – which is automatically logged under ‘Prepaid’ – is compared with the total order amount. In the order, you immediately see the remaining amount outstanding.
Sample proforma ‘Prepaid’ EasyTrans
Markers for payments in the order overview
For each stage in advance payments, there are markings present in the order overview. There is a marker ‘Proforma created’, ‘Order paid’ and ‘Order partially paid’. In the order overview, you can see at once which quotation/order you have made a proforma invoice for and which quotation/order have already been (partially) paid in advance.
Tip: Do you use the Customer Portal? The customer can also see in the order overview which amount has already been paid.
Proforma markings advance payments order overview; Created, Paid, Partially Paid
Invoicing
After receiving a (partial) payment with the transport order, you can process the order as usual. When the order is invoiced, the amount already paid is offset against the invoice total. Is the order already been paid in total? This will be shown on the invoice. Is the order partially paid? The remaining outstanding amount is invoiced. Thanks to the Online Payment module, an outstanding amount can, of course, also be paid via an online payment.
