Invoicing and Payment Processing in CraftOps

Fabrication shops often undercharge because they undercount. When you are manually estimating material costs, guessing at machine time, and rounding down labor hours to keep a customer happy, profit quietly erodes. CraftOps eliminates that guesswork by generating invoices directly from completed job data, pulling actual material usage, recorded machine time, and any additional line items into an accurate, professional invoice that is ready to send in seconds.

The invoicing system in CraftOps is not a bolted-on afterthought. It is wired into the entire production pipeline. When a job moves to "completed" status, every cost component that was tracked during production, from filament grams consumed to post-processing labor minutes, flows into the invoice automatically. Your team reviews the numbers, adds any adjustments, and sends the invoice to the customer through email or the customer portal.

Automatic Cost Calculations from Jobs

Every job in CraftOps tracks three core cost dimensions: materials, machine time, and labor. Material costs are derived from the weight of material consumed multiplied by your per-gram cost for that specific filament, resin, or sheet stock. Machine time is calculated from the actual run duration recorded by the job timer, multiplied by your hourly machine rate. Labor covers any manual work such as post-processing, support removal, sanding, painting, or assembly, logged by your operators through the job's time tracking feature.

When the job completes, CraftOps compiles these dimensions into a cost breakdown that becomes the foundation of the invoice. You set your markup percentage at the shop level, per customer, or per job, and the system applies it consistently. If a job involved multiple parts printed on different machines with different materials, each component appears as its own line item with an individual cost breakdown. The customer sees exactly what they are paying for, and you can verify that every dollar of cost is accounted for.

Additional line items can be added manually for services that fall outside the tracked categories: design consultation fees, expedite surcharges, packaging costs, or shipping. These custom items are saved as templates so you do not retype them for every invoice. A "design revision fee" template with your standard rate is always one click away.

Payment Processing with Stripe and Square

CraftOps integrates with both Stripe and Square for payment processing, giving your customers flexible payment options. When you send an invoice, it includes a secure payment link where the customer can pay by credit card, debit card, or ACH bank transfer depending on your Stripe configuration. For in-person transactions, Square integration supports tap-to-pay, chip readers, and manual card entry at your shop counter.

Setting up payment processing takes minutes. You connect your existing Stripe or Square account through the CraftOps settings panel, and the system handles the rest: generating payment links, processing charges, recording transaction IDs, and updating invoice statuses automatically when payment is received. There is no need to manually mark invoices as paid or reconcile between your payment processor and your shop management tool.

For shops that offer payment plans or require deposits before starting work, CraftOps supports partial payments. You can collect a 50 percent deposit when a quote is approved and charge the balance upon completion. Each partial payment is recorded against the invoice, and the outstanding balance updates in real time. The customer portal shows the payment history so there is never confusion about what has been paid and what remains.

Tip: Set up automatic payment reminders in CraftOps for invoices that are past due. A gentle email at 7 days and a firmer reminder at 14 days recovers most outstanding payments without requiring your team to manually follow up.

Payment Tracking and Receipts

The CraftOps invoicing dashboard gives you a clear view of your accounts receivable at any moment. Invoices are organized by status: draft, sent, viewed, partially paid, paid, and overdue. Each status has a distinct visual indicator so you can scan the list and immediately identify which customers need a nudge and which payments have landed. Filtering by date range, customer, or amount makes it easy to pull up exactly the records you need for bookkeeping.

When a payment processes successfully, CraftOps generates a receipt automatically and sends it to the customer. Receipts include the invoice number, itemized charges, payment method, transaction date, and your shop's business details. For customers who pay in person, the receipt can be printed or emailed on the spot. Every receipt and invoice is archived in the customer's record, creating a complete financial history that simplifies end-of-year accounting and tax preparation.

For shops that use external accounting software like QuickBooks or Xero, CraftOps supports exporting invoice data in standard formats. You can export individual invoices or batch exports for a date range, generating CSV files that import cleanly into most accounting platforms. This bridge between shop management and accounting means your bookkeeper works from the same numbers your operators tracked on the shop floor, with no manual data entry gaps where errors creep in.

What's Next

Invoicing closes the loop on a production job, but the customer experience extends further. In our next post, we will explore the CraftOps customer portal, where your customers can track their orders, communicate with your team, upload files, and pay invoices, all from a branded interface that reflects your shop's identity. If you have been sending invoices through generic email and hoping customers remember to pay, CraftOps gives you a professional, automated billing system that captures every cost and collects payment faster.