Is a retainer billed in advance or in arrears?

That is your agreement with the customer. Raise on the first day of each period to bill before the month is used, or on the last day to bill once the work is done.

What if the monthly fee goes up?

Select Edit on the recurring invoice and change the lines. Drafts raised afterwards use the new price; issued invoices stay as they were.

How do I add a one-off extra in one month?

Add the line to that month's draft before you issue it. The lines repeated every period do not change.

Automate monthly billing

Copy for AI

A retainer or maintenance contract bills the same lines every month. Set it up once as a recurring invoice: easySales prepares each month’s draft on time, and you spend a minute checking and issuing it.

How to do it

Select Recurring invoices in the sidebar, then New recurring invoice. To start from an invoice you already issued, open it and choose Make recurring in the ··· menu.
Choose the Contact and Owner. Under Schedule, set Repeats every to 1 month(s), the First period starts date and when it Ends.
Under Raise the invoice on, choose The first day of each period to bill in advance or The last day of each period to bill in arrears.
Leave Raise each period’s draft automatically on, add the Lines repeated every period, and select Create recurring invoice.
Each month, open the draft, check it and issue it. Drafts waiting to be issued appear under Needs attention on Recurring invoices, and in the owner’s To do.

A description such as “Maintenance for [Month] [Year]” prints the month on each draft, so the customer sees which period each invoice covers.

Why it helps

No month is forgotten: each draft is ready on its day without anyone having to remember it. easySales never issues or sends a draft by itself, so someone who knows the customer checks each charge before it takes its invoice number. When a draft cannot be raised, the owner is told in the message centre.

Example

Lim & Co agrees to maintain Harbour Café’s plant wall for a year from 1 November 2026, at SGD 300.00 a month plus GST 9%. Mei Tan sets Repeats every 1 month(s), First period starts 1 November 2026, Ends After a number of periods with 12 periods, and raises the invoice on the last day of each period.

On 30 November the first draft is raised: SGD 300.00 plus GST of SGD 27.00, SGD 327.00. Twelve periods come to 12 × SGD 327.00 = SGD 3,924.00. In February the café closes for renovation, so Mei selects Skip on that period with the reason “Closed for renovation”; no draft is raised for February. The skipped month still counts as one of the 12 periods, so the year brings eleven invoices: 11 × SGD 327.00 = SGD 3,597.00.

Common questions

Is a retainer billed in advance or in arrears? That is your agreement with the customer. Raise on the first day of each period to bill before the month is used, or on the last day to bill once the work is done.
What if the monthly fee goes up? Select Edit on the recurring invoice and change the lines. Drafts raised afterwards use the new price; issued invoices stay as they were.
How do I add a one-off extra in one month? Add the line to that month’s draft before you issue it. The lines repeated every period do not change.