Manual invoicing

Manual invoicing in Recurly lets you create invoices with custom payment terms, PO numbers, and collection methods — with tools to record payments, manage dunning, and reopen invoices as needed.

Manual invoicing gives you full control over the billing process — set custom payment terms, add PO numbers, record payments as they come in, and manage past due accounts with a dedicated dunning workflow. It's ideal for B2B billing scenarios where customers pay on net terms rather than automatic collection.

Not included in Starter or Pro — contact Recurly Sales to upgrade

1Definition 2Key benefits 3Key details 4Generate a subscription invoice 5Generate a one-off invoice 6Record a payment 7Reopen a manual invoice

Definition

Manual invoicing lets businesses create and send invoices without automatic payment collection — instead setting specific payment terms, applying PO numbers, and recording payments as they're received. It's designed for companies with B2B billing workflows where customers pay on net terms rather than having a card charged on file.

Key benefits

Enhanced flexibility Customize payment terms, collection methods, and billing details to match specific customer agreements and business processes.

Professional and compliant Generate clean invoices aligned with tax regulations, with support for US sales tax and VAT — helping maintain customer trust and billing accuracy.

Streamlined payment management Record, track, and manage payments with options for partial payments, invoice reopening, and dedicated dunning rules for manually collected accounts.

Key details

Collection terms

Every invoice in Recurly has a collection method that determines how payment is handled.

Automatically charge — Bills the credit card stored on the customer's account directly.

Invoice (manual) — Generates a manual invoice for the customer to pay according to the configured net terms.

All invoices default to On Receipt terms, meaning payment is due immediately upon creation. On a manual invoice, this means the invoice becomes past due immediately if no payment is recorded.

Net terms options

Professional and Elite plan customers issuing manual invoices have access to a Terms dropdown with the following options: On Receipt, Net 10, Net 30, Net 60, and Custom days.

End of month (EOM) terms

EOM terms are useful for B2B customers who pay invoices weeks or months after issuance. Available on Professional and Elite plans.

Due dates on EOM invoices are calculated from the last day of the month the invoice was issued, plus the selected EOM duration, plus an additional 24-hour window.

Examples:

Invoice created June 6 with EOM +0 → Due July 1
Invoice created February 18 with EOM +15 → Due March 16
Invoice created September 27 with EOM +60 → Due November 30

Supported EOM terms: EOM +0, EOM +15, EOM +30, EOM +45, EOM +60, and EOM +90.

EOM restrictionsCustom EOM terms are not supported. Once an EOM term is set on an invoice, the due date can't be edited. To change the due date, issue a refund on the current invoice and create a new one. EOM terms are available via the Admin Console and both the v2 and v3 API.

Understanding past due invoices

An invoice becomes past due the day after its official due date. For example, a Net 30 invoice becomes past due on day 31.

Modifying a subscription's collection method

To switch a subscription between automatic and manual collection:

Open the subscription

In the Admin Console, navigate to the customer's account and click Edit next to the subscription plan.

Change the collection method

In the subscription details, toggle between Auto-Collect and Manually Collect. To switch to Auto-Collect, the account must have stored credit card details.

NoteChanges to manual invoice terms don't generate new customer invoices. Price, quantity, or plan changes will still result in account credits or new invoices as usual.

Tax and billing address

For manual invoices, US sales tax and VAT are calculated using the account-level address. The account's VAT number, if available, is included in the calculation. The account address also serves as the billing address that appears on the invoice.

If an account has a billing address but an empty account address, you'll need to add the account address before taxes can be calculated correctly.

Email templates

Manual invoicing uses the New Invoice and Invoice Past Due email templates. You can personalize these templates and add fields such as po_number, net_terms, and net_terms_type to align with your brand's messaging.

You can also configure whether a payment confirmation is sent every time a payment is recorded, or only when an invoice is fully paid.

NoteThe availability of net_terms_type in email templates may depend on specific feature settings on your account.

List views and exports

Filter the Invoices list view by Manual or Automatic to quickly manage and review invoices by collection method.

In invoice, subscription, and transaction exports, additional fields are available for manual invoicing: po_number, collection_method, net_terms, and net_terms_type. These are useful for accounting, auditing, and reporting workflows.

Dunning management

Manual invoicing includes a dedicated set of dunning rules separate from automatic collection dunning. The dunning period for manual invoices starts the day after an invoice exceeds its net terms (net terms + one day).

Recurly doesn't perform automatic payment retries on ACH payments for manual invoices. To retry, attempt to collect the invoice manually from the Admin Console or via the API.

Configure your manual dunning settings at Dunning Configuration.

Additional notes

Reopening manual invoicesReopening a manual invoice is not logged in the account's Activity Log, and exports and the API won't indicate that a manual invoice was reopened.

Partial payments and write-offsWhen a manual invoice with a partial payment recorded fails dunning, a write-off invoice is created for the full invoice amount. A partial credit from the write-off invoice is applied to the remaining open balance on the purchase invoice, and the remainder of the open credit on the write-off invoice is voided.

Integration notes

API integration

Create subscriptions and one-time invoices via the API by specifying the collection method, net terms, and PO number. Review the Recurly API documentation for full details. Use HTTPS for all API calls and store API keys securely. Build in error handling for failed requests — retry logic or error logging is recommended.

Webhooks

Set up webhooks to receive real-time notifications when manual invoice events occur (e.g., a new manual invoice is generated). This keeps invoice data synced between Recurly and your internal systems without polling.

Testing

Test your manual invoicing integration in Recurly's sandbox environment before going live. This lets you verify collection method behavior, term calculations, and dunning flows without affecting production data.

Generate a manual invoice for a subscription

Create or open the customer account

If the account doesn't exist yet, create one at Customers → New Account. Add account-level address information — this carries over to all invoices for the account.

Add a subscription

On the customer's account page, click Add Subscription and configure the subscription plan.

Set the collection method

Under Billing Details, click Edit and set Collection Terms to Invoice. Select the appropriate net terms.

Confirm and notify

Save the subscription. The customer will receive both a New Subscription and a New Invoice email.

Generate a one-off invoice

Add charges to the account

On the customer's account page, use the Add Charge button to add the line items you want to bill.

Generate the invoice

Click Generate Invoice... at the top of the account page.

Select Manual collection

In the collection method dropdown on the left, select Manual.

Enter invoice details

Add a PO number if the customer requested one, select your net terms, then click Create Invoice.

Record a payment

Open the invoice

Navigate to the customer's account in the Admin Console and click the open invoice you want to record a payment against.

Record a payment

Choose Record a Payment, enter the payment amount, payment details, and receipt date, then click Save.

Partial paymentsIf only a partial payment is recorded, the invoice may still enter a past due state and the customer may receive past due notifications.

Reopen a manual invoice

Open the invoice

Navigate to the paid or failed manual invoice you want to reopen.

Click Reopen

Select Reopen from the Invoice Actions dropdown.

Record new payments

After reopening, you can record new payments on the invoice and update its status to Paid.

Updated 11 days ago

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