Collect a Deposit on a Quote

Ask for a deposit on a quote so the customer pays it in the portal when they accept. Set a percentage or a fixed amount on each option. Rotor creates a deposit invoice, takes payment, and credits that money to the first job when you convert.

Stripe must be connected. Without Stripe, the Deposit control is hidden.

Set a deposit on an option

Deposits live in Plan & billing on each option (not as a single quote-wide toggle outside the option).

1. Open or create a quote in the new quote builder (Beta) (Service → Quotes, or from a customer/lead)

2. Open the option you want (A–D if you use Option Quoting; one-option quotes still have Plan & billing)

3. Under Plan & billing, open Deposit

4. Choose:

   • No deposit — customer can accept without paying

   • Percentage % — defaults to 20% of the first job total (items for job 1, minus discounts, with tax handled as on the option)

   • Amount $ — defaults to $50; capped at the first job total

5. Check Totals: when a deposit is set, you should see Deposit to accept

6. Save draft or send the quote as usual

Adding another option copies the current option’s deposit setting (along with frequency, billing, tax, and plan template), not its line items.

What the customer does

1. They open the quote link and pick an option (and keep or drop optional items)

2. Totals show Deposit due today when that option asks for a deposit

3. With a deposit, accept opens Pay deposit (button may read Make deposit or Approve and Make Deposit)

4. They pay by card, bank, or other methods Stripe offers (Apple Pay / Google Pay / Klarna where available). Save payment details for future payments is on by default

5. After a successful card/wallet payment, the quote becomes Accepted. A bank debit can show Deposit processing until it clears — acceptance waits for that clear

Optional items change the deposit live: unticking an add-on recalculates totals and the deposit before they pay. The server recalculates again on accept from the option and items they kept.

What Rotor creates when they pay

Example (tax added on top on the job): a $86.60 deposit at 8.25% can show an $80.00 deposit line plus $6.60 tax on the deposit invoice.

If auto-advance to agreement is on, Rotor may also create the inactive service plan and unsigned agreement after accept — see your Option Quoting / Quotes flow. Otherwise the quote stays Accepted until your team converts it.

After you convert — deposit hits job 1

When job 1 is created from the accepted option, the paid deposit is linked to that job and lowers job 1’s balance. Job 1’s invoice (or a cycle bill that includes job 1) shows a Deposit D-… credit before tax, never more than is owed. The credit is used once.

Example: first job $432.98 with an $86.60 deposit → job 1’s invoice can take $80.00 off before tax so the remaining invoice total is $346.38.

When to still use an invoice deposit

Quote deposits cover pay-to-accept on the quote. Keep using Deposits on Invoices when you need money up front without requiring it at accept, on work that did not come from a deposited quote, or for an extra partial collect after the quote deposit already landed.

Typical invoice-deposit cases:

• Collecting a deposit on a job/invoice you already created by hand

• Asking for more money later without re-quoting

• Companies or quotes that are not on the new quote builder / without Stripe (deposit control hidden)

Limitations

• Stripe required. No Stripe → no Deposit control on the option

• Per option. Each option can have its own deposit; the customer pays the deposit for the option they accept

• Percentage = share of first job total, not of the full multi-visit plan value

• Fixed amount is capped at the first job total

• Below card minimum — portal may block with a contact-the-company message; raise the deposit or collect another way

• New quote builder (Beta). Deposits are part of the new quote builder (the same builder as Option Quoting). The older Create Quote pop-up has no deposit option

Tips

• Preview as the client before you send so you see Deposit due today and the accept/pay button

• For Christmas lights / pressure washing style jobs, a 50% deposit on the option is the common ask — set Percentage % rather than hand-editing an invoice

• If a bank payment is still processing, wait for clear before treating the quote as lost or re-sending a conflicting ask

• A failed or abandoned deposit can be retried; a paid or still-processing deposit blocks another accept on that quote. Refunding a deposit does not undo acceptance

Congratulations! You can now collect a deposit when a customer accepts a quote in Rotor.

Have additional questions? Our team is ready to help you succeed. Contact us through the chat or drop us an email at support@getrotor.com.

Related articles

• Quotes: Web — build and send the quote first

• Option Quoting — Plan & billing is where each option's deposit is set

• Deposits on Invoices — invoice deposit when you are not using quote deposits

• Financials: Invoices, Payments, and Payouts — find the D- series deposit invoice in Financials