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PayPal facilitates fast, efficient invoicing that can improve your business's cash flow.
Small business owners need an efficient, accurate invoicing system to ensure they’re paid promptly. The easier it is to set up and send invoices, the better your chances of staying on top of accounts receivable — a task that can make the difference between success and failure.
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Here’s where PayPal Invoicing comes in. Most business owners are already familiar with the ubiquitous payment company but may not know about its robust suite of business tools, including invoicing. We’ll provide a detailed look at PayPal Invoicing, including a step-by-step guide on creating invoices quickly and easily.
Creating and sending invoices with PayPal is straightforward. As a bonus, you can also accept credit card payments and other payment methods directly from your PayPal invoices, helping your business increase cash flow.
To start invoicing with PayPal, take the following steps.
A free PayPal business account allows your business to create professional invoices, accept payments on your website, make payments and more. Here’s how to create your PayPal business account:
Carefully review your invoice via the available previews to ensure it’s accurate and error-free. You’ll see what your customers will receive. This is a crucial step to ensure professionalism.
When you’re ready, select Send at the top of the screen. You’ll see a pop-up confirming that the invoice was sent.
PayPal Invoicing is an easy way to create and send invoices. There is no software to download or app to install. You simply take the following steps:
PayPal’s straightforward invoicing function allows time-crunched business owners to quickly send and forget about invoices. You can create and send invoices from your smartphone, desktop computer or any device with internet access. Once created, you can send your invoice via a shared link or email. You can also print a PDF and mail it to your customers.
PayPal’s invoicing capabilities are impressive and include the following features:
It is free to create and send invoices with PayPal. However, you’ll pay fees when your invoices are paid online. PayPal charges 2.89 percent plus 49 cents per domestic transaction. For example, if your customer pays you $100, PayPal gets $3.38 of that amount.
If you prefer a more traditional platform for invoicing, consider choosing accounting software that can handle all your financial management needs. The following platforms are a great place to start.
QuickBooks is one of the most well-established small business accounting software solutions. In addition to its easy-to-use basic accounting features, it allows you to create professional-looking invoices. Invoices are optimized for mobile devices and can be created via the QuickBooks mobile app. Our QuickBooks Online review explains how you can set up online payments through QuickBooks Payments or a third-party processor to receive payment directly from your electronic invoice.
Xero enables you to schedule recurring invoices indefinitely or with a set end date. Another great feature is how Xero sends automatic payment reminders, helping you with cash flow and collection. Our Xero review explains how the platform integrates with payment processors to enable online payments and stores invoices in the cloud.
FreshBooks has numerous features that make it easy to create and track invoices and follow up on payments. In addition to creating professional invoices, sending automatic payment reminders and integrating with payment providers, FreshBooks allows you to track an invoice’s status after you send it, letting you see when a customer receives and views it. Read our FreshBooks review to learn how this platform tracks billable time and expenses and easily adds this information to invoices, which is great for professional and consulting businesses like legal offices and marketing firms.
Donna Fuscaldo contributed to this article.