Copy for AI

Upfront and balance

Learn how to split the payment of a quote to receive a percentage upfront and collect the rest later.

The split payment model

In service-based projects (agencies, consultancies, software development), it is very common not to charge 100% upfront, but rather to require an initial deposit (e.g., 50%) to kick off the work and settle the balance upon delivery.

In traditional invoicing platforms, this forces you to generate two different payment links or duplicate the invoice. In Cord, the quote is smart and handles split payments without you having to do double the work.

How to configure an upfront payment

1. Open the quote editor.
2. In step 1, Who are you quoting?, choose the payment term. With Due on receipt, the balance can be paid as soon as the deposit is covered; with a credit term (from Net 7 to Net 90, for example Net 30), the balance is due that many days after approval and is enabled for payment on that date.
3. In step 3, Terms, under How it’s paid choose Deposit and balance and enter the percentage in Deposit (%), between 1 and 99 (e.g., 50).
4. Below the field, the editor instantly shows how much your client pays on approval and how much balance remains, for example “Upon approval, your client pays MXN 5,000.00 as a deposit and the rest (MXN 5,000.00) per the terms.”

Need more than two payments, your own dates or payments that open when you complete a delivery? Choose Milestone plan under How it’s paid: it splits the total into 2 to 24 payments and replaces the deposit on that quote. See Milestone payment plan.

What does the client see?

When the client opens the public link of the quote, below the total amount they will see a clear breakdown:

• Project total: $10,000.00 MXN
• Pay upfront today (50%): $5,000.00 MXN
• Balance: $5,000.00 MXN (due according to the payment term)

Automatic payment button mutation

Each part of the quote — the upfront payment and the balance — is an independent payment within the same link:

1. First charge: The client clicks “Approve and Pay”. The button charges them only the $5,000.00 MXN of the upfront payment. Once processed, the quote switches to “Approved” and is ready for you to start working.
2. Second charge: Once the balance is enabled, the client can re-enter the exact same link from the original quote. The system will detect that the upfront payment has already been made, and the payment button will have automatically mutated to charge the remaining Balance.

You didn’t have to send a second email, nor generate a “payment link for the balance”. Everything lives in the same ecosystem.