Venmo, Zelle, cash: keeping the books straight when customers pay you directly

Most small sellers already have a payment system, and it is not really a system. Some people Venmo you, a couple use Zelle, a few hand you cash at the table, and at the end of the week you are scrolling three apps trying to work out who still owes you for a dozen eggs.

BatchDrop does not sit in the middle of that money. Your customers keep paying you the way they already do. What it does is keep the record.

Mark it paid, and say how

Every unpaid order has a Mark as paid button with a choice of how the money arrived: cash, Venmo, Zelle, or other. Pick one when the payment lands and the order moves from pending to paid. That is the whole step.

It works the same for an order from a drop and for an order you added yourself — the regular who texts you for two loaves between drops, or a job you finished this morning. You can create those orders from the Orders page or from the customer's page, on every plan.

Nothing is taken from payments you collect yourself. The money goes from your customer to you; BatchDrop only records that it happened.

The receipt sends itself

Marking an order paid issues a receipt automatically, on every plan. Receipts are numbered per store — RCP-0001, RCP-0002, and so on — so if anyone asks, you can point to a number instead of a screenshot.

The receipt lists the lines, the total, and a note that you marked it paid, on what date, and by which method. Your customer does not need an account to see it: every receipt has its own link that opens without signing in. It is a web page and an email, not a PDF.

Email first, text otherwise

Where the receipt goes depends on what you have for that customer:

• An email address on file — it goes by email.
• No email — it goes by text: a short message with the receipt number and the link.

The one exception: a customer who has replied STOP to your texts will not get a receipt by text.

When a text can't be sent

Each receipt has a page in your dashboard that lists every attempt to deliver it: when, which channel, where to, and whether it was sent, failed, or blocked — with the reason. If it did not go out, you have two options:

1. Share the link yourself. Open the receipt's public link, copy it, and send it however you normally talk to that customer.
2. Fill the gap and resend. Add an email address to the customer, then use Send again and choose email or text.

Check before you mark

Receipts cannot be edited once they are issued. That is deliberate: a numbered record that changes after the fact is not much of a record. So the habit worth building is small — glance at the order lines before you press the button. An order you added yourself can be edited right up until it is paid.

What about cards?

Online card payments are in development. When they arrive they will carry a small per-transaction fee, published before you can switch them on. Until then, nothing changes about how your customers pay you. The only thing that changes is that you stop reconstructing the week from three different apps.