Working with Sunset Email Invoices and Statements
Bill Clemens, September 19, 2019

Introduction

We sometimes hear from customers that they are having difficulties accessing the invoices and/or statements sent to them by email, that they do not understand the differences between invoices and statements, that they are unable to read the small type, or wondering why they receive an “invoice” when they have recently sent a payment. This document is provided to help you navigate through these issues.

Invoices vs. Statements

An invoice is a record of an individual transaction (sale, return, or payment). Your account likely is configured to send you an invoice by email with each transaction. If you would prefer not to receive invoices for each transaction as they happen, please let us know and we can disable that feature for you.

You, of course, are welcome to make payments on your account at any time, but it is not necessary to pay each individual invoice. One of the advantages of your account is that you can wait until your monthly statement arrives and make a single payment for all your month’s purchases.

When you make a payment on your account, that is also an account transaction and so if you receive your invoices by email, you will also receive an “invoice” confirming your payment. You can distinguish these payment confirmations by looking at the attached document (see below) which will indicate “Payment” in large type at the top of the invoice. Unfortunately, our point-of-sale software cannot be configured to indicate on the email subject line whether an invoice is for a purchase, return, or is a receipt for payment.

A statement is sent at the beginning of each month summarizing all the invoices (sales, returns, payments) of the previous month. Your statement may include an available discount, which you may deduct from your payment if payment by cash or check is received by the 10th of the month. Discounts are not available on credit or debit card payments.

You can identify whether the email you receive is an invoice or statement by the subject line:

  • “Invoice xxxxx” indicates that you are receiving a record of an individual transaction. This is for your records and no action is required.

  • “Account Statement for account xxxxx on [date]” indicates that you are receiving a monthly statement of your account business, and payment is due.

Your monthly account statement also includes a second attachment which shows the detail, line by line, for each charge shown on the monthly statement. You can open and view that document in the same way as you view the statement itself.

Finally, while we encourage all customers to receive their statements by email – it is faster and eliminates significant postage, printing, and labor costs for us, helping to keep our prices competitive – if you want to receive your account statements on paper in the mail, let us know and we will make that change for you.

Viewing Invoice and Statement Documents

We send your Invoices and Statements as PDF (Portable Document Format) file attachments to email. PDF is a near-universal format that gives you, the recipient, great control over how you view and/or print the document. PDF is supported by all leading devices including PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, and Linux. How your device displays the PDF attachment by default will vary with your device and the software you use to view your email. Some of you will see an icon or other notification that there is a PDF file attached and you will need to click the icon to open it. Some of you will see an image of the document right in the email. In the latter case, the image size may be reduced to make it fit on your screen, which may make it difficult to read, depending on your device. In virtually all cases, however, there is a way to open the document in its own window and enlarge it to any magnification without loss of image quality. It is also usually an option to print the document full size to a connected printer. The document will print as an 8-1/2” x 11” sheet with full resolution.

While it is not possible to give instructions for every possible combination of device and software, if you are experiencing difficulty we will do our best to help you understand, view, save, and/or print your emailed invoices and statements. Please send an email to bill@sunsetbuilderssupply.com and include as much as possible of the following information:

  • The nature of the difficulty you are having
  • Your device, i.e. Windows PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android phone or tablet, other
  • How you view your email, i.e. Outlook, Windows Mail, Mac Mail, in a web browser, etc.
  • Any other information you think may be relevant
  • The best way to reach you