---
title: What is the difference between an order, an invoice and a payment?
description: Understanding the stages of the payment collection process
---

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# What is the difference between an order, an invoice and a payment?

## Understanding how to navigate the 'Sales Admin' section of your account will help you to effectively monitor your anticipated and current revenue. This guide will walk you through the stages of the payment collection process

### Sales admin \> Orders

Orders can be thought of as scheduled invoices, broken up by item. During the order stage, you have the flexibility to make amendments to the details of the scheduled invoice, such as the amount it is for and the date that it is due to be issued to the customer (the invoice date).

**How orders are generated**

- Products allow payments in [instalments](https://help.thrive4.com/instalments?hsLang=en) 
    - When a user is added to/purchases a product and decides to pay via instalments, you will see all their upcoming instalments as scheduled orders
- Products are set to auto-renew 
    - Auto-renewing class/event products will by generate renewal orders in advance of the invoice date (27 days in advance by default), giving you time to make necessary adjustments.

**Note:** Renewal orders are marked with an ‘R’ for easy identification. You can find more information on renewals at the bottom of this page.

![](https://help.thrive4.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Jun-29-2026-03-31-12-7672-PM.png?width=598&height=320&name=image-png-Jun-29-2026-03-31-12-7672-PM.png)

- An invoice date is manually amended when [adding to product](https://help.thrive4.com/how-do-i-manually-add-people-to-products?hsLang=en) 
    - When you add a contact to a product, you can change the invoice date, creating a scheduled order
- A purchase requires approval 
    - If you use the ‘[Approve purchase before payment](https://help.thrive4.com/how-do-i-approve-an-order?hsLang=en)’ billing setting on a product, when a user makes a purchase, it will become an ‘Awaiting approval’ order

![](https://help.thrive4.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Jun-29-2026-03-31-35-4026-PM.png?width=468&height=287&name=image-png-Jun-29-2026-03-31-35-4026-PM.png)

**Tip:** For more information on managing orders, see our full guide [here](https://help.thrive4.com/orders?hsLang=en).

 

### Sales admin \> Invoices

When a purchase is made, a contact is added to a product, or a scheduled invoice date arrives, an invoice is created.

The transition to the Invoice stage signifies that the payment is due and the customer will receive the official invoice for the transaction. This stage marks the completion of the order processing and sets the stage for payment collection.

This means that the details of the transaction, including the price and other billing information, are finalised and cannot be edited.

**Tip:** For more information on managing invoices, see our full guide [here](https://help.thrive4.com/invoices?hsLang=en).

 

### Sales admin \> Payments

Payments refer to any payment activity made against an invoice. This may include online, offline, and transactions paid by account credit. Once a payment transaction begins against an invoice, the system will automatically capture and store all payment details in your Thrive4 system.

Payments will be shown with a status indicating if the payment is completed, pending, cancelled, or refunded.

**Tip:** For more information on managing payments, see our full guide [here](https://help.thrive4.com/payments?hsLang=en).

 

### Reporting \> Renewals

Renewals are recurring orders that are automatically created based on the billing settings specified in your product settings, if applicable. Renewals can be generated on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis.

Your renewals will appear in the [renewals report](https://help.thrive4.com/renewals-report?hsLang=en) until a set number of days (the default is 27) before the invoice date, when they will become orders marked with an 'R' next to the order number, for easy identification.

If you wish to make amendments to the price/invoice date, you will need to wait until the renewal becomes an Order.

Tip: For more information on managing renewals, see our full guide [here](https://help.thrive4.com/renewals?hsLang=en).

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