At times a customer may overpay an invoice or send a payment that has been paid before. If the customer does not have outstanding invoices, use the steps listed under the second option listed below. Use the following steps to process an overpayment for a customer that has outstanding invoices.
Processing an Overpayment when a Customer has Outstanding Invoices
If the customer has an outstanding invoice, but has paid more than the balance due on the invoice, take the following steps:
1. Go to the Sales > Customer Payments window.
2. Enter the Customer Id and the payment Date.
Enter the customer’s Payment Total. This amount should be the total payment including the overpayment.
Enter the customer’s Check Number, credit card type, or Cash if the overpayment is made in cash. Enter the Cash Account the same way as any other customer payment.
3. Select the Pay column for the invoice that is listed on the window. The Balance amount is copied into the Payment column, but since the customer has overpaid, the payment cannot be processed.
4. Change the Payment column amount from the invoice balance to the customer’s Payment Total. Since the Payment total (bottom of window) now equals the Payment Total (entry field in top of window) the payment can be processed.
5. Click Process button and the window will clear.
Renter the Customer id and press the TAB key to reload the invoice(s). Notice that the invoice that has been overpaid continues to be listed but the Balance amount is now negative (a credit). If the invoice includes any Discount or Overdue amounts, that can continue to be changed since these amounts are not processed until the Balance is zero.
Processing an Overpayment when a Customer has No Outstanding Invoices
If a payment is received from a customer that does not have any outstanding invoices (i.e. sent a payment twice), there are several options. One, if the check has not been deposited, it is possible to call the customer and destroy the check. If the check has been deposited already, or to apply the payment to a sales order, simply create a new sales order and apply a down payment as described in the Down Payment on an Invoice or Sales Order section. It may be helpful to insert a note in the Memo field describing the overpayment. For details on creating a new sales order, review the Entering a Sales Order section.
Review the Refunding Customer Credits section if you wish to issue a check to refund their overpayment.