When a customer pays a deposit to book, that money should come off their bill. SalesThumb does this by itself when the answer is clear. When it isn't, the invoice asks you which booking's deposit to use.
On the invoice, a credited deposit shows as Deposit applied under the total, and Balance Due drops by that amount.
When it happens by itself
The deposit is credited with no action from you when:
- You create the invoice from the appointment the deposit was paid on.
- You convert a quote into an invoice, and the deposit was paid on an appointment booked from that quote.
- You create an invoice for the customer another way, and they have exactly one held deposit on a live booking that wasn't booked from a quote.
When you click Apply
If SalesThumb can't tell which deposit belongs to this invoice, a Booking deposit on file card shows up on the invoice page. Each row reads like "Apply deposit $50.00 from the Jun 3 booking?" with an Apply button.
This covers customers with more than one held deposit, and deposits on bookings marked canceled or no-show. Those rows say "(canceled)" or "(no-show)", because you may have kept that deposit as a fee.
Steps
- Open the invoice.
- Find the Booking deposit on file card under the totals.
- Check the booking date and amount.
- Click Apply on the right row.
The card only appears on Draft, Sent and Partial invoices. You need the Record payments permission, which Owners and Admins have by default.
What happens after you apply
- The deposit can only be used once. It's tied to this invoice and won't be offered anywhere else.
- If it covers the full balance on a Sent or Partial invoice, the invoice is marked Paid. A Draft stays a Draft.
- If the deposit is bigger than the balance, the balance stops at $0 and the extra is flagged for review. See Reviewing overpayments.
Quick Sale works the same way. A held deposit shows as a Booking deposit checkbox under the total.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Why didn't the deposit come off the invoice by itself?
A: SalesThumb only does it alone when there's one clear match. If the customer has more than one held deposit, or the booking was canceled or a no-show, use Apply on the Booking deposit on file card.
Q: Can a deposit be applied to two invoices?
A: No. Once a deposit is applied, it's tied to that invoice. Trying again shows a message that the booking has no deposit left to apply.
Q: What if the deposit is more than the invoice balance?
A: The balance stops at $0 and the extra amount is flagged as an overpayment, so you can refund it or keep it as credit from the Overpayments report.