To print an invoice, first locate it under the Dashboard or Invoices tabs. Click on the invoice you want to print, then hit Print Invoice in the sidebar on the right.
Posted by John Marstall
2006 Apr 21 in Invoices
If you need to invoice clients for the same items on a repeating basis — such as monthly — then recurring invoices are for you. To create one, click on the Recurring tab, then hit New Template. Give your template a name and complete the line items as you would for a normal invoice. Then, hit Save Invoice.
Next, you’ll want to associate one or more clients with the template. Click on Add new client and select from the pulldown menu that appears. If you need to add additional clients, you can do so, or hit the delete icon 
to remove one.
Set the schedule for invoicing these clients in the sidebar on the right. Select how often the invoice should go out (weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly or every certain number of days) and the date on which the invoicing schedule begins. Hit Set Schedule when you’re done.
When the time comes, Blinksale will create a new invoice from your template and send it to the clients you specified. What will you do with all that time you save?
Posted by John Marstall
2006 Apr 20 in Invoices
Tags are keywords that you assign to invoices you’ve created, in order to make finding them later easier. On any invoice page, hit Add tags, then enter your keywords in the text field that appears.
Separate each tag with a space: design development architecture
Or to join 2 words, use a hyphen: web-design josh-williams
Hit Add to assign the tags.
If you’ve added tags to your invoices, finding them under the Invoices tab becomes easier. You can enter any tag in the text field at the top of the Invoices page to see invoices with that tag, or just click on a tag in the sidebar on the right. The more you use tags, the more you’ll come to appreciate how they make things easier to find.
Examples of things to put in your tags:
Posted by John Marstall
2006 Apr 19 in Invoices
After hitting Send Invoice, you’ll see a box labeled “Your Message” in “Send Invoice” panel. This is a good place to thank your client for the project and suggest preferred payment methods. Type whatever you like, then hit the Send Invoice button when you’re done.
You can also set up a standard invoice greeting that will appear in the “Send Invoice” panel by default. To do this, click on Settings at the top of the page, then Invoice Templates in the sidebar on the right. Type your message into the Invoice Greeting box and hit Save Settings.
Posted by John Marstall
2005 Aug 08 in Invoices
You can hit Show Counter at the top of the page to see a tally of the invoices you’ve created so far, and how many you have available to use in the current monthly cycle. Click on Hide Counter in the same spot to dismiss the info.
Posted by John Marstall
2005 Jul 25 in Invoices
It’s possible to permit your clients to pay your invoices immediately, dropping the funds right into your PayPal account. In order for this to work, however, Blinksale must know the exact email address that is linked to your PayPal account.
Click on the Settings link at the top of the page, then click on Payment Gateways in the sidebar on the right. Type your PayPal email address in the box provided, then hit Save Settings.
Next time you want to add a PayPal payment link to an invoice, check the Include a PayPal payment link option that appears in the “Send Invoice” panel after you’ve hit Send Invoice.
When your client receives the invoice, she’ll see a Pay your balance with PayPal link which she can use to do just that. PayPal will even make note of the invoice number.
Posted by John Marstall
2005 Jul 13 in Invoices
If you’ve just created an invoice, you’ll see “Edit Invoice” and “Delete Invoice” buttons in the toolbox on the left. Just click one of those.
If you need to edit or delete an invoice you created previously, you’ll first need to locate that invoice under the Summary, Open, Past Due, Closed or All Invoices tabs. Click on the invoice’s listing to see a toolbox of available actions for that bill. “Edit Invoice” and “Delete Invoice” will be among those buttons, and you can click one of those.
If you elect to Edit your invoice, just fill out the available text fields with the updated information and hit “Save Invoice” when you’re done.
Posted by John Marstall
2005 Jul 12 in Invoices
To mark an invoice as paid, you record the payments you’ve received for it. First, you’ll need to locate the invoice under the Dashboard or Invoices tabs. Click on the invoice’s listing to see a sidebar of available actions for that bill. Click on Receive Payment.
The “Receive Payment” panel will slide open above the invoice and you’ll be able to fill in the Payment Amount, the Date you received it, the Payment Method, and a Reference Number (such as a check number, or whatever is relevant to the kind of payment you received).
Then, hit Receive Payment.
It’s possible to attach multiple payments to a single invoice. This is because a client may not pay you all at once, but do so in several installments. The process is the same for each payment. (Note that if you make a mistake, you can delete a payment by clicking the Delete link next to the payment’s listing under the invoice.)
When the total payments applied to the invoice meet the Total Due, the invoice is considered completely paid and moved to the Closed category. Congratulations! Next time the Girl Scouts come to your door, you’ll be well-equipped to plunk down for some Thin Mints.
Posted by John Marstall
2005 Jul 12 in Invoices
To send an invoice, first locate it under the Dashboard or Invoices tabs. Click on the invoice you want to send, then hit Send Invoice in the sidebar on the right. In the “Send Invoice” panel that appears, check the box for each intended recipient, enter any additional information in the “Your Message” box, and select whether you’d like to include your PayPal link with the invoice.
Then, hit Send Invoice. If you need to send your invoice again later, you can do so in the same way.
Posted by John Marstall
2005 Jul 12 in Invoices
Blinksale helpfully sorts your finished invoices into several categories—Open, Past Due and Closed. The most recent invoices in each category are always available to you under Blinksale’s Dashboard tab.
Open invoices are those bills which you’ve sent to clients but which have not yet come due. The recipients of these invoices still have some time left in which to pay your fees. Draft invoices, which you’ve put together but not yet sent, are also included in the Open category.
Past Due invoices are those bills whose recipients are late in paying. Blinksale will inform you just how late the client is with a ”# days” note next to the invoice date. If you configured the invoice to send reminders and assess late fees, then Blinksale is already taking care of all this for you. If you’d like to send a reminder manually, click on the invoice listing and then hit the “Send Reminder” button when it pops up.
Closed invoices are those bills which have been completely paid by your clients. This is where you want all your invoices to end up eventually. If you’ve got invoices here, you can go celebrate with an ice cream sandwich. Or, if you’re lactose-intolerant, just sit there basking in the blue-green glow of success.
The Dashboard tab will show you the five most recent invoices in each of the Open, Past Due and Closed categories. And the Invoices tab is where you can see every invoice you’ve ever created, regardless of its status.
There are several ways to single out a selection of invoices under this tab. If you’ve added tags to your invoices, you can enter any tag in the text field at the top to see invoices with that tag. You can click on a tag in the sidebar on the right. You can also specify whether you want to see All invoices, or only some combination of Drafts, Open, Past Due and Closed invoices. Finally you can specify what range of dates you’re interested in. Hit the Filter button at any time to update the results.
It's also possible to search for multiple tags at the same time. Try using "tagname1+tagname2" or "tagname1,tagname2" in the input box. Using the plus sign (+) as a separator will pull only invoices with both tags, while using a comma will pull invoices with either/or.
Note that in every case you can click on an invoice’s listing to see that invoice in full and get access to the complete sidebar of available actions for that bill.
Posted by John Marstall
2005 Jul 12 in Invoices
To create an invoice, click the New Invoice button in the upper right of the page.
You’ll be asked to enter the name of the client you want to invoice. As you type it in, Blinksale will attempt to auto-complete with the name of an existing client. Once you’ve got a complete name in there, hit Create Invoice.
(If the client you entered is a new one, you’ll be asked to fill in some more information about that company. The only required fields are the company’s name and a first name, last name and email address for your main guy or gal there; but this is a good time to put in all the contact information you can provide. Never know when a fax number or mailing address might come in handy.
Hit Save Settings when you’re done.)
Now it’s time to fill out your invoice with the relevant billing information.
Date is the date of the invoice’s issue. This will default to today’s date, and that’s generally what you’ll want to stick with. If you feel the need to get fancy, though, you can use the pulldowns to set the date to whatever you’d like.
Invoice ID is just a numerical index whereby you can keep your invoices straight in your own head, and refer to them easily. If you’ve created other invoices previously, Blinksale will helpfully remind you of the last Invoice Number you used. You can just bump that up by one for your new Invoice Number.
PO Number is the Purchase Order number which your client might have provided to you when authorizing the work to be done. If you received one, stick it here so you can make sure to get paid!
Invoice Line Items are where you explain why your client needs to pay you. There are four types, and you can select a different type for each line:
Service: Bill your client a single, flat fee for each service you provided.
Hours: Bill your client for the hours you worked, using an hourly rate.
Days: Bill your client for the days you worked, using a daily rate.
Product: Bill your client for the number of products purchased, using a per-unit price.
For each line, you’ll enter a service Description or list the product Item; and enter Item Price, Hourly Rate, and Quantity as appropriate. If you need more line items, click on Add New Line. To delete a line item, click the delete icon 
next to that line.
Blinksale will keep the subtotal updated as you enter information. To make Blinksale figure in sales tax, check the box next to the Sales Tax item in the right sidebar. You can change the sales tax rate in the text field that appears. If you need to add shipping costs to the invoice, check the Freight box and stick those in the associated field.
Payment options are the next thing to consider. You can tell Blinksale how soon payment is due and whether to assess late fees if the client tarries. Under Payment is Due, you can choose “Immediately” or give your client some flex time with one of the NET options. You can also choose “By a specific date” and use the pulldowns that appear to pick that. The Late Fee pulldown will allow you to choose from some preset late fee percentages or devise your own with the “Enter a specific amount” option.
Finally, it’s time to save your invoice. Click on Save Invoice and you’ll see a preview of the completed bill. If you need to make changes, you can click on Edit Invoice in the right sidebar to do so. If you just messed up the invoice royally, you can delete it with the appropriate button as well.
However, assuming the invoice is accurate and ready to go, you need only click on Send Invoice to set it winging its way right into your client’s inbox. Then just sit back and watch your client fall all over him- or herself, scrambling to get you paid.
Posted by John Marstall
2005 Jul 11 in Invoices
An invoice is just a list of all the goods or services you’ve provided to a client, along with a summary of the related costs. In ancient times, invoices were inscribed by hand on various materials. In the digital age, you can use Blinksale to send great-looking invoices (along with follow-up reminders and thank-you notes) over email.
Upon receiving an invoice from you, your client should remit to you the full, specified amount. After a certain grace period which you specify, Blinksale will begin assessing extra late fees as needed.
Posted by John Marstall
2005 Jul 11 in Invoices
Stay up to date with our XML feed. It's a great way to stay up on the latest updates, improvements, and news of all things Blinksale.
Blinksale is located in sunny Southlake, Texas. We're a small, extremely-talented team of designers, developers, and businesspeople (like you) working hard to take the hassle out of small-business finance. We're also the only folks in our office building who show up to work in flip-flops.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Contact Us
© 2005-2006 Blinksale, Inc. All rights reserved.
Blinksale is a registered trademark of Blinksale, Inc.
