Couldn’t find answers to a couple questions I have. Checked the module pages and the wiki (https://www.dolibarr.org/#features).
What is the difference between an order and an invoice?
What is the difference between products ‘for sale’ and ‘for purchase’? A quick search online reveals that for sale is meant for like say consumers and for purchase is for B2B. Right?
I would be happy to add answers to the FAQs in the wiki about this. Also look forward to checking out how the app is coded for contributing. One thing that throws me off though is my forum password was sent in plain text to my email inbox!! (bad bad bad I think).
I find responses here to be few. Despite the high user base of Dolibarr, I think there are few technical users who will offer support. There is much more activity in the french forum.
You have to do your own research.
An order is a request from a purchaser. Not a legal document.
An invoice is a statement of the items sold and the monies received. It is a legal document on which your accounts are based.
Sale/purchase = same thing in my view, Where do you see this mentioned as though they are different things?
Thanks Torvista.
Yes, what I can gather from the admin area of dolibarr: the order cannot accept a manual input of payment. It appears the transaction can only be labeled as PAID if done via an electronic payment. The invoice makes a lot more sense now. Although I cant see why a business would need to use an order over invoice.
Thanks so much for your attention. I will continue doing my own research I guess into the french forum. The french I’ve always admired their artistic abilities.
Regarding the products for sale and for purchase, here’s a screenshot attached from the dolibarr app that demonstrates a distinction.
Pièces jointes :
Product to purchase means it is a product that you purchase from your suppliers.
Product to sell means it is a product that you sell to your customers.
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Hello, welcome to Dolibarr.
@torvista is correct:
Common examples of selling:
- Buy single item to sell as single item
- Buy a few parts to sell as one single item
Also, to give you a better understanding (hopefully), allow me to explain how my business (physical retail shop) uses Dolibarr:
- Customer/Supplier proposals are not confirmed and are useful mainly for the customer as a quotation
- Customer/Supplier order are confirmed orders but deal with stock (dispatching) and quantities
- Customer/Suppplier invoices are dealt with by the finance side of things. You can pay on invoices. Accountants/tax departments are only interested in invoices
The best thing about Dolibarr is that you CAN go through the system from proposal > invoice (all linked to each other) OR you can use each section to your own needs (e.g. only deal with invoices/payments or only orders/stock). It is flexible to most businesses.
My business doesn’t require proposals so I use the order/invoice parts for both customers and suppliers. Dolibarr v8 is also introducing supplier credit notes so that is also of great interest to me.
There are a growing number of modules which tweak the core Dolibarr functions but to be honest, in terms of general-business-use-case, I think all the main features have been well thought out over the course of active development.
Hope the above helps.
Thank you aljawaid. Maybe this app is too advanced for me because I’m a new small business owner and I dont understand the workflow in this app. I created an order and then had to click several buttons to make it from draft to validated to create shipment to validate shipment to classify as billed (whatever that means). I’m confused!!
It is advanced but definitely what a small business needs. What kind of business are you? From which country? Some of the steps can be skipped and besides the core settings, there are also hidden settings which might also help you https://wiki.dolibarr.org/index.php/Setup_Other
If it is not for you it is not for you, but I found it confusing too when I started using it but then saw the benefits as I used it.
