Since, you are looking for an invoice generator for developing an invoice for your business, it means you are aware of the term invoice and its uses. However, this guide is structured in such a way that it not only helps newbies but big giants (who have all the knowledge of the invoice) of this field as well. You can always skip to the second section of the content, which will precisely talk about what kind of invoice generators we have, and how to use them. The first section is for those who needs to understand the basic structure of an invoice. 

Invoice Generator

How to Generate an Invoice by using Online Tools?

Section I

Before talking about any invoice generator, we must know what invoice is and why we need invoice at first place. We also need to know what elements are important for a general invoice and we must make sure that these elements are included in every invoice.

Definition of Invoice

According to Reviso, it is a document that is issued by exporter/ seller of the goods or services to the buyer/ importer of goods or services. It also includes relevant costs, taxes, discounts, and other charges, with respective quantity or nature of commodity/ goods. 

An invoice is a very important part of business. Some famous notions suggest that it is considered as the face of your business. So, it is very important for businesses to develop a professional looking invoice. In such cases, where parties involved in international transaction, they highly rely and form opinion on the outlook or professionalism of the invoice issuer by looking at their issued invoice. A professional invoice is considered as a professional way of forwarding a request for payment. It can be used to manage trail of finances. 

According to QuickBooks Resource Center, Billdu, and Chargebee there are certain elements that should be present or part of every invoice. A typical invoice must include all these following elements:

Profile of the Business/ Information Related to Company. 

Company Logo

Contact Number of Relevant Personnel

Address of the Business

Information of Law Agencies

Label of the Invoice/ Header

Unique Allotted Serial Number of Invoice

Date of Issuance

List of Goods or Service Provided

Unit Price of the Product or Service

Terms and Conditions

Tax/ Duties/ Discount/ Shipping Fee and Other Charges related Information

Total Amount

Due Date of the Payment

Mode of Payment

It is very important to ensure the inclusion of these elements. By doing so, you can make sure to maintain a professional outlook of your business.

Now, as we know about the design, structure, and important elements of an invoice, now we can move on to the next section, which is about invoice generator. 

Section II

Invoice Generators are website sources and applications that helps you in developing or generating invoice by using online sources. Before choosing an invoice generator, always make sure that it would help you in developing a comprehensive invoice. 

In this section, we will be talking about several online invoice generators. This step by step guide will also help you in developing invoice through online invoice generator. There are many invoice generating sources that you can use to develop your invoice. 

Let’s start step by step guide that covers several online sources for you. 

Online Invoice Generators

You can use source of Invoice Generator to achieve your objective. Here is step by step guide to the source of invoice generator. This source is very easy to use and you can create attractive invoices by using their default templates. This online source does not require you to login, and it is used and trusted by millions of users. You can also download your created invoice by using their unpaid version. 

Just open your browser and copy this link https://invoice-generator.com/#/1 in your search bar, and get to the webpage of this link. 

The webpage you can see in front of you will have these boxes. As it is a known fact that invoice numbers or serial number of invoice is one of the most important elements of an invoice structure. It helps issuer to keep track record of the invoice. This number should be unique and different to keep the tracking process smooth. Just assign a unique number to your invoice and write down in this box that is with the sign of octothorp (Hash). For example, you can assign any sequence of numbers to your invoice. Just like you can start given your invoice numbers from 00001. After that whenever you are going to issue another invoice you would be assigning a greater than that allows to have a sequence and pattern in it. 

This invoice generator also allows you to add your own company’s logo in it. Just click the “+Add Your Logo” sign and add your designed logo in it. An example of how your logo would like will be given at the end of discussion.

Next block is about the name of the issuer. The box state “Who is this invoice from? (Required)”. It suggests that name of a company/ person/ business/ exporter that is issuing this particular invoice will be written in this section. You can also add other details in this section. For example,

Robert P. Smith

Mailing Address: 1534/C Main Street

XAZ Town, Washington DC 46432

Adamsmith@abcd.com

Or

FGH Textile Company

Address: 6xx, Street 0x, New York, USA

Contact Number: +55-9084321xxxx 

Contact Person: Mr. Robert P. Smith

Legal Partners: LKJ Law Associates

FAX Number: 056-534344545213xxxx

In the next box, which is given below the head of “Bill to” is about the receiving party’s name. In this section, name of the importer/ business/ person/ company will be stated for reference, to whom invoice has been issued. You can add all the relevant details of the importer that you have in the invoice. 

CDI Textile Company

Address: 5xx, Street 0x, London, UK

Contact Number: +56-902121xxxx

Contact Person: Mr. John W. Smith

VAT Number: 3 %

After filling out the above required section, now you can move on to the next section by merely scrolling down with your mouse or arrows on your keyboard. Below image has been given for this reference. Next section requires you to add a date on which you are going to issue an invoice. The date on any invoice also helps you to keep track record of invoice. You can sort or filter out great magnitude of invoice by date wise or serial number wise. 

In the payment term section, you are going to add your mode of payment. It is one of the most important elements of invoices. The exporter/ seller of goods needs to clarify the method of payment to the importer/buyer or goods. You can write terms like “Cash” or “Credit” or “Advance Payment/ partially (while mentioning the percentage of it) Advance” in this section. This will give importer an idea about exporter’s expectation of form of payment. 

In the next box that is named as “Due Date”, you are supposed to add the due date of payment. Every exporter has some expectations or a cut-off date that he expects that importer or buyer of goods/ services will acknowledge. 

This “Balance Due” section is not for you fill. The remaining amount will automatically popped up in this section, when you fill out other remaining information on the website. 

In the next section, where the dollar sign has been given and it is in multiple of the quantity, you are going to write per unit price of the product with the respective ordered quantity in the “Quantity” section. This will automatically multiply per unit cost with its ordered quantity. For example, importer has ordered product A for price of $1000, and he/she ordered “3” unit of the quantity. Then you would be writing 1000 in the amount section and “3” in the quantity section. After putting these number “Amount: $0.00” will automatically changes into “Amount: $3000”, which is the total amount that importer would be liable to pay as per the agreed terms and conditions. 

Below in the subsequent section, which is about “description of the service or product” you can add details of the goods/service sold/ provided. For example, if the above order that is placed by the importer was of mobile phone, then you would be writing about the details and description of mobile phone. For instance, the order that have been placed for iPhone X. then you would writing the name, the model, the make, the origin, and other relevant details like IMEI number would be written in this box. It would be great if you could add most of the specification of the product. It would give importer a reasonable platform to compare his ordered specification and the specification he is going to get after receiving this order. This develop a state of trust and validity between exporter and importer that what has been ordered I being delivered as per terms and conditions. 

In the above image, at the bottom you can see “+Line Item” box. You can also interact with this button. This allows you add more items in your invoice. For example, if you are selling other items than mobile phones, then you would add by pushing this button. In such a case, it could be protector, mobile pouch, headphones, or other electronic devices. 

After entering all the relevant details, now you can scroll down further to fill out other section of the website. After scrolling down, you would see a “Subtotal” amount which would add individual prices of all the listed items. 

Below this, a designated section for tax amount is given, to inform importer of the goods about the tax amount that he would be paying for the purchased item. This tax is to be paid by the buyer. You can also change the unit of measurement from the drop down button in the box. You can also add discounts and shipping charges with taxes, only if these are relevant to you. For example, you country/ region has imposed 3% tax on purchase of every cell phone. Then you would write “3” in this box. In any way if you change the unit of measurement then you can also add the respective amount in the particular currency in which you are dealing with. Similarly, if you are given 1.5% of discount on total purchased amount, then you can interact with “+Discount” button to add this amount. In any case, if you are giving any discounts, do not forget to add this in your invoice. Sometimes, being virtuous, while being explicit is necessary for your business. Furthermore, in any case if you are shipping your product/ goods to any other country, and you are incurring 4% of the total purchased amount, the you would add this amount by interacting with “+shipping" button. 

When you are done adding all these details, then “Total” will be popped up with the estimated amount that would be paid by buyer/ importer of the goods. 

In the next box, which is about “Amount Paid”, you would be entering the amount that have been paid by the buyer/ importer of the goods, against your generated invoice. Ideally, this amount should be equivalent to the “Total” amount that has been calculated with the help of inbuilt mechanism. 

Just below the “Amount Paid” section, you can find a “Notes” section. In this section, you can find all the relevant details that have not been given before. You can also add courteous remarks for doing business with them. For example, you can write this statement “Thank you for giving us this opportunity to serve you” or “Thank you for doing business with us”. You can add details of the product or services that are not of prime importance, but it seems that buyer/ importer would like to have this information. 

Finally, you can see the last box/ section, which is named as “Terms”. This section is very important for conducting business. You would be writing any terms and conditions that parties of the contract has agreed upon. Exporter could write about refund policy, exchange policy, return policy, warranty claim policy, and other policies that are related to offered product and services. 

Below a sample for your reference is given. Please have a look to develop, how a developed invoice looks like. Any information that is given in this invoice is fictitious. Any resemblance to anything is mere coincidence. 

This sample invoice caters all the relevant elements that should be there in an invoice. This invoice is issued from a mobile company to its customer, who is living abroad. 

However, this is not the only online invoice generator source that you can use to develop an invoice. You can also refer to other sources like Invoice Simple, Free Invoice Generator, Invoicely, and Shopify, etc. 

You can also use several applications to develop your invoice. These application are available at Google Playstore, and Apple App Store. You can type “Invoice Generator” on Play Store or Apple Store search bar to experience these applications. 

For example, below image depicts a wide range of options that you can use to generate invoice by using any application on Play Store.

You just need to download an application from the Play Store in your android phone or from iStore to your Apple device. Once you get that in your phone, you can use that to achieve your objective. However, before downloading any invoice generator application, try to make sure about the rating of the developer or application. These applications have a very user friendly interface. After reading this comprehensive guide, we expect that you would be able to interact with these apps now. You would have an idea what to write and what elements to include in your invoice. Just make sure these applications offer definite sections to fill out desired information. You can also use Microsoft Excel and Word to generate your own invoice. However, since you have free access to these applications and websites, so it is advised you to use these sources. It will not only save time for you, but it is also very cost effective. It will also optimize the process flow of your organization and will definitely speed up the rest of the process. Factually, in most of the applications you do not have to pay any penny to develop these invoices. So, save your time, money, and optimize process flow of invoice development while using these generators. They will definitely help you to achieve your purpose. 

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