Updated Jan 9, 2023
A payment plan in Dubsado lets you create invoice due dates, split large invoices into installments, and send follow-up payment reminders.
In this article:
What is a payment plan?
When your client purchases something with a high price point or over a long period of time, a payment plan divides the invoice total into one or more installments to make payments easier for your clients.
A payment plan also displays due dates on the invoice so Dubsado can recognize when a payment is late. You’ll see a list of overdue invoices in Reporting >> Invoices.
Payment plan examples
See payment plan examples for instructions on setting up our most common payment plans!
Create a payment plan template
Save your payment as a template so that it's easy to use on future invoices.
Go to Templates >> Payment Plans.
Click Create new template.
Click Add installment.
All of your changes autosave as you go.
Payment plan settings
Click to jump to a specific setting to learn more:
Title
New Payment Plan is the default title of your payment plan. Titles are for internal use and won’t show in any client-facing materials.
Autopay
Restrict or require your clients to enroll in automatic payments. See autopay enrollment settings.
Due date
The due date is the date that you want the payment made. Your options are Relative, Fixed, or TBD.
Relative (recommended): The payment plan automatically adapts the due date timing based on your trigger. Best used for automating payment plans using a workflow.
Triggers:
Project date: The first four triggers calculate a due date based on the project start or end date.
If your project date is a single date, it is treated as both the start and end date.
If you don’t have a project date mapped, the due date displays as TBD until you set one.
After payment plan applied to invoice: Uses the date that you apply the payment plan to the invoice as the due date.
After contract signed by client: Waits to determine a due date until after the contract is signed.
The due date displays as TBD until the client signs and submits the contract.
Fixed: You choose an exact date. Best used for one-time events or specific holiday offers. Don’t use fixed dates in a payment plan template that you plan on using continuously in the future.
TBD: Acts as a placeholder for you to manually select a Fixed due date within the client’s invoice at a later time. Best used for situations when payments depend on work deliverables where you don’t know the exact deadlines yet.
Amount due
The amount due is how much your client must pay by the due date. Your options are Divide equally, Percentage, Fixed, or a combination of all three.
Divide equally (recommended): Automatically calculates each installment based on the total number of installments in the payment plan. If you need to bill the client more than expected, the next installments automatically adjust to the new amount.
Example: You have three installments on your $3,000 package and your client already paid the first installment ($1,000). The client then requests additional work worth another $500. The remaining two installments will adjust to charge $1,250 each.
Percentage: Bases the amount due as a percentage of the invoice total. Percentages can be different, but all installments must sum to 100%.
Example: 25% initial deposit, 50% on the first due date, and 25% a week before the event.
Fixed: An exact dollar amount that doesn’t change regardless of the invoice total.
Example: A $200 initial deposit upon booking, regardless of booking the $1,000 package or the $3,000 package.
Reminders
Emails that notify your clients to make their payments. If you don’t set up any reminders, your client is not notified when a payment is due. See automatic payment reminders.
👋 Here's a tip... Once a client pays off an installment in full, future reminders associated with that installment won’t send!
Delete or duplicate a payment plan or installment
Click the ellipsis icon on an installment to access additional actions. From here, you can delete or duplicate the installment.
Entire payment plans can also be deleted or duplicated by clicking on the ellipsis icon.
Manually apply a payment plan to an invoice
After creating a payment plan template, add the payment plan to an existing invoice for a specific client.
Under Projects, choose the specific client.
Click Invoices to open the invoice.
If your client has multiple invoices, click the Invoice List tab to choose the invoice to open.
Click Add payment plan.
Select the payment plan.
To edit or remove the payment plan, click Edit. Payment plan edits won’t affect the original payment plan template.
Automatically apply a payment plan to an invoice
Instead of manually adding a payment plan to each client’s invoice, automatically add a payment plan to an invoice using a proposal. See how to build a proposal.
Client view
Clients will see the payment plan in the invoice. If you have a payment processor connected and the invoice total is great than $0, Pay Now buttons appear next to individual installments and for the entire invoice.
Custom or partial payments
Allowing your clients to make partial payments on an invoice depends on your autopay settings.
If autopay is required, custom payments aren’t possible. If autopay is optional or disabled, custom payments are allowed! Your client can type an amount next to the Pay Now button at the bottom of the invoice.
Edit paid installments
Once an installment is paid, it locks. Adding gratuity or editing other parts of the invoice won’t change paid installments. To edit the locked installment, click Edit to delete or duplicate.
