Introduction:

At Shiprex, we’re constantly striving to improve your experience and provide you with the tools you need to manage your business effectively. We’re thrilled to announce the release of our brand-new “Invoice Additional Costs” plugin, a major upgrade to our invoicing system that gives you unprecedented flexibility and control over your billing process! This powerful plugin empowers administrators, accountants, and business users to manage invoice adjustments with ease, accuracy, and automation.

Key Features and Benefits:

This plugin introduces a comprehensive suite of features designed to streamline your invoicing and financial management:

1. Granular Additional Costs:
   • What it is: Go beyond basic order charges! Add specific, line-item costs to any invoice. This is perfect for handling fuel surcharges, handling fees, rush order fees, or any other service-specific charge.
   • How it works: Within the invoice view, you can now add “Additional Cost Items.” You’ll select a pre-defined “Cost Type” (which you can configure, e.g., “Fuel Surcharge,” “Insurance”), enter a description, specify the amount, and indicate whether it’s taxable.
   • Benefit: Accurately reflect all billable costs on your invoices, leading to greater transparency and revenue control.
2. Flexible Invoice Discounts:
   • What it is: Offer promotions, loyalty rewards, or easily correct billing errors with flexible invoice-level discounts.
   • How it works: Apply discounts as either a percentage of the invoice total or a fixed amount. You can also associate discounts with specific “Promo Codes” for targeted offers. A “Reason” field lets you document the purpose of the discount.
   • Benefit: Improve customer satisfaction and incentivize desired behaviors with tailored promotions.
3. Automated Deduction Rules (The Real Powerhouse!):
   • What it is: This is where the plugin truly shines. Set up rules that automatically apply deductions to invoices based on a wide range of criteria. Think of it as “if this, then deduct that” for your invoices.
   • How it works: The plugin provides a user-friendly interface (with helpful templates!) to define rules. You can combine conditions based on:
     • Invoice Data: Total amount, payout, COD ratio, invoice age, creation date, payment/processing status.
     • Order Data: Order total, shipping cost, weight, distance, shipping zone.
     • User Data: Customer group, registration date, last login, order count.
     • …and more! The system is highly extensible.
   • Examples:
     • Volume Discount: “If the invoice total is over $1000, deduct 5%.”
     • Loyalty Reward: “If the user has placed more than 10 orders, deduct a fixed amount of $50.”
     • Seasonal Promotion: “Apply a 10% discount to all invoices created between December 1st and December 24th.”
     • User-Specific Discount: “For user ‘Acme Corp’, deduct 2% from all invoices.”
     • COD Ratio Discount “If the COD ration is greater that 50% in an invoice, add 10% deduction”
   • Benefits:
     • Automation: Eliminate manual calculations and ensure consistent application of discounts and deductions.
     • Targeted Incentives: Reward high-volume sellers, loyal customers, or specific user groups.
     • Flexibility: Create complex rules to meet your unique business needs.
     • Prioritization: Control the order in which rules are applied.
4. System-Wide vs. User-Specific Rules:
   • What it is: Create rules that apply to all users (system-wide) or only to specific users.
   • How it works: When creating a deduction rule, you choose the “scope” (system or user). If you select “user,” you’ll be able to choose the specific user the rule applies to.
   • Benefit: Run global promotions while also offering personalized incentives.
5. Invoice Notes and Attachments:
   • What it is: Add context and supporting documentation to your invoices.
   • How it works: Attach files (PDFs, DOCs, etc.) and add notes to explain adjustments or provide additional information. You can control the visibility of attachments (internal, seller, client).
   • Benefit: Improved transparency and communication with your users.
6. Invoice Preview and Simulation:
   • What is it: Before saveing an invoice or closing, you can preview the invoice summary
   • How it works: The estimate summary button will open a summary model that showes all the invoice figures like costs and deductions.
   • Benefit: Improved transperancy and avoid errors.
7. Invoice Alteration Before Close:
   • What is it: Add the required modifications to the invoice when it is closed.
   • How it works:: When closing the invoice, the figuers will be calculated then get stored to a jason column named invoice_figures in the invoice.
   • Benefit: track the invoice figures at closing stage.
     Getting Started:

1. Granular Additional Costs:
   • What it is: Go beyond basic order charges! Add specific, line-item costs to any invoice. This is perfect for handling fuel surcharges, handling fees, rush order fees, or any other service-specific charge.
   • How it works: Within the invoice view, you can now add “Additional Cost Items.” You’ll select a pre-defined “Cost Type” (which you can configure, e.g., “Fuel Surcharge,” “Insurance”), enter a description, specify the amount, and indicate whether it’s taxable.
   • Benefit: Accurately reflect all billable costs on your invoices, leading to greater transparency and revenue control.
2. Flexible Invoice Discounts:
   • What it is: Offer promotions, loyalty rewards, or easily correct billing errors with flexible invoice-level discounts.
   • How it works: Apply discounts as either a percentage of the invoice total or a fixed amount. You can also associate discounts with specific “Promo Codes” for targeted offers. A “Reason” field lets you document the purpose of the discount.
   • Benefit: Improve customer satisfaction and incentivize desired behaviors with tailored promotions.
3. Automated Deduction Rules (The Real Powerhouse!):
   • What it is: This is where the plugin truly shines. Set up rules that automatically apply deductions to invoices based on a wide range of criteria. Think of it as “if this, then deduct that” for your invoices.
   • How it works: The plugin provides a user-friendly interface (with helpful templates!) to define rules. You can combine conditions based on:
     • Invoice Data: Total amount, payout, COD ratio, invoice age, creation date, payment/processing status.
     • Order Data: Order total, shipping cost, weight, distance, shipping zone.
     • User Data: Customer group, registration date, last login, order count.
     • …and more! The system is highly extensible.
   • Examples:
     • Volume Discount: “If the invoice total is over $1000, deduct 5%.”
     • Loyalty Reward: “If the user has placed more than 10 orders, deduct a fixed amount of $50.”
     • Seasonal Promotion: “Apply a 10% discount to all invoices created between December 1st and December 24th.”
     • User-Specific Discount: “For user ‘Acme Corp’, deduct 2% from all invoices.”
     • COD Ratio Discount “If the COD ration is greater that 50% in an invoice, add 10% deduction”
   • Benefits:
     • Automation: Eliminate manual calculations and ensure consistent application of discounts and deductions.
     • Targeted Incentives: Reward high-volume sellers, loyal customers, or specific user groups.
     • Flexibility: Create complex rules to meet your unique business needs.
     • Prioritization: Control the order in which rules are applied.

1. System-Wide vs. User-Specific Rules:
   • What it is: Create rules that apply to all users (system-wide) or only to specific users.
   • How it works: When creating a deduction rule, you choose the “scope” (system or user). If you select “user,” you’ll be able to choose the specific user the rule applies to.
   • Benefit: Run global promotions while also offering personalized incentives.
2. Invoice Notes and Attachments:
   • What it is: Add context and supporting documentation to your invoices.
   • How it works: Attach files (PDFs, DOCs, etc.) and add notes to explain adjustments or provide additional information. You can control the visibility of attachments (internal, seller, client).
   • Benefit: Improved transparency and communication with your users.
3. Invoice Preview and Simulation:
   • What is it: Before saveing an invoice or closing, you can preview the invoice summary
   • How it works: The estimate summary button will open a summary model that showes all the invoice figures like costs and deductions.
   • Benefit: Improved transperancy and avoid errors.
4. Invoice Alteration Before Close:
   • What is it: Add the required modifications to the invoice when it is closed.
   • How it works:: When closing the invoice, the figuers will be calculated then get stored to a jason column named invoice_figures in the invoice.
   • Benefit: track the invoice figures at closing stage.
     Getting Started:
     The “Invoice Additional Costs” plugin is available now! To start using it:
     Ensure you have the latest version of Shiprex.
     Install the plugin via the Plugin Manager in your Shiprex admin panel.
     Configure the plugin settings (Settings -> Additional Costs) to define your default tax rate and other options.
     Start creating your Cost Types, Deduction Rules, and applying additional costs and discounts to your invoices!
     We’re confident that this plugin will significantly enhance your invoicing capabilities. We encourage you to explore its features and provide us with your feedback!