Invoice

February 16, 2025 - February 16, 2025
This is an important piece of documentation! If you are going to be taken seriously and professionally you need to have an invoice complete with full terms and conditions plus you also need to have a similar form that is a “Confirmation of Order”.
Again let’s take the scenario that you are on a stand at an event and a prospective buyer comes on to your stand. She likes the collection and wants to put down a tentative order. You can’t raise an invoice straight away because it’s only a tentative order but she is very keen. This is when you can use a “Confirmation of Order” sheet which is the same layout as the invoice form but does not have the legally binding terms and conditions attached.
It tests out the potential commitment of the buyer, also makes you look professional and keeps your paperwork up to date. If you get busy on your stand it’s easy to forget new names and faces with potential orders. With this method you can attach the buyer’s business card to your copy of the Confirmation of Order sheet and the buyer has now received all your details too.
Remember on the Confirmation of Order sheet there is no terms on conditions on the back page – these terms are reserved for the exclusive use of the Invoice only.
Please note also;
Terms relate to payment terms and this section is left blank for you to fill in. Depending on who the customer is many designers operate at different payment levels e.g. with the big stores you don’t have any say anyway! House of Fraser has staggered terms over 30, 60 and 90 days with different discounts applying for prompt settlement and national distribution centres too. Larger stores operate on a 30 days payment time but with settlement clauses.
Other smaller boutiques normally expect to pay on delivery and some designers charge 50% at time of the order to bind the customer in especially when dealing with international markets such as Japan.
Make sure with “terms” that you fully discuss them with your buyer before entering the specified terms onto the contract. Also discuss delivery charges too at the time before the contract is officially raised and enters into your production system. The rest of the invoice and confirmation of order is self explanatory but if you do need further guidance please contact us.
Click here to download a editable copy of an Invoice