How do I create and manage a Xero Accounting invoice for an order?

Once you have completed the Xero Accounting integration you can begin to send your orders to Xero to have invoices, contacts and payments automatically created, removing the need for manually data entry. If you have not set connected and set up the Xero Accounting integration see  to get started.

Limits

Xero limits the number of request we can make against your account (knows as API limits). Once these limits are reached you will receive an error message to advise and will no longer be able to post invoices or payments until the following day. This will also prevent any changes made from your Xero Account from syncing with your orders.

The current limits set by Xero are:-

  • 60 requests per minute;
  • 5000 requests per day;

Different actions require different a number of requests (i.e. when creating an invoice this can use up to 5 requests), so if you need to process more than 400~ orders per day you are likely experience issues.

How do I create an invoice for an order

To create an invoice in Xero Accounting for an order, do the following:-

  1. First tap or click  Ecommerce from the menu;
  2. Then tap or click the order you want to invoice;
    • If an invoice has already been created you will see the Xero logo next to the order in the order list.
  3. Now, on the Order Details tab under Xero Accounting, there will be information about what will happen when creating an invoice for this order (i.e. a customer contact record will be created in Xero), to proceed tap or click Post invoice now. Your order will then be sent to Xero, where an invoice in the status notified in step 3 will be created along with the creation/ update of the customer contact record.

Note

Once an invoice has been created you will not be able to change the payment status using the Update order/ status history screen, the orders payment status will then be controlled by Xero Accounting directly. Setting the orders payment status to Full Payment Received before creating an invoice will also create a payment record and allocate this to the invoice in your Xero Account.

Note

When creating an invoice, depending on your pricing and TAX Rates, there may be a rounding issue where the created invoice value variance. This is a rounding issue, usually TAX related, where some accounting systems round up and others round down and are frequently seen in complex pricing and TAX setup. If a variance is detected we will automatically create a Rounding correction line on the invoice to correct this, so that the order value and invoice value match. 

Invoice created as a Draft

When posting an invoice we first do this as a Draft, even if the Invoice Status you selected in the Xero Accounting integration setup was Authorised, this is to ensure that an invoice can be successfully created. If you have set your Invoice Status in the Xero Accounting integration setup to Authorised we will then amend the Draft invoice to Authorised if no errors are detected.

If errors are detected you will be notified and your invoice will remain in a Draft status, you will need to Authorise/ Approve this from your Xero Account directly.

Draft invoices will not be posted to your journals and cannot have payments allocated to them, they must first be converted to an Authorised/ Approved status.

Authorise a Draft invoice

To convert a Draft invoice to an Authorised one, do the following:

  1. First tap or click  Ecommerce from the menu;
  2. Then tap or click the order you want to invoice;
    • If an invoice has already been created you will see the Xero logo next to the order in the order list.
  3. Now, on the Order Details tab under Xero Accounting, tap or click Authorise invoice.

Note

If the orders payment status is set to Full Payment Received a payment record will also be created and allocated to the invoice. If the orders payment status is set to anything else this will be updated to Invoice Raised.

Delete a draft invoice

To delete a Draft invoice, do the following:

  1. First tap or click  Ecommerce from the menu;

  2. Then tap or click the order you want to invoice;
    • If an invoice has already been created you will see the Xero logo next to the order in the order list.
  3. Now, on the Order Details tab under Xero Accounting, tap or click Delete draft invoice.

Invoice created as Authorised

Once an invoice is Authorised it will be fully posted to your journals and can have payments allocated to it.

If the orders payment status was Full Payment Received before the invoice was created a payment record will be created and allocated to the invoice and the invoice will show was Paid in your Xero Account. If the invoice has no payments allocated it will be marked as Invoice Raised.

Allocate payment to an invoice

If the invoice has an outstanding amount this can be allocated by doing the following:-

  1. First tap or click  Ecommerce from the menu;

  2. Then tap or click the order you want to invoice;
    • If an invoice has already been created you will see the Xero logo next to the order in the order list.
  3. Now, on the Order Details tab under Xero Accounting, tap or click Allocate payment of XX (where XX is the unpaid amount due on the invoice).
 

Making changes to an invoice or payment in your Xero Account directly

Once an order has been posted to Xero you can also manage the invoice status and payments from your Xero Account, these changes will automatically update the order, further removing the need to duplicated data entry.

Changes are limited to the invoice status and payment amounts. If you make changes to the invoice value (i.e. adding or removing invoice lines) these are not written back to the order, changes such as this should be avoided.

If you allocate or delete payments for an invoice in your Xero Account these will amend the details held on the order and will record the change in the Order Status/ History section of the order.

Note

Changes made in your Xero Account can take up to 30 minutes to update on your order.

Marking an invoice as Deleted or Void

When a Draft invoice is set as Deleted or an Authorised invoice is set as Void this will remove the invoice from the order, the orders payment status will be updated to To Raise Invoice and a Order Status/ History record will be added to record the change. This will then allow you to create a new invoice from the order, see How do I create an invoice for an order? above. If you will not be creating a new invoice for the order you should change the orders payment status to No Payment Due.

Payment allocations

If you record an invoice payment in full this will update the orders payment status to Full Payment Received and an Orders Status/ History record will be added to record the change.

If you record an invoice payment in part this will update the orders payment status to Partial Payment Received and an Orders Status/ History record will be added to record the change.

If you delete an invoice payment in full this will update the orders payment status to Invoice Raised and an Orders Status/ History record will be added to record the change.

If you delete an invoice payment in part this will update the orders payment status to Partial Payment Received and an Orders Status/ History record will be added to record the change.