Recording Payments

Recording Payments

Online card payments are recorded automatically when a renter pays through the public invoice page. But plenty of payments arrive by other channels — a check in the mail, an in-person cash payment at pickup, an ACH bank transfer — and those you log yourself. TrailerBase makes this a few clicks.

Recording a payment

Open the invoice and click Record Payment in the header. A drawer opens with these fields:

Method

Choose from:

• Cash — in-person or office drop-off.
• Check — paper check or similar.
• Card — terminal, phone-in, or manually entered. Stripe-processed online payments are handled automatically and use this method tag.
• ACH — bank transfer (domestic or international).
• Other — catch-all for unusual channels (Zelle, Venmo, wire, crypto). You'll see a free-text field to describe it.

Amount

By default the amount is the full outstanding balance. Change it to record a partial payment — for example, $500 of a $1,200 invoice. Partial payments are fully supported: the invoice stays open with the remaining balance, and TrailerBase picks up where it left off for reminders and the overdue calculation.

Date

Defaults to today but you can backdate. Backdating is useful when a check arrived three days ago and you are only now getting to the data entry — use the true receipt date so your cash-basis reports are accurate.

Memo

Optional note attached to the payment. Common uses:

• Check number ("Check #4231")
• Bank reference for an ACH
• Name on the check if different from the renter ("Paid by employer, ACME Corp")

Attachments

You can upload a photo of the check, a receipt, or any supporting document. Attachments stay with the payment record for your audit trail.

After you save

The moment you save the payment:

• The invoice balance recalculates. If the amount matches the balance, the status flips to Paid.
• A line appears in the invoice's activity feed with your name, the method, amount, and date.
• A payment record is created and visible in the renter's Financials tab.
• Any scheduled overdue reminders for this invoice are cancelled (or rescheduled if the invoice still has a balance).
• Your daily revenue dashboard updates to reflect the new payment.

Partial payment scenarios

Partial payments are fully supported and common in TrailerBase workflows. Typical cases:

• A renter pays a deposit at booking and the balance at pickup.
• A commercial account pays on a schedule you've agreed to.
• A dispute is partially resolved — the renter pays what isn't contested while you figure out the rest.

Each partial payment shows its own line in the invoice history, and the invoice header shows the running total paid vs. total due.

Correcting mistakes

If you recorded a payment with wrong details, click the payment in the activity feed and choose Edit. Changes are allowed until the payment is reconciled in your accounting integration (QuickBooks / Xero), after which they're locked to preserve the audit trail. If the payment is already locked, issue a void or a correcting entry.

Refunds

To issue a refund, open the payment record and click Refund. For card/online payments you can refund through Stripe directly; for cash/check, you log the refund separately and record the method (usually Check or Cash). The refund creates a negative payment entry and re-opens the invoice balance.

Receipts for renters

After recording a payment, you can send an automatic Payment Receipt email with one click. The receipt shows the amount, date, method, and a link back to the updated invoice. For online card payments, receipts are sent automatically.

Clean payment records make month-end reconciliation fast and keep every renter's financial history accurate. Take the extra 10 seconds to add memos and attachments — future-you will appreciate it.