How to track sales on credit without a notebook
Credit does not lose you money because it is credit. It loses money when a debt has no amount, no date and no agreed limit.
Short answer
To keep sales on credit under control, every sale has to become a bill with the customer's name, the amount and a due date, written down the moment the goods leave. Before selling, agree on a limit per customer and stick to it. A partial payment reduces the balance; it never erases the record. And reminders go out on fixed days, with a statement of what is still open, so nobody has to remember from memory or ask for money on the spot.
Sound familiar?
- The credit notebook has crossed-out lines, torn pages and handwriting nobody can read.
- The customer says they already paid part of it, and there is no way to check how much.
- You cannot say, right now, how much the shop is owed in total.
- Asking for payment is awkward, so the debt keeps sitting there, and the older it gets, the harder it is to collect.
- A customer buys on credit every week and nobody noticed their balance only grows.
Why it happens
In a notebook, credit is a list of loose notes, not an account. There is no due date, so nothing is "late": it is just forgotten. There is no limit, so the debt grows until it is an amount the customer can no longer pay in one go. And there is no collection routine, so asking for money depends on the mood of the day and on how awkward the person at the counter feels. The money does not disappear at once. It sits still in sales nobody follows.
Five changes that fix it
The steps below work with a notebook and a spreadsheet too. Software makes each one faster — the order is the same either way.
- 1
Every credit sale with an amount and a due date
Write it down on the spot: customer, amount, sale date and when it is due. Without a due date there is no lateness, and without lateness there is no reason to ask. In DoFast, a credit sale already opens a receivable with a due date: 30 days when no date was agreed, and the date can be changed on the bill.
- 2
Agree on a limit before selling
Decide how much each customer may owe and tell them. The limit protects both sides: the shop does not pile up an unpayable amount and the customer knows where they stand. In DoFast, the limit lives on the customer record and a sale that would go past it is blocked before it is recorded.
- 3
A partial payment reduces, it does not erase
Got half? Record the payment and leave the rest open. Crossing the debt out and writing a new one on top is the fastest way to lose track of what already came in. DoFast keeps every payment with its date and method, and the balance updates by itself.
- 4
Close the month for regulars
For the everyday customer, one bill a month is easier to pay and to collect than thirty small ones. DoFast's monthly closing groups the customer's sales of the month into a single bill, with the due date you agreed.
- 5
Collect by routine, not by embarrassment
Fixed reminder days, the same polite message, and the statement attached. That turns collection into a shop routine instead of a personal conversation. In DoFast you can send the statement of what is open as a PDF or an image, and switch on automatic WhatsApp reminders.
What changes in practice
You know what you are owed
The total open, what is already overdue and for how long, customer by customer.
Collecting stops being personal
The reminder goes out on the agreed date, with the statement and a payment link when the shop uses one.
Debt stops growing out of sight
The limit blocks the sale that would go past what was agreed, before it happens.
Frequently asked
How do I track sales on credit at the counter and on delivery at the same time?
With one place for both. If counter credit goes in the notebook and delivery credit lives in WhatsApp, the customer's balance is never whole anywhere. In DoFast, an order sold on credit, for pickup or delivery, opens a receivable for the customer, a bill entered by hand lands in the same place, and their balance adds it all up.
Does DoFast chase customers by itself?
Only if you turn it on, because automatic collection ships switched off. Once on, you choose on which days of lateness the customer is reminded (up to four) and at what time. One message goes per customer listing all their overdue debts, never one per purchase, and every WhatsApp message carries a link for the customer to stop receiving them. It only chases what was sold on credit, billed monthly or entered by hand: someone who paid on the spot is never chased.
Can I send the customer what they owe?
Yes. The statement of what is open comes out as a PDF and as an image, ready to send on WhatsApp. It does not depend on a date range: it shows everything the customer owes today, old debt included, with the total at the end.
What if the customer pays only part of it?
You record the payment with the amount that came in and the bill is marked as partly paid, with the remaining balance. The history shows each payment with its date and method, so the "I already paid some of it" conversation is settled by looking, not arguing.
What handles this in DoFast
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