House accounts with credit limits
Regulars, local businesses and trade customers often prefer to run a tab and settle monthly. SeroPOS lets them charge sales to their account, within a credit limit you set.
House accounts in SeroPOS
Credit tender
Credit appears beside cash and card on the payment screen and charges the sale to the customer.
Credit limit check
The till checks the customer's credit limit and refuses the charge if there is not enough credit.
Limits per customer
Set a credit limit on each customer record, or a default limit for new customers.
Pay terms
Give accounts a pay term in days or months, so balances show a due date.
Ledgers and statements
Every customer has a ledger of sales and payments that you can email for any date range.
Pay due in one step
Record a payment against what the customer owes from their record in the back office.
Selling on account
A house account lets a known customer take goods now and pay later: the contractor who picks up supplies every week, the office that orders lunch for staff, the regular who settles at the end of the month. It builds loyalty and saves small transactions, but only if you can see what each account owes and stop it growing past what you are comfortable with.
In SeroPOS, selling on account is a payment method. Ring up the sale with the customer attached, open the payment screen and choose Credit. The sale is recorded against that customer as unpaid, and their balance goes up. Select the customer before payment, from the customer search on the home screen, so the sale lands on the right account.
Credit limits that protect you
Each customer record in the back office has a credit limit, and Business Settings has a default credit limit for new customers. When staff choose Credit at the till, SeroPOS checks the customer's limit against what they already owe. If the sale would take them over, the till shows Not Enough Credit Available and asks for another payment method.
This means staff never have to make the call themselves or phone the owner to ask. The customer can pay part of the sale another way, settle some of their balance, or you can raise their limit in the back office. Customers with no credit limit set can be given one at any time.
- Credit limit per customer
- Default credit limit for new customers
- Pay term in days or months
- Opening balance for accounts you bring over
Tracking balances
Every customer has a ledger in the back office showing their sales, payments and running balance. Choose a date range and send the ledger by email as a statement. The customer view also has tabs for sales, payments, documents and notes, so you can see the history behind the balance.
Give accounts a pay term, such as 30 days, and each sale on account gets a due date. The back office dashboard lists sales payments due within the next seven days, and the customer and supplier report shows what each customer owes. In the app, Recent Transactions can be filtered by Due to find unpaid sales.
Collecting payment
When the customer settles up, record the payment in the web back office. Open the customer and use Pay due to pay off what they owe across one or more sales, or add a payment to a single sale from the sales list. Cash, cheque, card or bank transfer can all be recorded, and the balance drops straight away.
Notification templates include a Payment Reminder and a Payment Received message, which can be sent by email or text to account customers. For businesses that invoice larger accounts, the back office invoicing screens add quotations, recurring invoices and invoice links, working from the same customer records and balances, so a customer's account and their invoices always agree.
Frequently asked questions
How do I let a customer charge to their account?
Give the customer a credit limit on their record in the back office. At the till, select the customer before payment, open the payment screen and choose Credit. The sale is saved as unpaid against their account, and their balance increases by the sale total.
What happens if a customer goes over their credit limit?
The till checks the limit when Credit is chosen. If the sale would take the customer over, SeroPOS shows Not Enough Credit Available and asks for another payment method. Raise the limit in the back office if you want to allow more.
How do customers pay off their account?
Record the payment in the web back office. Open the customer and use Pay due to settle what they owe, or add a payment to a single sale. The ledger updates straight away and shows the payment with its date and method.
Can I send a statement to an account customer?
Yes. Open the customer's ledger in the back office, choose a date range and use Send ledger to email it. The ledger shows each sale, each payment and the running balance, which works as a monthly statement for house accounts.
Can I bring existing account balances into SeroPOS?
Yes. When you add or edit a customer in the back office, enter their opening balance along with their credit limit and pay term. The balance appears on their ledger with the rest of their history and can be paid off with Pay due like any other amount owed.