Overview
Group Invoices let you bill a client for many orders at once. Instead of collecting payment order by order, you gather every unpaid order for a brokerage, team, agent, or custom order form within a shoot date range, put them on one consolidated invoice, and send it to the people who pay the bill.
This is a good fit for brokerages or teams that pay monthly, or for any client who wants a single invoice covering multiple shoots.
Note: Group Invoices are enabled per account. If you don't see Group Invoices in your Storefront Reports menu, contact support and we'll turn it on for you.
Before You Start: Set Payment Terms
For clients you plan to bill this way, set their Payment Terms to Grouped Invoices (for Multiple Shoots). With this option, the client is not asked to pay when they place an order, and their orders stay unpaid until you mark the group invoice as paid.
Creating a Group Invoice
From your Storefront, go to Reports and select Group Invoices.
Click + Create Group Invoice.
Confirm the Invoice Number. Group invoice numbers start with GP- and the next available number is filled in for you. Numbers must be numeric and unique within your store.
Enter a Short description. This is for your own reference and is not visible to the client.
Choose the Shoot Date Range. Orders are included based on their shoot date.
Click Next.
Choosing Which Orders to Include
After the invoice is created, you'll be asked to set its filters:
Order Statuses: choose which order statuses to include. All statuses are selected by default.
Group invoices for: choose Brokerage, Team, Agent, or Custom Order Form.
Click Next to open Review Settings & Run. Click Add to select the specific brokerages, teams, agents, or order forms to bill, then click Done. You must add at least one before the report can run.
Click Run Report. Rela finds every matching order that falls inside the shoot date range and has not already been paid in full, and adds it to the invoice. Larger invoices may take a moment to finish loading.
You can click Adjust Filters at any time to change the settings and run the report again. Orders that no longer match are removed, and new matching orders are added.
Reviewing the Orders
The invoice page shows the Invoice Period, who the orders were submitted by, the Grand Total, and the Total Orders, followed by a list of every included order.
Remove an order: use the Actions dropdown on an order to remove it from the group invoice.
Crossover Orders: an order can only belong to one group invoice. If a matching order is already on another group invoice, it is not moved automatically. Instead you'll see a Crossover Orders button. Click it to review those orders and use the Actions dropdown to move them to the current invoice. Orders on an invoice that has already been marked as paid cannot be moved.
Export: click Export to download the invoice.
Payment Collection
Payment Collection details are required before you can send the invoice. Click Add next to Payment Collection and fill in:
Due Date: the date payment is due.
Billed To: the person and/or company making the payment. This is visible to the client.
Payment Method: Stripe Invoice, Square Invoice, Check, or ACH.
Payment Link: required for Stripe Invoice and Square Invoice. Paste the link to the invoice payment page you created in Stripe or Square.
Payment Instructions: optional instructions shown to the client.
Payment for a group invoice is collected outside of Rela (through your Stripe or Square invoice, a check, or ACH). Once you've received payment, mark the group invoice as paid in Rela (see below).
Who Can See the Invoice
Customers with Access: click Add to choose the clients who should have access. They will see the invoice in their own dashboard under Orders, in the Consolidated Invoices tab. Brokerage and team managers are marked with a star.
External Recipients: add email addresses for people who do not have an account, such as an accounting contact. When external recipients are added, a publicly accessible invoice link is generated. To download from that link, the recipient verifies their email address, which must match one on the list.
Clients cannot view a group invoice while its status is Draft.
Sending the Invoice
Click Send Invoice to email the invoice to your Customers with Access and External Recipients. You can review the email before it goes out.
To send, the invoice needs at least one order, at least one recipient, and Payment Collection details.
Invoice Statuses
Use the status dropdown at the top of the invoice to keep it up to date:
Draft: still being prepared. Not visible to clients.
Pending: sent and awaiting payment.
Paid: payment has been received.
Cancelled: the invoice is no longer valid.
Marking a Group Invoice as Paid
Change the status to Paid.
Enter the Date Paid.
Optionally add a Confirmation ID and a Transaction Memo. The memo is hidden from the client.
Check I understand and click Confirm Payment.
Rela then marks every order on the group invoice as paid in full and records the payment on each order with the group invoice number (for example, GP-1001) as the payment method.
Important: marking a group invoice as paid cannot be undone. Once paid, the status, date range, filters, and payment instructions are locked. You can still edit the date paid, confirmation ID, and transaction memo.