Down payments¶

A down payment is an initial up-front payment made during the confirmation of a sales transaction. With a down payment, the buyer pays a portion of the total amount owed while agreeing to pay the remaining amount at a later date. In turn, the seller provides goods or services to the buyer upon or after accepting the down payment, trusting that the remaining amount will be paid later on.

In the Odoo Sales app, down payments can be customized to fit the needs of each individual sales transaction.

Create invoices¶

When a sales order is confirmed, the option to create an invoice becomes available via the Create Invoice button. When clicked, a Create invoice(s) pop-up appears.

screenshot: sales-down-payment-create-invoices-popup

menu: Sales ‣ Orders ‣ Orders ‣ (a confirmed order) ‣ Create Invoice
shows: The "Create invoices" pop-up window with the Regular invoice / Down payment (percentage) / Down payment (fixed amount) options and the amount field.
highlight: The invoice-type options (red frame).
data: "Down payment (percentage)" selected, 50%.
module: sale
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the pop-up.

Note

Invoices are automatically created as drafts so they can be reviewed before validation.

On the Create invoice(s) pop-up, there are 3 options to choose from in the Create Invoice field:

Regular invoice
Down payment (percentage)
Down payment (fixed amount)

Initial down payment request¶

On the Create invoice(s) pop-up window, the down payment options are:

Down payment (percentage)
Down payment (fixed amount)

Select a down payment option and set the desired payment, either as a percentage or a fixed amount, in the Down Payment Amount field.

Once all fields are filled in, click the Create Draft button. Upon clicking this button, Odoo reveals the Customer Invoice Draft.

Important

If an Invalid Operation error appears, double-check that the invoicing policy is configured correctly. In some cases, for example, the invoicing policy is configured to require delivery before sending an invoice.

In the Invoice Lines tab of the Customer Invoice Draft, the down payment that was just configured in the Create invoice(s) pop-up form appears under a new Down Payments section.

Example: requesting a 50% down payment¶

Note

The following example involves a 50% amount down payment on a (Cabinet with Doors) with Ordered quantities as the Invoicing Policy.

screenshot: sales-down-payment-product-form

menu: Sales ‣ Products ‣ Products ‣ (a product) ‣ General Information
shows: The product form used in the example, showing the Sales Price, Cost and Invoicing Policy fields.
highlight: The Sales Price field (red frame).
data: Product "Cabinet with Doors", price 320.00.
module: sale
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the General Information tab.

Navigate to Sales app ‣ New, and add a Customer to the quotation. Then, click Add a product in the Order Lines tab, and select the Cabinet with Doors product. When the order is confirmed (via the Confirm button), the quotation turns into a sales order. Once this occurs, create and view the invoice by clicking Create Invoice.

screenshot: sales-down-payment-confirmed-order

menu: Sales ‣ Orders ‣ Orders ‣ (a confirmed order)
shows: A confirmed sales order in the Sales Order state, with the Create Invoice button in the header and one product line.
highlight: The Create Invoice button (red frame).
data: Order S00042, one line "Cabinet with Doors", quantity 5.
module: sale
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the header and the order lines.

Next, on the Create invoice(s) pop-up window that appears, select Down payment (percentage), and type 50 in the Down Payment field.

Note

The Income Account attached to the Down payment can be changed. For more information, check out the documentation on income account modification on down payments. A Down payment Account can also be set on a product category. If set, this account is prioritized for future down payments.

Lastly, click Create Draft Invoice to create and view the invoice draft, which includes the down payment under the Down Payments section of the Invoice Lines tab. From there, the invoice can be confirmed and posted by clicking Confirm. Confirming the invoice changes the status from Draft to Posted. It also reveals a new series of buttons at the top of the page.

screenshot: sales-down-payment-draft-invoice

menu: Accounting ‣ Customers ‣ Invoices ‣ (the down-payment invoice)
shows: The draft down-payment invoice with a single line labelled "Down payment" and the total equal to the requested percentage.
highlight: The down-payment invoice line (red frame).
data: 50% of order S00042.
module: sale
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the invoice lines.

From those buttons, the payment can be registered by clicking Pay. Doing so reveals a Pay pop-up form, which is auto-populated with the necessary information. Confirm the information provided is correct, and make any necessary adjustments. When ready, click the Create Payment button.

screenshot: sales-down-payment-register-payment-popup

menu: Accounting ‣ Customers ‣ Invoices ‣ (the down-payment invoice) ‣ Register Payment
shows: The "Register Payment" pop-up window with the journal, amount, payment date and memo fields and the "Create Payment" button.
highlight: The "Create Payment" button (red frame).
data: Bank journal, full amount of the down payment.
module: account
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the pop-up.

After clicking Create Payment, Odoo reveals the customer invoice, now with a green In Payment or Paid banner in the upper-right corner, depending on how the database has configured and if manual confirmation of payments is required.

screenshot: sales-down-payment-paid-banner

menu: Accounting ‣ Customers ‣ Invoices ‣ (the down-payment invoice)
shows: The posted down-payment invoice with the green "Paid" ribbon in the upper-right corner.
highlight: The "Paid" ribbon (red frame).
data: Down-payment invoice of order S00042.
module: account
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the top of the invoice.

On the sales order, a new Down Payments section is present in the Order Lines tab, along with the down payment that was just invoiced and posted. When the customer wants to pay the remaining amount of the order, another invoice must be created.

screenshot: sales-down-payment-order-lines-section

menu: Sales ‣ Orders ‣ Orders ‣ (a confirmed order) ‣ Order Lines
shows: The Order Lines tab of the sales order with the automatically added "Down Payments" section and the down-payment line under it.
highlight: The "Down Payments" section (red frame).
data: Order S00042 after a 50% down payment.
module: sale
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the order-lines table.

Next, click the Create Invoice button. On the Create invoice(s) pop-up window that appears, there is a new field: Already invoiced and Amount to invoice.

screenshot: sales-down-payment-deduct-popup

menu: Sales ‣ Orders ‣ Orders ‣ (a confirmed order) ‣ Create Invoice
shows: The "Create invoices" pop-up on an order that already has a down payment, showing the "Deduct down payments" checkbox next to the Regular invoice option.
highlight: The "Deduct down payments" checkbox (red frame).
data: Order S00042, 50% already invoiced.
module: sale
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the pop-up.

If the remaining amount is ready to be paid, select the Regular Invoice option. Odoo will create an invoice for the exact amount needed to complete the total payment, as indicated in the Amount to invoice field.

Once ready, click Create Draft Invoice. Doing so reveals another Customer Invoice Draft page, listing all the invoices for that specific sales order in the Invoice Lines tab. Each invoice line item displays all the necessary information related to each invoice.

To complete the flow, click Confirm to change the status of the invoice from Draft to Posted. Then, click Pay. The Pay form appears, with all fields auto-populated with the necessary information, including the remaining amount left to be paid on the order.

screenshot: sales-down-payment-second-register-payment

menu: Accounting ‣ Customers ‣ Invoices ‣ (the final invoice) ‣ Register Payment
shows: The "Register Payment" pop-up for the final invoice, with the remaining amount pre-filled.
highlight: The Amount field (red frame).
data: Remaining 50% of order S00042.
module: account
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the pop-up.

After confirming that information, click Create Payment. Doing so reveals the final Customer Invoice with a green In Payment or Paid banner in the upper-right corner, depending on how the database has configured and if manual confirmation of payments is required. Upon returning to the sales order, both down payments are present in the Order Lines tab.

screenshot: sales-down-payment-final-invoice-paid

menu: Accounting ‣ Customers ‣ Invoices ‣ (the final invoice)
shows: The final invoice with the deducted down payment on a separate line and the green "Paid" ribbon.
highlight: The deducted down-payment line (red frame).
data: Final invoice of order S00042.
module: sale
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the invoice lines.

At this point, the flow is now complete. This flow is also possible with the Fixed amount down payment option.

Important

If a down payment is used with a product that has a Delivered quantities invoicing policy, and the cost of the product exceeds the 50% down payment, a regular invoice is created. However, for products that cost less than the 50% down payment, the down payments will not be able to be deducted when it comes time to invoice the customer. This is because the product(s) would have to be delivered before creating the final invoice due to Odoo not allowing negative totals for invoices. If nothing has been delivered, a Credit Note is created, which cancels the draft invoice that was created after the down payment.

To utilize the Credit Note option, the Inventory application must be installed in order to confirm the delivery. Otherwise, the delivered quantity can be entered manually directly on the sales order.

Example: requesting a 100% down payment¶

Requesting a 100% down payment is similar to requesting a 50% down payment, but with fewer steps.

Note

A 100% down payment is not the same as a full payment of the sales order. A sales order paid through the regular invoice process will not allow any additional invoices to be generated and will not display the Create Invoice button on the Sales Order. Instead, following this example will cause the Create Invoice button to be displayed on the Sales Order. This is because the system expects another invoice to be created after the down payment to complete payment of the sales order.

The Solar Panel Installation product is being used in this example.

To configure a 100% down payment, navigate to Sales app ‣ New and add a Customer to the quote. Next, click Add a product in the Order Lines tab, and select the Solar Panel Installation product. Upon clicking the Confirm button, the quotation turns into a sales order. At that point, an invoice can now be created by clicking Create Invoice in the top-left corner. On the Create invoice(s) pop-up window that appears, select Down payment (percentage), and type 100 in the Down Payment field.

screenshot: sales-down-payment-100-percent

menu: Sales ‣ Orders ‣ Orders ‣ (a confirmed order) ‣ Create Invoice
shows: The "Create invoices" pop-up with "Down payment (percentage)" selected and 100 entered in the percentage field.
highlight: The percentage field set to 100 (red frame).
data: Order S00042.
module: sale
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the pop-up.

Next, click Create Draft Invoice to create an invoice draft. This will also bring the draft invoice into view, which includes the Down payment under the Down Payments section of the Invoice Lines tab. The invoice can now be confirmed and posted by clicking Confirm. Confirming the invoice changes the status from Draft to Posted. It also reveals a new series of buttons at the top of the page.

The payment can be registered by clicking the Pay button. This brings up the Pay pop-up form, which is auto-populated with the necessary information. When ready, click the Create Payment button.

Income account modification on down payments¶

Important

To change or adjust the income account attached to down payments, the Accounting app must be installed. With the Accounting app installed, the Accounting column becomes available on the draft invoice.

Navigate to the invoice to be modified by going to Sales app ‣ Orders ‣ Orders. Open an order, then click the Invoices smart button. Open an invoice, click the drop-down arrow on the entry in the Account column and click Search more… to bring up the Search: Account form. In this form, a different account can be chosen from the list of pre-existing accounts. A new account can also be created by clicking the New button.

screenshot: sales-down-payment-income-account-search

menu: Sales ‣ Orders ‣ Orders ‣ (an order) ‣ Order Lines ‣ (down-payment line) ‣ Income Account
shows: The "Search: Account" pop-up listing the existing income accounts, with the "New" button to create one.
highlight: The "New" button (red frame).
data: Demo chart of accounts, income accounts listed.
module: account
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the pop-up. Developer mode is active.