Invoices

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Overview

The Invoices feature is part of your Product Store and lets you create professional invoices, send them to customers, and track their payment status, all in one place. Invoices are denominated in ZMW by default and can be paid by customers via mobile money directly from a public payment link.

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Watch: How to Create & Send Invoices on Bila | Quick Step-by-Step Tutorial

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Accessing Invoices

From the left sidebar, click Product Store. At the top of the page, select the Invoices tab. The Invoices page shows:

• Today’s invoices — a summary card showing today’s date and your total outstanding balance in ZMW
• Invoice list — a searchable, filterable table showing Invoice #, Customer, Status, Total, Amount Due, and Due Date
• A New invoice button to create a new invoice

You can search invoices by invoice number, customer name, email, or phone number. You can also filter by date range (From / To) and toggle Due only to show only invoices with an outstanding balance. The list shows a count of total invoices at the bottom (e.g. Showing 6 of 6 invoices).

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Invoice statuses

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Creating an Invoice

Click New invoice from the Invoices page. The next available invoice number is automatically assigned (e.g. INV-2026-0001).

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Customer details

The following fields are marked with an asterisk (*) in the form and must be filled in before you can save or send the invoice: The following fields are optional but recommended. Including them makes the invoice look more professional and gives your customer a complete billing record:

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Items & totals

On the right side of the form, add what you are billing for:

• Click + Add product to add a product from your Product Store catalogue — the product image, name, description, and unit price are pulled in automatically
• Click + Custom line to add a one-off item with a custom name and amount

Each line item has the following fields: The totals section calculates automatically:

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Invoice details

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Saving and sending

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Invoice Detail View

Clicking an invoice from the list opens the Invoice Details page. This page shows the full invoice with a live PDF preview, customer information, and actions.

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Actions

From the Invoice Details page you can:

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Summary panel

The right-hand panel shows:

• Amount due — the outstanding balance in ZMW (highlighted in orange)
• Customer — customer name, email, phone, and address
• Issued — the invoice issue date
• Due — the invoice due date
• Sent — the date the invoice was sent to the customer
• Public link — a shareable link (e.g. https://usebila.com/invoice/...) customers can use to view and pay the invoice online. You can Copy link or click Open to preview it
• Notes & terms — the notes and payment terms set on the invoice

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Timeline

Every invoice has a full activity timeline at the bottom of the detail page. Events are timestamped and recorded in order:

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PDF Invoice

Every invoice generates a professional PDF that includes:

• Your business name, logo, and brand color
• Invoice number and current status badge (e.g. DRAFT, SENT)
• Bill To — customer name, email, phone, and address
• Issue date and Due date
• Line items table — Item, Qty, Unit Price, Discount, Total
• Subtotal, Invoice discount, Shipping, and Total
• Amount Due
• Payment instructions — how to pay via mobile money
• Notes and Terms & Conditions
• Support contact details (phone and email)
• A QR code linking to the public payment page
• A View & pay online link

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Customer Payment Page

When you send an invoice, the customer receives a public payment link (e.g. https://usebila.com/invoice/...). They can open this link on any device to view and pay the invoice without needing a Bila account.

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What the customer sees

The payment page shows:

• Invoice header — your business name, logo, invoice number, and current status badge (e.g. VIEWED, SENT)
• Issued on and Due by dates
• Bill To — customer name, phone, email, and address (partially masked for privacy, e.g. Joseph B***, +260 96 *** 0000, J***@example.com)
• Items — each line item with product image, name, description, quantity, unit price, and any discount applied (e.g. Discount — K 50.00)
• Totals — subtotal, discounts, tax, shipping, and grand total
• Notes — any notes you added to the invoice
• Terms — your payment terms (e.g. No returns after 30 days of payment)

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How the customer pays

The PAY NOW section shows the amount due and payment instructions:

1. The customer enters their mobile money phone number in the Phone Number field
2. They click Pay Now →
3. A mobile money prompt is sent directly to their phone
4. The customer approves the prompt on their phone to complete payment

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After payment

Once payment is confirmed:

• A green Payment received banner appears — “Thank you! A receipt has been sent to your email.”
• The customer can click Download PDF to save their receipt
• The invoice status updates automatically in your dashboard

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Need help?

The bottom of the payment page always shows a Need help? section with three ways for customers to contact you:

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Invoice Settings

Configure your invoice defaults, branding, and numbering from Product Store → Store Settings → Invoice settings.

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Invoice numbering

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Defaults

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Branding

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Notifications

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Support contact

These details appear on your invoices and payment page so customers know how to reach you: Click Save settings to apply any changes.

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Store Settings

Your Product Store has two top-level toggles that affect whether invoices and orders can be received:

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Transaction fees

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