Accepting payments through the web must always be a secure transaction. If your customers don’t trust your site security, then they will likely move onto another company to conduct business.
Setting proper security protocols on eCommerce servers can be daunting, but with a free PayPal account, anyone can Send an Invoice from a customer or Request Money from a friend through PayPal’s mobile app and website.
In this tutorial, I will show you how to send an invoice and request money to a customer through PayPal.com.
In order to send a PayPal invoice, you will only need a PayPal account and your customer’s email address (where they will receive the invoice). The steps will be the same whether you have a personal or business PayPal account.
- How to Send an Invoice Through PayPal.com
- How to Request Money Through PayPal.com
- Check Invoice Status
- More eCommerce Resources
How to Send an Invoice Through PayPal.com
- Log into PayPal.
- Click Send and Request from the top menu.
- On the next page, locate More from the sub-menu.
- On the next page, select Create an invoice from the available options.
- On the Invoicing page, select the Create Invoice button in the upper right hand corner.
- On the Invoice Creation screen, there are a vast number of items to customize. Be sure to fill out the invoice with the required information and any pertinent details. Invoice options include:
Template: Amounts only, Hours, Quantity
Bill To: Bill Single or Multiple Customers, Email Address or Name (from your PayPal contacts)
Items: Line Items, Quantity, Amounts, and optional Description
Message to Customer: Seller Note to Customer, Terms and Conditions, Reference Number
More Options: Upload Attachments, Memo to Self
Invoice: Invoice Number, Due Date, Net Terms, Discounts, Shipping, Other Amounts
Payment Options: Allow Partial Payment, Allow Tip
- Before you press the Send button, click on the 3 dots next to it if you want to utilize any of these features: Share link to invoice, Save Draft, or Save as Template
- Click Send to send the invoice to your customer(s).
The final step, of course, it to wait for your money. Once you send the invoice, your customer will be notified via email.
How to Request Money Through PayPal.com
- Log into PayPal.
- Click Send and Request from the top menu.
- On the next page, locate Request from the sub-menu.
- Locate your customer using any of the following: Name, Username, Email, Mobile Phone Number
- Select the appropriate user from the results and click Next.
- Enter the dollar amount, set the currency, and add a note to indicate what the invoice is for.
- Click Request Now to request money.
Check Invoice Status
From the main Invoicing page, you will find a list of all paid and unpaid invoices, plus any draft invoices. Next to each invoice, you can access additional options from the 3 dots menu including:
- Record Payment – useful if your customer pays you with cash, check or ACH
- Download PDF
- Share Link
- Archive
You can even send reminders to your clients in case they may have missed the email notification triggered by the initial invoice.
More eCommerce Resources
PayPal has a complete article about the differences between payment gateways and payment processors which is outside the scope of this article but good for you to know.
Check out these other eCommerce resources
How about your PayPal email?
Hi Mark,
I am not sure I understand the question. If you can please clarify we will be happy to help!
Hi Chris,
This is indeed a timely help to me. Though I have been using PayPal for years I never used this, but today one of my clients asked an Invoice developed via PayPal and he send me the link and I did and created my first PayPal Invoice embedding my logo. It’s really looks wonderful than my usual Invoices.
Thanks again for sharing this step by step guide to create an Invoice.
Keep sharing.
Best Regards,
Philip Verghese Ariel
It’s really a lot easier than this article says. You just go to send and request, then select request, and type in the email address of the person you are requesting the money from, type in the amount, and you done.
Oh, but I quess that’s not really making an invoice. Still, it was a very simple way for me to receive the additional postage I needed from a buyer.
Hello,
I am actually trying to put the money from my gift card to my paypal account, and im not sure how to do that. I was told to do an invoice but im not sure that was the best way. I dont know how to do this and would really like some help. please let me know what to do.
Thank you,
Lachelle Crossley
My recommendation is to speak with Paypal and how you can do that. Some gift cards can’t be converted to cash so you would have to use the card in a transaction like a credit card.