Ask customers to quote your invoice number when paying electronically. This will save you time by helping to quickly identify payments.

To handle an online customer payment

Australia only

When a customer makes a payment from their online invoice using online payments, the payment details will automatically be entered into MYOB Essentials as a payment transaction, and the invoice will be closed off.

When your bank feed comes through (or you import a bank statement) containing the customer payment, the payment will need to be matched to the payment transaction in MYOB Essentials. Multiple online payments received on the same day will be deposited to your bank account as a single lump sum deposit for that day. You can then match that deposit across the payments it applies to.

For example, say you receive three online payments on Monday. The payments will all be recored in MYOB Essentials and MYOB will deposit the total of the three payments overnight into your bank account as one lump sum. So on Tuesday, you would match the deposited transaction from your bank feed or bank statement to the individual payments it applies to. Learn more about matching transactions.

To manually enter a full or part payment

1. From the Sales menu, choose Take payments. The Take payment page appears.

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   You can also enter a payment by clicking Enter payment at the bottom of an invoice.

2. Select the customer making the payment from the From list. (If you’re entering a customer payment from the Invoice to page, the customer will already be selected.)

3. All the unpaid invoices for the selected customer appear in the list, with the oldest at the top. (If you’re entering a customer payment from the Invoice page, only the relevant invoice will appear in the list.)
4. Select the bank or credit card account to receive the payment into from the Into account list.
5. If you want, enter a note that describes the overall transaction in the Notes field.
6. Make sure that the payment date is correct. If not, enter a new date in the Date field, or click the icon next to it to select the date from a calendar.

7. Make sure that the reference number is correct. If not, enter a new reference number in the Reference number field.

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   Changing the numbering If you change the Reference number, you’ll change the automatic numbering. For example, if you change the number to CP000081, the next time you enter a customer payment, MYOB Essentials will display the new reference number as CP000082.

8. Enter the total payment amount received in the Total amount received field. This may be a part payment, or full payment for one or several invoices. Customer paid too much? See Customer overpayments.

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   If there’s more than one unpaid invoice in the list for the selected customer, start allocating the payment against the oldest invoice (at the top of the list).

9. If you want to give the customer a discount, enter the amount in the Discount given field.
   The Amount due will be recalculated automatically.

10. Enter the Payment amount against the relevant invoices.

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    The total of all amounts applied to the invoices, after adjusting for any discounts, should now equal the amount entered in step 8.

    

11. Click Save when all invoice payments for this customer have been entered.
12. If the amounts don’t balance, a message will appear. Click OK and complete the following steps.
    1. Check that the Total amount received you entered in step 8 is correct.
    2. Check that each Payment amount you entered in step 10 is correct.
    3. When you’re sure that all the details you’ve entered are correct, click Save again.

    The payments are recorded and the Invoices page reappears.

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    Customer overpayments If the amount received from the customer is more than the sum of their unpaid invoices, a credit is automatically created which can be settled on the Processing customer returns page. Learn more about Customer overpayments.

To change a customer payment

You can only change customer payments that haven’t been reconciled or matched to a bank transaction. If you want to change a reconciled or matched payment, you need to unreconcile or unmatch it first, using the Bank reconciliation or Bank transactions page.

1. From the Banking menu, choose Transaction history. The Transaction history page appears.
2. In the Account field, select the bank account into which the customer payment was made, or select All bank accounts.
3. In the list, find the customer payment that you want to edit (these will have reference numbers starting with "CP").
   If you’re having trouble finding the payment, use the From and To fields to narrow the date range, or click the Credit column heading to sort the list by transaction amount.
4. Click the link in the Reference Number column for the payment to be changed. The View payment page appears, showing the invoices to which the payment was applied.
5. Click Edit payment. The Edit payment page appears, showing how the payment was applied. Any other open invoices for the customer are also displayed.
   Make your required changes to the payment. You can change any details except which customer is paying you. If you want to change the customer, you’ll need to delete the payment (see steps below) and enter a new payment (see steps above) using the correct customer.
6. Click Save to save your changes to the payment.

To delete a customer payment

1. From the Banking menu, choose Transaction history. The Transaction history page appears.
2. In the Account field, select the bank account into which the customer payment was made, or select All bank accounts.
3. In the list, find the customer payment that you want to delete (these will have reference numbers starting with "CP").
4. Click the link in the Reference Number column for that payment. The View payment page appears, showing the invoices to which the payment was applied.
   If you’re having trouble finding the payment, use the From and To fields to narrow the date range, or click the Credit column heading to sort the list by transaction amount.
5. Click Delete (at the bottom of the page).
6. Click Yes to the confirmation message.

Provide a receipt

When a customer makes a payment, provide them a copy of the invoice (showing the payment) as a receipt. See Emailing and printing invoices.

If you'd like to see receipt functionality added to MYOB Essentials, vote for this idea on the MYOB Essentials Idea Exchange.

<h2><i class="fa fa-comments"></i>&nbsp;&nbsp;FAQs</h2><br>

How do I enter an overpayment?

Manually enter the full customer payment (including the overpayment) as described above. MYOB Essentials will automatically create a credit for the overpaid amount.

Then, refund the overpaid amount to the customer or apply it to another of the customer's open invoices.

For all the details see Customer overpayments.

How can I protect my business against fraud?

Whether you trade online or offline, your business is always at risk of fraudulent transactions resulting from stolen credit cards or other buyer scams.

Here's a few suggestions to help prevent credit card fraud:

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• Is the customer placing an unusually large order, or large quantities of orders in a short period of time?
• Is the order being paid for using multiple cards? This could suggest the buyer is trying to avoid card limits.
• Do you have an order where the shipping address is different to the billing address?
• Are you receiving multiple orders to different customers at the same address, or is the address from an unusual location?
• Is it a large order or expensive goods where the customer requests next-day or expedited shipping?
• Can't contact the customer via phone or email?
• Has the customer asked you to pay for freight which they'll reimburse later?

While these activities won’t always be fraudulent, if it seems suspicious it’s worth taking the time to check.

What you can do if you think there's fraud

If you're suspicious of fraud, here's a few things you can do:

• Call the buyer and verify the order
• Search the internet for the buyer's name, shipping address, email address and phone number - keeping an eye on consistency between the information

If you can’t verify a customer’s details, or you’re still suspicious - cancel the order.