# Send your first invoice

> Send a sample invoice to yourself in one tap, then send a real one to a client. What you need, what counts as a send, and what to do if it is refused.

Source: https://support.billingmart.com/getting-started/send-your-first-invoice
Updated: 2026-10-17 · Applies to: Web, iPhone, Android · Section: Getting started

The quickest first invoice is a sample you send to your own email. You see exactly what a client receives, with no one else involved. Then you send a real one: add a client, write the invoice, choose **Save and send**. An owner or admin can do both.

## Send yourself a sample

1. Make sure your sign-in email is verified. If it is not, the page shows **Please verify your email to send your invoice**. Open the link we emailed you, then choose **I’ve verified, check again**.
2. Open **Pending tasks** and choose **Send yourself an invoice**. You can also use **Send yourself a first invoice** on the last setup screen.
3. Look at the preview. It is from your business, to your email, with one line, "Sample service", at 100.00 in your currency.
4. Choose **Send it to me**.
5. When the page says **Sent!**, check your inbox. The email and its PDF both say SAMPLE.

Know this before you tap:

- **It is not an invoice.** The sample is an email and a PDF, nothing more. It is not saved under **Invoices**, it takes no invoice number, it does not count as one of your sends this month, and no reminder is ever sent about it. There is nothing to void or delete.
- **It goes only to you.** The address is the verified email you signed in with. You cannot type another one, and the sample can never go to a client.
- **There is no pay page for it**, because there is no invoice to pay. Card payments start once your own merchant account is approved, and the **Sent!** page says how to start that.
- **You can send it twice a minute.** After that, wait a minute and try again.
- **It may not be emailed.** If we could not hand the email over, the page says **It did not go through**. Choose **Try again**. Nothing is ticked on your checklist until it has been sent.
- **It ticks your setup checklist, not your first real invoice.** The reminder to send your first real invoice still comes if you have not sent one.

## Send a real invoice

1. Choose **Clients**, then **New client**. Enter a name and an email address.
2. Choose **Invoices**, then **New invoice**. Pick the client. You can also add one from the side drawer.
3. Check **Terms**, **Invoice date** and **Due date**. Terms and the due date start from your business type. The invoice date starts as today.
4. Add lines under **Product or service**, with quantity and rate. Fill in any required details your business type adds.
5. Choose **Save and send**. The box **Send this invoice?** says where it goes:
   - to a confirmed email, or
   - to an email the client has not confirmed yet, or
   - nowhere, because the client has no usable email. The invoice is still numbered.
6. Choose **Save and send** again. The invoice gets its number, the totals are worked out again on our server, and the email goes out with a link to pay.

Replies to the invoice email usually go to you, the person who sent it.

## What your client sees

Your client opens the link in the email. If their address has not been confirmed yet, the link first shows who sent which invoice for how much, with one **View invoice** button. Tapping it confirms the address, and until then the link opens only that one invoice. A confirmed address goes straight to the invoice. The link does not open a portal, other invoices or statements.

## If the send is refused

| What you see | Why | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Some required details are missing | A detail your business type requires is empty | Fill in the field the console points to |
| A refusal for an empty invoice | There is no line, or the total is not above zero | Add a line with an amount. Nothing is numbered or counted |
| A message that the workspace has used its sends for this month | Your plan’s monthly sending limit is reached | Drafts still save, estimates and payments still work, and sent invoices stay payable. New invoice sends resume next month, or sooner on a plan with more sends |

The limit only stops new invoice sends. See [Your trial and the free plan](https://support.billingmart.com/getting-started/trial-and-free-plan.md).

## On your phone

The iPhone and Android apps have the same sample invoice. Open **Get started** and choose the first-invoice task. The words are the same.