Professional Service invoicing
I run a small web/design business and already own FluentCart licenses. I'm looking at using FluentCart for my internal invoicing, but I'm having trouble determining whether my use case fits the current product model.
Most of my invoices are for professional services rather than products. A typical invoice might look like:
- Magazine production — 30 hours @ $32/hour
- Website maintenance — 4 hours @ $32/hour
- Graphic design — 3 hours @ $32/hour
The project descriptions vary from invoice to invoice, as can the hourly rates for different clients.
Ideally, I'd like to create a customer, create a manual invoice/order, enter arbitrary service line items with description, quantity/hours and rate, generate a PDF invoice, and then manually mark it paid when I receive a check or Zelle payment. An online payment link could be offered as an optional payment method.
I don't really want to create a permanent "product" for every project or service description simply to generate an invoice.
Is there currently a recommended FluentCart workflow for professional-services invoicing like this?
If not, would you consider allowing custom/manual service line items on admin-created orders in the future?
I'm going to use Fluent Forms + PDF generation for this for now, but I'd prefer FluentCart long-term if professional-services invoicing fits its roadmap.
Hi Harry,
You’re not alone! Like many others in this community, we also run a service business and would really welcome a smoother workflow for this. I’ve previously suggested adding a dedicated “Service” product type alongside digital and physical products, so it’s good to see more concrete examples of what service providers need. 🙂
FluentCart already supports manual orders, including recording offline payments and generating payment links. The documented workflow starts with existing products, though, so I’d leave it to the team to confirm whether there’s a built-in way to handle the fully custom line items you described.
In our case, we use somekind of "workaround" with Pay what you want price on a "Generic" product. So as we can select a product with differente price taglines depending on the quote of the service. Still testing this in FluentCart though (we actually do this primarily with SureCart but planning to migrate soon we hope).
Being able to enter a description, hours/quantity and rate directly on an order, without creating a permanent product for every project, would be very useful for many business here too. So, check the workaround until then in case you need it now. It just... works. But obviously, it should not be the official way to create more customized manual orders.
I will also suggest keeping an eye on FluentInvoice. Apparently, we will be hearing more about it this week. It may include some interesting features regarding invoicing and quoting I guess. Along with more tax features.
I’d be interested to see whether it supports this kind of service invoicing and how it might work with FluentCart. So, I hope to be testing that soon too.
It would be great to hear from the team about the recommended workflow today and whether this kind of flexibility is something they’re considering.
It is something way possible with some custom code (that's how we are working now with our testing, thanks to fluentcart's flexibility, which we love). However, a straightforward path for this, as I have mentioned here in the community many times, is much needed.
Jorge de los Reyes I still use WooCommerce for my website business because of this. Every project is different. Every line item is different.
I don't even use WooCommerce for the actual payment anymore since I collect via Zelle mostly (occasionally check, CashApp, or Venmo) but the invoice creation works well and everything is connected to the contact in FluentCRM.
The other businesses that I run or websites I manage are all service based. Usually small, solo entrepreneurs.
I can relate, Wendy. For a service business, being able to create an invoice with custom descriptions, hours and rates (and keep it connected to the client in FluentCRM ) is valuable even when payment happens elsewhere.
And a sales pipeline in FluentCRM would fit nicely into that workflow too… just saying 😅
Jokes aside, I share those concerns, but I’m still optimistic about FluentCart. From our testing, it has improved a lot, and its flexibility gives us room to build around our own service workflows. Still, a custom workaround isn’t a substitute for a straightforward, built-in invoicing workflow.
I’m curious to see what FluentInvoice brings to the table, particularly for service businesses.
I’m also planning to explore some enhancements for our own use cases soon. Ideally, these everyday needs would be covered natively, so small service businesses wouldn’t have to maintain custom code or create a product for every project.
Until then, keeping the setup that already works for you makes sense. As they say: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! 😄
Jorge de los Reyes I use Fluent Cart on almost all the other sites. It's just my website business that I still use WooCommerce and one of the service based businesses we use Fluent Forms for everything.
If this is what I think it is then they may already be cooking up something that may do what you describe.
F. C. Looks promising!
As I mentioned in the comment section: we may see it coming this week!
Can not wait 😆
New fluent tools are always great news !!
Jorge de los Reyes Haha, sorry I didn't read your entire comment. But very cool, I bet FluentInvoice will be integrated with FluentCart quite well.
Jorge de los Reyes The invoicing plugin dropping before the membership plugin is not news I expected this week. 🧐
Jorge de los Reyes Watched pots don't boil. 🤣 Though I'm sure I helped by purchasing licenses for TWO invoicing plugins within the last month. You're welcome. haha
Charlotte it’s better to go and disappear so as to let the updates arrive 🤣.
I guess you got two new shiny LTDs for your collection: congrats!😬
Many top notch features are coming to core soon.
But the thing is, ahh… WHEN 👴🏽
I’m sure a “we’re currently working on _____” would help many users. And even more, add-on developers and their customers. 🫣
Jorge de los Reyes LOL I was genuinely trying to be funny there.
But also, I like supporting developers and I knew invoicing was coming from Fluent when I purchased licenses for the others. No hard feelings on my part. And we’ll put into production the one that meets the needs.
Charlotte that “we’ll put into production the one that meets the needs” sounded like:
“Let’s the games begin” 🤣
I’m sure, both core, WPMN and third party devs will be doing a great job there. So many talented people in this community 🫡♥️
Jorge de los Reyes If needs must. 🤣
Jorge de los Reyes More seriously, agreed there is alot of talent in this community.
F. C. oh awesome!! I had not seen this. And FluentMembers!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
F. C. where can I find this chart?
Teddy Skokos it’s WPMN site products mega menu 😬
GT extensions is what I am using, Multicurrency and full invoice support https://youtu.be/3V4vd6Yxy4E
https://gauravtiwari.org/product/gt-extensions-for-fluentcart/
A manual FluentCart order still starts from a product. A generic pay-what-you-want product can stand in for a quote, but it is awkward when every invoice has its own descriptions, hours, and rates.
CartCubes Invoices is built for that. You add the customer, then custom lines that are not shop products. Magazine production can be quantity 30 at $32, website maintenance quantity 4 at $32, and the next client can use a different rate. Send a Pay Now link if they want to pay online, or mark the invoice paid when a check or Zelle payment comes in.
We also keep improving the plugin from what customers ask for.
I'm currently exploring both GT Extensions and CartCubes for invoicing (thanks to Nathan Foley) - edited to clarify: I purchased both plugins a couple of weeks ago, and both are really interesting.
Charlotte
Hi Charlotte,
Great to hear that you're exploring both GT Extensions and CartCubes for invoicing!
If you need any guidance while testing CartCubes Invoices, or if there are any features or improvements you'd like to see, please feel free to email us. We'd be happy to discuss them and consider adding them.
We're also currently working on some new invoicing features, including:
- Custom invoice numbers
- Invoice preview before sending
- Adding your logo to the invoice
- Due dates
- Overdue invoice tracking with automatic reminder emails
- Shortcodes that can be used in emails
For the invoice checkout, CartCubes Invoices already uses FluentCart's official Ghost Product Selling API. This allows us to create invoice checkout items without requiring every custom invoice line item to be an actual shop product.
If you have any specific requirements or ideas while testing, please let us know. Your feedback would be really valuable, and we’d be happy to consider adding them to CartCubes Invoices.
Thanks again for checking out CartCubes!
Following...
We have an online academy (K-12) and continuing education and tutoring. We use FluentCart products and bundles for much of our needs, but we often need to create specific invoices to cover unique situations. I'd love to keep it all on FluentCart.
While I still think this is no good idea because FluentCart is for the storefront not actual accounting that should house those invoices, you can use a custom product. At least some time ago, it existed in the docs, but it might be moved.
I wanted to sell single articles, so I created a product "Article" and then added the custom parts for which article in detail. It could work for your use-case, too. Since I did not further proceed in selling single articles, I can only share (the now non-existing) docs URL: https://dev.fluentcart.com/modules/custom-product-selling
Maybe, this gets you going!?
If you are still waiting on an invoice solution, this may help.
CartCubes Invoices 1.2.0 is out. Invoices now open inside FluentCart, with the same view and edit screen as the rest of the admin.
You add a customer and custom service lines, with a description, hours, and rate. No shop product is required. Send a Pay Now link, or mark the invoice paid when a check or Zelle payment comes in.
This release adds more options and actions, including print. You can view and print the invoice, set a due date, use your own invoice number, and put your logo on it. When FluentCart Multi Currency is on, you can also charge the invoice in one of those currencies.
Release notes: https://cartcubes.com/cartcubes-invoices-for-fluentcart-1-2-0/
Nikhil Modi As it’s almost Halloween in the US:
Charlotte Haha, perfect timing! 🎃👻 Happy Halloween in advance! 😄