Even if you sell mostly online, sometimes you'll take a payment yourself. Maybe it's a sale over the phone, a check in the mail, or a fee after an appointment. That's what manual transactions are for. You can charge a card on file, or log a payment you collected offline. Here's how.
Manual transactions now start as invoices. Go to Contacts and open the contact. Then click Invoice in the action menu. Or click the Purchases tab, scroll to Invoices, and click New invoice. If you use Quick View, click View details first. The Invoice action is available on Plus and above.
Next, add your products. This works just like setting up an order form. Choose the products, quantities and prices, and use each product's settings for things like subscriptions or payment plans. If you've saved an offer, pick it from the Load a saved offer dropdown, and it fills in the product grid for you.
Now open the "I would like to" dropdown. To charge your customer, choose Charge credit card. In the Credit card number field, select a card on file, or click New credit card to add one. Confirm your payment gateway, add a customer or internal note if you like, and click Submit.
This is handy for charging after each appointment, no-show or late-cancellation fees, deposits, extra services, or helping a customer who's having trouble paying.
To charge on a later date instead, click the calendar icon next to Today's total and pick the date. The card is charged on that day.
You can now log manual transactions in other currencies. First, turn on Multi-currency Support under your profile icon, then Administration, then Advanced Features. It works with Stripe gateways only. When you charge the card, make sure a Stripe gateway is selected, then choose from the Currency dropdown. Your saved price doesn't convert automatically, so adjust it for the new currency. Then pick the receipt template to send, and click Submit.
For reporting, Ontraport converts these sales to your default currency. To see the original currency, add the currency column to the contact's Purchase history, or check the last currency used on the Purchases tab.
If the customer already paid you some other way, like a check, cash or a bank transfer, choose Log offline transaction. Select the payment method and enter details like the check number. Set the purchase date in the Invoice date field, add any notes, and click Submit. This creates an invoice and a purchase on the contact's record, without charging them or asking for payment.
The third option, Request payment, emails your customer an invoice to pay. That has its own lesson later in this section.
If an invoice is already open, you don't need a new one. Select it in the Invoices section and click Pay. Then charge a card on file, or log an offline payment.
If a card is declined, Ontraport asks what to do with the invoice. Choose Mark unpaid if you want to try another card. Choose Run collections to start the retries set in your recharge settings. Or choose Void invoice to cancel the request for payment, like when you never delivered anything and the customer owes nothing.
You'll find those retry settings under Sales, then Settings, then Recharge Settings. The Declines and collections lesson covers them in detail.
If you sell the same thing often, save it as an offer. Start a new invoice, add the products, prices and quantities, and leave the billing details blank. Click Save offer, give it a name, and click Save. You can use it in manual transactions, on order forms, and in automations that request payment. To delete one, hover over it in the Load a saved offer dropdown, click the trash icon, then Delete.
So: start a new invoice from the contact's record, then charge a card or log an offline payment, and save offers to make the next sale faster. Next up: how to give a customer a refund.