Question about Paypal's invoicing system

[vaekke.livejournal.com]

Hey everyone!

On recommendation of others, I'm trying to get in the practice of sending invoices for my commissions, so that there are fewer chances of people mentioning FA, and another reason was so that I could select "services" instead of "goods" to avoid any trouble with paypal!

but oops, I just realized there's no option to select "services" instead of "goods", and goods is the default!

Do I have to resort to the "request money" option? I liked how organized the invoicing system was, but my whole goal was "avoid getting my account shut down" haha. I feel like others here have made invoicing work for them, unless they're just using it as shorthand for the "request money" option?

Comments

[shukivengeance.livejournal.com]

This post has been approved, however none of us are paypal reps and questions on a company's policy on something so specific really should be something that you ask them directly. I have approved this on the off-chance that one of our members may have already spoken to paypal on this issue.

[vaekke.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I just wanted to know if any individual has figured out a way to modify this. :)

[animecat.livejournal.com]

To be perfectly honest? I have the "send money" tab on my PayPal account shut off. You can do that under the "selling tools" setting. That way I don't have issues with people trying to pay me on their own and I avoid the whole services/goods/gifts issue. I only do business through invoices, which also helps come tax time, because you can pull up all the invoices for a specific time period and PayPal will also generate monthly reports on your incoming and outgoing funds.

In short- use the invoices. They're extremely helpful and useful!

[vaekke.livejournal.com]

What do you do about the "print shipping label" option on your payment history though? I can't even find an option to set an invoice as a service, haha.

[taasla.livejournal.com]

It's up to the client to select "no shipping needed".

[vaekke.livejournal.com]

ah thanks, I didn't know that was an option with invoices. I'll try and remind people to do that.

[animecat.livejournal.com]

I ignore it, because I can't change it. But I do make notes in the "notes" field when I send out the invoice that the item being purchased will be sent digitally or picked up at a convention, etc. so that its obvious when the customer pays the invoice. I've been using invoices for years and never had an issue with it.

[vaekke.livejournal.com]

alright, thanks! Smart idea to add a note.

[ljmydayaway.livejournal.com]

I would personally just use the Request Money tab, but that's just me. :P

[sbneko.livejournal.com]

This!

This is the option I use, which you can select services on. It's simpler as well.

[vaekke.livejournal.com]

Are customers able to enter a memo when you use "request payment"? That's the only other thing I'm concerned about; someone mentioning furaffinity.net and paypal getting wind of it, haha.

[sbneko.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure, but I've never had a problem with it. I've also heard that FA is fine with Paypal, the problem is when customers start describing adult images, since it's against their rules. But I don't see that many people writing that in descriptions.

[tealmoonxiv.livejournal.com]

I don't think so.

[jadinerhine.livejournal.com]

I believe they are not able to enter memos when the invoice is sent. I've been using them for a while, and so far I'm the only one of the transaction who can (duh) write a memo XD Then again, I've never been invoiced by anyone so I don't know >_>

[tealmoonxiv.livejournal.com]

That's what I use.

[latiro.livejournal.com]

great idea! I'll do this option from now on! Heck, I even made a journal about that on FA to give my future commissioners a heads-up

[skulldog.livejournal.com]

I personally shifted to only sending invoices via the 'Request Money' tab, prevents issues with shipping costs discussed prior, or folks trying to pay with other money types and ending you losing out on unfavorable conversations at the time.

I always pick 'payment>Service' so no shipping is expected UNLESS I am shipping out the physical copy of a sketch, in that case I make sure the actual cost is agreed on, and included before I send the payment request.

**Small typo edit for mods seeing this as edited.