Installment plans
Sell a fridge, a motorcycle or a phone and let the customer pay monthly — with a schedule, a guarantor, and no arithmetic on your part.
An installment plan is for one expensive item paid off over months. Create it from the Bills screen — Add → New installment plan.
Setting one up
| Field | |
|---|---|
| Customer | Who is buying |
| Item sold | Fridge, Motorcycle, Phone… |
| Cash price (optional) | What it would cost paid outright |
| Total price | What they will pay in total |
| Down payment now (optional) | Anything paid on the day |
| Number of installments | How many months |
| Due day | Which day of the month |
If you fill in both a cash price and a higher total, Businessly shows the difference as Installment markup: {amount} — plainly, so both of you can see it.
What happens to their balance
The full price goes onto the customer's khata straight away. Their balance is correct from day one, and each installment paid brings it down.
Taking a payment
The plan shows {paid} of {count} paid, {amount} left and Next: {date}.
When the customer pays, tap Mark paid on that installment (the Bills list has the same button). Businessly first asks Mark paid? (ada shuda?) and shows who, what, which installment and the amount; nothing is recorded until you tap Mark {amount} paid, which carries the figure itself. The confirmation toast then offers Undo, and the paid row keeps its own undo arrow if you notice the mistake later.
Each installment carries its own status: Paid, Due now, Overdue or Upcoming.
Guarantors
Many shopkeepers will not sell on installments without a zamin. Record one under Guarantor (optional) — Guarantor name and Guarantor phone.
Pick them From a customer, From phone contacts, or Type manually.
From phone contacts does not work on a PC. The other two work fine — pick from your customers or type the name and number.
Set Alert after (days) and, once payments fall behind by that many days, Businessly offers a one-tap polite WhatsApp follow-up to the guarantor.
Cancelling a plan
Tap the ⋮ beside the amount in the plan's row on the Bills screen and choose Cancel plan. Businessly asks first (Cancel this installment plan?); Keep plan changes nothing. Payments already recorded stay in your books — cancelling never rewrites what was genuinely paid. The same ⋮ has Mute reminders this month.
Where it appears
The plan lives on the Bills screen under Installment plans, and on the customer's own page under Plans & rentals — see The statement.