Managing invoices in Zest Concierge puts you in full control of your billing workflow. You can create invoices, customize details, share payment links, and track payment status all from your Concierge dashboard.
Before you start:
You'll need an active Concierge project with at least one order configured.
Your connected payment account must be active to receive payments.
For estimates, you can create a project with placeholder quantities before recipient addresses are finalized.
Overview: How Invoicing Works in Concierge
Invoices in Zest Concierge are connected to your project (not individual orders), which means a single project can have multiple invoices. Here's how it works at a high level:
Invoices live at the project level. A project can contain multiple orders and multiple invoices.
Invoices are never sent automatically. You control when and how invoices are shared with your clients.
Invoice line items come from your orders. Product pricing, shipping, and taxes are pulled directly from your order data.
Order changes don't update existing invoices. Once an invoice is generated, it's a snapshot. If your order changes, you'll need to void and recreate the invoice.
Payments go directly to your connected payment account. Zest does not sit in the payment pathway.
Changes made to invoice line items do NOT sync back to your Shopify orders. Always make pricing and discount changes at the order level — not the invoice level — to keep your billing and fulfillment in sync.
Customizing Invoice Details
Before starting an invoice, be aware of the details you can customize and collect any relevant info beforehand.
You can customize the following fields:
Bill-to contact: The name and contact information for the recipient of the invoice.
Due date: Set the date payment is expected.
Memo: Add custom notes like PO numbers, account references, or other billing details.
Line items: Add, remove, or adjust line items (description, quantity, unit price).
Note: Any changes you make to invoice line items exist only on the invoice — they do NOT flow through to your Shopify order. Always adjust discounts, custom fees, or pricing at the order level first.
Adding custom fees (recommended approach):
Create a Shopify product for the fee type (e.g., "Rush Fee – $50" or "Custom Logo Fee – $25").
Import it into Zest and add it to your order.
When you generate the invoice, the fee will appear as a line item automatically — and it will also appear in your Shopify order for consistent tracking.
Note: Variant details (size, color, quantity options) are not automatically included in invoice line items. As a workaround, manually edit the line item description to include the variant information before generating the invoice.
Creating and Generating Invoices
Now that you've gathered all the necessary details or created any extra custom fees in Shopify, let's make an invoice! First of all, order of operations matters when you have multiple orders in a project.
We recommend follow these steps:
Create Order 1 and configure its products, recipients, and pricing.
Click Create Invoice to generate an invoice for Order 1.
Create Order 2 and repeat the process to generate Invoice 2.
Tip: If you create multiple orders before generating any invoices, all orders will be grouped into a single invoice. Plan your invoicing workflow before adding multiple orders to a project.
To create an invoice:
Open your Concierge project.
Click Create Invoice.
Review the auto-populated line items (product and product labels, quantities, discounts, shipping, and tax).
Customize the bill-to contact, due date, memo, and any additional line items.
Click Review to see what your customer will see.
Click Submit to finalize the invoice.
Important: Once an invoice is generated, it cannot be edited. Review all details carefully before submitting.
Sending Invoices to Customers
Invoices are never sent automatically — you choose when and how to share them. After generating an invoice, you'll see several sharing options:
Copy link: Copy the unique payment link and share it via email, Slack, or any channel.
Download PDF: Download a formatted PDF to attach to an email.
View invoice: Open the invoice in a browser to preview it before sharing.
If collaborator access is enabled for your project, your client can also view their invoice directly in their gifter dashboard. However, to prevent mismatches, consider removing customer access before sending the invoice and sharing the link directly.
Receipts are sent automatically after payment. Once your customer pays, they will automatically receive a payment confirmation email with a link to view their receipt. You don't need to do anything.
Payment Methods and Tracking Payment Status
How customers pay
Customers pay via a secure payment link using a credit card. Each invoice has its own unique payment link.
How you know when payment is received:
The person who created the project receives an email notification when an invoice is paid.
The payment status in your project dashboard updates automatically.
Invoice statuses (Paid, Unpaid, Partially Paid, Processing) are visible on the Concierge overview page at gifts.zest.co/partners/concierge.
For offline payments (checks, wire transfers, purchase orders):
Locate the invoice in your project.
Click the three-dot menu (⋮) next to the invoice.
Select Mark as Paid and enter the reason or payment method.
Estimates, Deposits, and Split Payments
Creating an estimate or quote
Use this workflow when you need to send a quote before recipient addresses are finalized:
Create a project and add products with estimated quantities.
Manually enter the estimated quantity in the invoice (addresses are not required yet).
Add a memo noting that taxes and shipping are estimates subject to change.
Click Download PDF to share as a quote.
When the order is finalized, void the estimate invoice and create a new one with accurate quantities, tax, and shipping.
If the invoice shows $0: This happens when no quantity has been entered. Always verify the quantity field is populated before sharing an estimate.
Collecting a deposit and balance later
Option 1: Standalone deposit invoice:
Create a deposit invoice with a custom line item (e.g., "Deposit – $2,000") before creating order groupings.
Later, generate a second invoice for the balance, adding a negative line item to offset the deposit already paid.
Option 2: Split the full invoice:
Create the full invoice and add a negative line item representing the portion not yet due (e.g., negative 70% for a 30% deposit).
Create a second invoice for the remaining balance when ready.
The system tracks paid vs. unpaid amounts across all invoices within the project.
Splitting payments across multiple cards or payment methods
Create multiple invoices within the same project.
Edit each invoice's line items to reflect the desired payment amount per card or method.
Each invoice gets its own unique payment link.
Example: For a $10,000 order, create one $5,000 invoice and one $5,000 invoice — each can be paid with a different credit card.
Voiding and Reissuing Invoices
Since invoices cannot be edited after creation, voiding and reissuing is the standard way to make corrections.
To void an invoice:
Locate the invoice in your project.
Click the three-dot menu (⋮) next to the invoice.
Select Void and enter a reason.
Create a new invoice with the corrected information.
Important: Only unpaid invoices can be voided through the self-service interface. If an invoice has already been paid, contact Zest support — a status change requires manual intervention and cannot be done through your dashboard.
Once an invoice is paid:
It cannot be voided or edited through your dashboard.
Customer name and billing details cannot be changed in the system.
If your customer needs an updated copy, they can download the PDF and make edits outside of Zest.
Refund amounts do not appear in the browser view of the invoice but are visible on the downloaded PDF version.
Note: When a refund is issued, Zest does not automatically generate a new invoice document.
Keeping Invoices and Orders in Sync
Your order is what flows to Shopify for fulfillment. Your invoice is for billing only.
If you change... | At the order level (recommended) | At the invoice level only (not recommended) |
Pricing or discounts | ✅ Flows to Shopify + invoice | ❌ Does NOT flow to your ecommerce platform |
Custom fees | ✅ Add as a Shopify product first | ❌ Creates a fulfillment mismatch |
Recipient count | ✅ Update order, void invoice, recreate | ❌ Invoice doesn't update automatically |
Best practices:
Always configure discounts, custom pricing, and fees at the order level before generating an invoice.
If you need to make changes after generating an invoice, void the invoice first, update the order, then generate a new invoice.
Use the project Notes field to document any approved discrepancies between invoice and order totals.
The Action Required badge
If your project shows an Action Required badge (in red), it means there's a mismatch between your order total and invoice total. This can happen when:
Line items are manually edited on the invoice.
Discounts are applied at the invoice level instead of the order level.
Orders are partially canceled after invoicing.
Custom line items are added to the invoice without corresponding order products.
This badge cannot be manually dismissed — it will remain until the totals are reconciled by adding an invoice or adjusting recipients.
Common Issues and Troubleshooting
The Action Required badge won't go away
This badge appears when your order total and invoice total don't match. Reconcile the totals by issuing an invoice that covers the outstanding balance, or adjust recipients. There is currently no way to manually dismiss this badge. Use the Notes field to document approved discrepancies.
Invoice shows $0
This happens when no quantity has been entered for the line items. If you're creating an estimate before recipient addresses are uploaded, you must manually enter the estimated quantity. Always verify the quantity field is populated before sending.
Tax line item shows an unexpected amount
If a tax line item quantity was accidentally changed (e.g., from 1 to 11), it will multiply the tax amount and create a significant discrepancy. Always verify all line item quantities before generating an invoice.
Shipping costs don't appear on the invoice
If no shipping profile was assigned when orders were imported, shipping costs won't be included. Apply a shipping profile to the order before generating the invoice, or manually add a flat-rate shipping fee as a custom line item.
Refund doesn't show in the browser view
Refund amounts are only visible on the downloaded PDF version of the invoice, not in the browser window. Download the PDF to confirm refund details.
A customer deleted recipients after the invoice was generated
If collaborator access was enabled, customers can delete recipients, which creates a mismatch with the invoiced amount. To prevent this, remove customer access before sharing the invoice link.
422 error when creating an invoice
This typically means your payment account's Terms & Conditions are not configured. Set up the T&Cs link in your payment account settings to resolve this and enable payment link generation. Contact Zest support if you need assistance.
How do I show individual product components from a bundle on the invoice?
Two workarounds are available:
Add each individual SKU to the order at $0, generate the invoice (which shows all line items), then delete the individual SKUs before submitting for fulfillment — changes to the order after invoice generation don't affect the invoice.
Use the invoice Memo field to paste a text list of all bundle components, which appears on the downloaded PDF.
I need invoice templates
There is currently no ability to save and reuse invoice templates. Each invoice must be configured individually. This is a known feature request on the product roadmap.
How do I view payment statuses across all projects?
Go to gifts.zest.co/partners/concierge to see invoice statuses (Paid, Partially Paid, Unpaid) for all active projects. A CSV export is also available for easier navigation and tracking.