Whether you’re booking appointments, selling custom products, organizing events, or accepting registrations, it’s common to collect a deposit upfront and the remaining balance at a later date.
One of the more common questions we receive at Payable Apps is:
“Can I split a single order into a deposit now and a balance later?”
The short answer is not on the same order—but there are two simple workflows that make collecting deposits and final payments easy.
Option 1: Create Separate Deposit and Balance Orders
For most businesses and organizations, this is the easiest solution.
Rather than creating one item that needs to be paid in installments, create two separate priced options in your Google Form:
- Deposit
- Remaining Balance
When a customer is ready to secure their booking, they submit the form and select the Deposit option. Payable generates an invoice for just the deposit amount.
Later, when it’s time to collect the remainder, the customer simply submits the form again and selects the Remaining Balance option. This creates a second invoice for the outstanding amount.
This workflow works well for any seller with a good or service that is a flat rate – that’s to say, not a variable amount. Here’s an example of this option in practice:
Question title: “Summer camp registration”
Response options:
- Pay in full – $500
- Camp deposit – $250
- Camp balance – $250
Because each submission creates its own invoice, your payments stay organized and easy to track.
Option 2: Collect Deposits with a Form and Invoice the Balance Later
If you’d rather not ask customers to complete your Google Form twice, another option is to combine Payable Forms with Payable Sheets.
Here’s how it works:
- Collect the deposit through your Google Form using Payable.
- When the remaining balance is due, create an invoice directly from a Payable Sheet.
- Send the balance invoice to your customer for payment.
This approach can save time when you’re managing a large number of customers, or if the balance owing can vary between orders.
Please note: At this time, Payable Sheets supports PayPal as its payment provider.
Which Method Should You Choose?
Both workflows accomplish the same goal, and the best option depends on how you prefer to manage payments and your usage.
Use separate Google Form submissions if you:
- Want customers to initiate both payments themselves.
- Prefer keeping everything within your Google Form workflow.
- Can easily divide the cost of what you are selling into a few simple options
Use Payable Sheets if you:
- Want to invoice customers when the final amount is due.
- Avoid additional action on behalf of the customer.
- Have variable amounts owing for goods or services.
Start Collecting Deposits with Google Forms
Whether you’re accepting event registrations, booking appointments, or selling products that require an upfront payment, Payable Apps makes it easy to collect deposits using Google Forms.
By choosing either of the workflows above, you’ll be able to manage deposits and final balances while keeping your payment process simple for both you and your customers.
Need more help getting started? Browse our other tutorials and support articles, or reach out to our support team—we’re always happy to help.