Sending payment receipts for invoices

Payment receipts let you confirm that a customer has paid all or part of a SortScape invoice. They are separate from the original invoice email or text message, and they use editable Payment received templates rather than fixed system wording.

This feature only applies to invoices created, sent, and managed through SortScape’s built-in invoicing. If your business creates and sends invoices through Xero or QuickBooks Online, payment confirmation messages for those invoices stay in your accounting system.

When receipts are sent

How the invoice was paid	Email receipt	Text receipt
Record payment manually in SortScape	Optional	Optional
Stripe online payment	Sent automatically	Not sent automatically

Sending a receipt when recording a payment

To send a receipt for a manual payment:

1. Open a sent SortScape invoice. The invoice must already have been sent; this does not apply to draft or unsent invoices.
2. Click Record payment.
3. Enter the Amount received. This can be the full balance or a smaller partial payment.
4. Enter the payment date and optional payment method.
5. Optionally tick Email payment receipt to customer and/or Text payment receipt to customer.
6. Click Record payment.

Receipts are sent only when you click Record payment, and only for the options you select. The email option needs an email address on the billing contact. The text option needs a mobile number and available SMS allowance.

SortScape remembers your last checkbox choices for the next time you record a payment. This is remembered per user, not as a company-wide setting.

Receipts are for the payment you just recorded. If a customer pays a $100 deposit on a $300 invoice, the receipt confirms the $100 payment and can also show the remaining balance through your template wording.

Online payment receipts

When a customer pays a SortScape invoice online through Stripe, SortScape automatically attempts to email a payment receipt using your Payment received (email) template.

There is no checkbox for Stripe online payments, and no automatic text message is sent. If the receipt email cannot be sent, the payment is still recorded.

Can I send a receipt later?

There is no separate Send payment receipt button after a payment has been recorded. Editing payment details on the invoice does not send a receipt.

Do not mark a SortScape invoice unpaid just to send a receipt again. Mark unpaid deletes all recorded payments for that invoice.

If you missed the receipt checkbox, send the customer a normal email or text message instead. If the customer makes another payment later, you can send a receipt when you record that payment.

There is no built-in way to resend a Stripe online payment receipt after the payment has completed.

Editing payment receipt templates

Go to Settings → Customer messaging → Invoice messages.

When SortScape invoicing is enabled, you can edit these templates:

• Payment received (email): Used when recording payments manually and when customers pay online.
• Payment received (text): Used when recording payments manually. It is not used for online payments.

Click the template name to edit the subject, message body, and merge tags. The email template includes a subject and body. The text template includes a message body only.

The default email subject is:

Payment received - invoice_number

The default text message is:

Hi cust_first_name, we've received your payment of payment_amount for invoice #invoice_number. invoice_link

Payment receipt templates support the same invoice message tags as other invoice messages, including cust_first_name, invoice_number, invoice_total, invoice_link, and your_company_name.

They also include payment tags that are useful for partial payments:

• payment_amount, the amount received for this payment
• amount_due, the remaining balance after this payment

If you have Email addresses to cc when emailing quotes and invoices set on the Invoice messages page, those addresses are CC’d on quote and invoice emails, including payment receipt emails, when you send an invoice, and on automatic invoice reminders.

What the customer receives

Email receipts are sent to the billing contact’s primary email address. They use your Payment received (email) template and include a PDF of the invoice. If the invoice still has money owing, the PDF shows the amount paid and the balance due.

Text receipts are sent to the billing contact’s mobile number, use your Payment received (text) template, and count against your SMS usage like other customer texts.

Sending a receipt does not change the invoice’s sent status or sent date. It is a receipt, not the first invoice send.

Payment receipt emails and texts appear in the invoice communication history like other customer notifications.

If something goes wrong

If you record a payment with a receipt option selected but the message fails to send, the payment is still saved. You will see an error such as Failed to send payment receipt email or Failed to send payment receipt text message.

Xero and QuickBooks Online invoices

Payment receipt messages, editable Payment received templates, and the Record payment receipt options are for SortScape invoices only.

If you create and send invoices through Xero or QuickBooks Online, handle payment confirmations for those invoices in Xero or QuickBooks instead.