If a customer makes an advance payment on goods or services that will be delivered in the future, enter an order, rather than an invoice, for the transaction. Follow the same steps to create the order as you would for an invoice, but be sure to choose Order from the selection list that appears in the upper left corner of the Sales window. (If you're unsure about how to enter sales transactions, read Entering Sales to learn more.) Enter the deposit amount in the Paid Today field.

When you record the order, only your Customer Deposits account and the checking account receiving the money (or the Undeposited Funds account, depending upon your selections in the Banking view of the Preferences window) will be updated. If the order is for inventoried items, the number of items on hand won't be updated, but they will appear as committed on Analyze Inventory reports and in the Analyze Inventory window.

When the customer is ready to make the purchase, you can change the order to an invoice. Using the Sales Register window, locate the order and double-click it. The order will appear in the Sales window; click the Change to Invoice button, and then make any changes that are needed before recording the sale. The deposit amount will automatically be applied to the recorded invoice.

This tip applies to:

Sales window -- all layouts