Subscriptions automatically generate invoices for each billing cycle. Learn more about the invoice lifecycle for subscriptions.

Invoice lifecycle

Invoices are generated by subscriptions and are used to collect payments from your customers. The invoice lifecycle is as follows:

1

An invoice is created

The status of the invoice is draft.

2

Invoice finalised

The invoice is finalised and the status is open. You can no longer edit the invoice.

3

Payment attempted

Yorlet will wait for the customer to pay the invoice manually or automatically attempt to pay it using the customer’s default payment method.

  • If the payment is successful, the status of the invoice is paid.
  • If the payment is processing, the status of the invoice is pending and pending_transaction=true.
  • If the payment fails, the status of the invoice is open.
4

The customer does not pay the invoice

If the customer does not pay the invoice by the due date, the status of the invoice is past due.

5

Other invoices statuses

Optionally, you can change the status of an unpaid invoice to uncollectible or void.

Invoice statuses

Invoices can have one the following statuses:

StatusDescription
draftThe invoice is being created and is not yet finalised.
openThe invoice is finalised and is ready to be paid.
paidThe invoice has been paid.
uncollectibleThe invoice is uncollectible.
voidThe invoice is void.

Dashboard statuses

Additionally, invoices can have the following statuses in the dashboard, these are cosmetic and do not affect the invoice lifecycle:

StatusDescription
pendingThe invoice is waiting for the payment to be processed.
past dueThe invoice is overdue.

Finalising

When an invoice is ready to be paid it must be finalised. This will set status=open on the invoice. After an invoice is finalised it can no longer be edited or deleted. Subscriptions automatically create invoices when they are due, and automatically finalise approximately 1-2 hours later.

Paying an invoice

When a successful payment occurs the invoice is moved into the paid status. If an invoice’s collection method is set to charge automatically a payment will be automatically attempted.

If the invoice was paid outside Yorlet you can mark the invoice as paid by changing the invoice’s status, you can also add some context like a bank transfer reference.

Asynchronous payments

Some payment methods can take up to several days to confirm success, when an invoice is paid using one of these methods the invoice will be flagged as pending_payment=true or pending in the Dashboard, and you will have to wait for the outcome of the charge.

Change an invoice status

You can change the status of an invoice to uncollectible or void from the Dashboard.

To change the status of an invoice, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to the invoice you want to change the status of.
  2. Click the overflow menu (•••) menu and select Change invoice status.
  3. Select the new status for the invoice.
  4. Optionally, add a Note to the invoice.
  5. Click Change status to change the status of the invoice.

Mark as uncollectible

Sometimes you may have customers that cannot pay their outstanding invoices. When an invoice is open you can decide to mark the invoice as unlikely to be paid by changing the invoice status to uncollectible. This allows you to track all amounts owed as part of your bad debt process.

Voiding an invoice

Voiding is like deleting an invoice when in draft, but it instead of removing it you can maintain a record of the invoice for reporting purposes. You can only void an invoice when it is either open or uncollectible.

Off-platform payments

If you receive a payment outside of Yorlet, you can manually mark the invoice as paid. This will update the invoice status to paid.