Overview
Prepayments let you record a payment from a customer before an invoice exists — common for wholesale or specialty orders that require money down. The payment is stored as an unapplied balance on the customer's account and can optionally be reserved against a specific sales order, then applied to invoices later.
How It Works
- Go to Sales > CRM, then select the customer's company.
- Click into the Sales tab on the company profile.
- Click the Prepayments tab (next to Credit Memos, Sales Orders, Invoices, Fulfillment Orders, and Quotations).
- Click New Payment.
- In the New Client Payment window, confirm the Client field is correct.
- Enter the Amount being collected.
- Choose the Payment Method (e.g., Cash) and Payment Date.
- Review the list of open invoices shown for context (this does not apply the payment automatically).
- Optionally, use Reserve to Sales Order to search for and link an open sales order — this keeps the payment available on the account either way, it just earmarks it.
- Click Create Payment.
Key Features / Options
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Only with unapplied balance (filter) | Shows only client payments that still have funds not yet applied to an invoice. |
| Recently released (filter) | Shows payments recently freed up from a reservation or application. |
| Reserve to Sales Order | Optional. Links the prepayment to a specific open sales order without applying it to an invoice. |
| Unapplied balance tracking | Each payment shows Amount, Applied, and Unapplied columns so staff can see remaining balance at a glance. |
Tips & Best Practices
- Use Reserve to Sales Order when a customer has pre-paid for a specific order, so the intent is documented — but remember it does not apply the payment to an invoice by itself.
- Check Only with unapplied balance when looking for prepayments still available to apply, to avoid scrolling through fully-applied history.
- If a customer's invoice already exists, use the invoice's Add/View Payment option instead — Prepayments is for money collected ahead of invoicing.
FAQs & Troubleshooting
- Does reserving a prepayment to a sales order apply it automatically? No — it stays as an unapplied balance on the account; reservation is just a link/label.
- What happens if I don't reserve the payment to a sales order? It remains a general unapplied balance on the client's account, available to apply to any future invoice.
Additional Help
If you run into issues creating or applying a prepayment, contact Luminous Support.