I’ve done some in-depth exploration into several other online invoicing systems since deciding Blinksale wasn’t quite what I was looking for. I set up my client list complete with recurring payments in each of these systems – really tried them out.
The first service I looked at closely was BillingOrchard. I liked a number of things about BillingOrchard, primarily that it is already a mature system and has a number of flexible features and options. They seem to take a very different slant to invoicing than Blinksale does; instead of sending out invoices, they invite your clients to log into their site to view the invoice and pay it. This is way too much hassle for me to put my clients through. Also, the $15/month price tag is a little high for my ~5 invoices/month.
SecondSite offers almost all of the functionality I want, and I could use their free account. However, they also take the ‘log in to pay’ approach to recurring billing. I believe that both SecondSite and BillingOrchard also offer integrations with various payment systems and mechant accounts – really not the approach I’m looking to take. I don’t want a payment system, just an invoicing system.
The closest solution I’ve found is VEBIO. With VEBIO, I could have my invoices e-mailed as PDF attachments on a recurring basis. Unfortunately, VEBIO also has a $15/month baseline for their service.
In the end, I may end up waiting for Blinksale to get their recurring functionality in place. Blinksale takes the approach I prefer in sending invoices – sending out e-mails of the invoices directly. I also like the care they’ve taken in making the system look good and the ease of customization/personalization via CSS. However, the lack of access to my data and lack of security of my data is still a rather large concern.
Or perhaps I’ll find a stand-alone system or (shudder) have to build my own1, as I’ve been considering doing for the last couple years..
I don’t remember seeing the suggestion anywhere, but what about some of the more popular payment systems? I know PayPal allows for recurring payments / subscriptions. I imagine something like Authorize.net would as well… They may not do everything you like, but it seems no one else does either. Worth a shot, since I’ve never really used their services…
Um, as explained above and in my previous post, that’s exactly what I’m not looking for.
My bad… I didn’t get that out of either of your posts. It seemed like you were looking for a basic system that sent out invoices (possibly on a recurring basis), and allowed people to make payment. A utility to send the invoices out wouldn’t be difficult to write, depending on the bells and whistles you were looking for. From there, actually accepting payment would be the remaining step.
I tried to explain it here:
and here:
As for creating my own system, like most things in life, it isn’t a matter of being able to do something or not – it’s all a matter of time. 🙂
Is this like just for your side work or … what you’re looking into for feedlounge? If it’s what you’re looking for with feedlounge wouldn’t you want it to automatically try to process a payment?
As for just making a flat out invoicing system, I understand what you’re saying about not having the time. It’s why I chose to go with BillingOrchard. For what it’s worth, when I was testing out BlinkSale I asked them when/if they expected to have recurring invoicing and I believe they replied within the next couple months.
If you’re just wanting a system for invoicing, mind if I ask what you’re planning to do for processing payments? I personally would loathe having the two systems separated, wouldn’t that mean at some point having to manually join the two? *has nightmare-ish visions of pairing payments with invoices on paper statements*
The ~5 invoices/month is just what I send out for various contract work and other. My clients snail mail me checks.
For FeedLounge, all of the billing and payment systems will be automated. FeedLounge is a separate coporation with separate bank accounts, etc.
Ahh, the snail mailing checks thing clears up a good bit of my confusion (I’ll admit, I did miss the part about only wanting an invoicing system, not a billing system).
At this point, it would seem that the unfortunate best-fit would be a manual email / PDF every month. It’s a pain to have to admit, but you probably could have done several months worth of invoices in the time it’s taken to realize that none of the existing systems fit your needs and preferences.
Sometimes the best solutions are the old tried-and-true manual ones sitting right in front of us, even if it seems there really should be some magical better way at first.
I was going to suggest that you build your own invoicing solution, but … I didn’t want you to wring my neck. 🙂
i cam across your post and had some of the same thoughts. The only alternative that I have seen that might be viable is this: http://www.sidejobtrack.com/
I looked at that too, no recurring invoicing option I could find.
Invoicing with Vebio
After spending a good deal of time looking into invoicing services and writing about them last month, I got an e-mail from the folks at Vebio. After trading a few e-mails, I decided to use Vebio for my invoicing this month and see how I liked it. Over…
I’m surprised you didn’t find a recurring payment option on SideJobTrack. I just started using it, but I use their recurring billing function. Actually, it reads:
“If this is a never ending project that requires multiple or recurring invoices, create an invoice now.”
I only began using them because they got the nod in the web 2.0 awards put together by a friend of mine. If you like these services, you’ll love the list of handy dandy tools they put together. (yes, i said handy dandy)
They may have added it since Sept. 2005 when I looked. Blinksale just added recurring invoicing as well.
I’m really quite happy with Vebio though, so I have little reason to go back and look at those services.
Have you tried http://www.ezInvoice.com lately?
I’ve added quite a few features this past year. It’s not totally free, (I do turn on free invoice printing now and then) but it’s certainly reasonably priced.
I’ll add recurring invoicing one of these days. Few of my users have requested it, but I’m sure it’s something that others may be looking for.
Looks like Bank of America has a new online invoicing system. $10/month plus $15 for their online package – $25 month.
I’m trying to figure out how clients can pay online — if it costs me anything to receive online payments, and how onerous it is for non-BofA clients to pay using their system.
Check out Time59 (www.time59.com). It has the features you need and the price is $19.95 per year for unlimited use.
Time59 doesn’t appear to have recurring invoices.
Check out our app – LessAccounting.com — Its a business improvement app. http://www.LessAccounting.com
I did try out Less Accounting, it was a little too rigid when I first tried it but the improvements made before the official launch were excellent and I rather liked it at launch. Unfortunately, then I had to factor in the price and it isn’t worth $500/year to me.
Have you had a look at this:
I’ve just installed it and it seems pretty complete.
Sage Software has recently launched a free online invoicng tool for freelancers and small businesses at http://www.billingboss.com. Billing Boss is focused of keeping invoicing simple – so simple that you can get set up and send your first invoice in just a couple minutes.
Please note: With the goal of full disclosure, I work at Sage. Feel free to contact me if you have any feedback about Billing Boss.
Invoicera has always been a great invoicing tool and they have also introduced Basecamp integration for effective project management. So great and impressive work. You can check out their blog at http://www.invoicera.com/blog