Buyer terms and payment policy register
Keep the approved order price, payment method and buyer decision together.
No signup. Enter reference codes, add records and download a CSV. Entries stay in the browser tab. Filled fields do not establish completion, approval or compliance.
| Purchase-order reference | Approved price reference | Proposed payment method | Buyer approval role | Approval evidence | Responsible staff role | Unresolved question |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PO-example | Quote-version-2 | Credit card price review | Purchasing-role | Office-role | Buyer policy excludes added fees |
- Starting rows are fictional. Use internal references, not personal or confidential records.
- Missing required fields stay visible. Filled fields do not prove approval, compatibility or legal compliance.
- Download the CSV to approved business storage. Reloading clears your browser edits.
Before a machine shop changes card pricing, resolve the buyer's purchase-order terms. A buyer might approve a quoted machining amount without approving an extra payment charge. Send the applicable payment choices and prices before the order is accepted. An invoice arriving after production is the wrong place to introduce a difference the purchaser never discussed.
Start with the quote and purchase order accepted by the Buyer. Verify the total price, payment method, payment terms and any additional charges terms and conditions. Identify the individual(s) who approve purchasing and the individual who pays the invoice. In many cases the individual that approves payment in accounts payable does not have approval to change terms of a purchase order already approved by another individual.
Use with this guide
commercial invoice role mapping
Use commercial invoice role mapping to identify the buyer contact handling the payment decision.
confidential purchase-order records
Review confidential purchase-order records only in your approved business systems, following the machining privacy checklist.
Machining card declines: resolve purchasing limits
Resolve a declined commercial card on a machining invoice without evading purchasing controls. Use the approval worksheet to track the buyer’s permitted next action.
Browse the complete machine shop guides and worksheets.
Start with the accepted commercial terms
The ‘Buyer Terms Register’ is a list of the buyer terms recorded against the customer record, including reference to the order, the pricing document, the authorized contact, payment method and any pending approval issues. Missing field results are highlighted to assist with identifying any documentary deficiencies. Complete fields do not create a binding contract nor prove authority. Internal references only are included in the public worksheet and the original customer documents are stored in the approved commercial record system.
Be sure to differentiate dual pricing, cash discounts and surcharges in the written offer. Approving cash and card prices for a purchaser is different from the addition of a surcharge to a credit-card payment. Staff members will have differing opinions on what they call these items. Ask the processor for the program name, supported channels and required disclosures for your business. Then research the commercial terms and the accepted card networks’ requirements for your location and business type. Use commercial invoice role mapping to identify the buyer contact handling the payment decision.
Sources for this section: Visa: merchant surcharge requirements
Verify payment-program requirements
Visa's merchant guidance describes notice to the acquirer before a surcharge program begins. Other network and state requirements also apply. A network permitting a surcharge does not rewrite a buyer's existing purchase order. Do not surcharge debit or prepaid transactions. Confirm commercial virtual-card and remote-payment treatment rather than assuming every purchasing payment arrives through the counter terminal.
For a fictional order, the purchaser accepted Quote-A and issued PO-A. The worksheet records card payment as the planned method but leaves the payment-price approval reference blank. The result identifies the missing evidence. The next action is to contact the authorized purchaser about the written terms, not to add a charge to the invoice and assume silence means acceptance.
Sources for this section: Visa: merchant surcharge requirements
Resolve buyer approval before invoicing
Ask about the buyer's alternative methods without guessing their cost. A purchaser might permit ACH, a check or another business payment service. Verify your provider charges and funding process for each. Personal payment-app transfers do not establish the price of business acceptance. Explain only methods your business supports and present the actual terms before the buyer chooses.
Repeat commercial customers need to be able to distinguish between the pricing terms for work currently in progress and those to be carried out after a given date. Give each pending order a unique internal identifier, give a unique identifier to each version of your commercial policy, and record the date and buyer-approved orders affected by each change to the pricing terms. Update your purchaser’s procurement portal ‘vendor record’ as necessary before issuing more work to that customer.
Keep the decision with the order
Your sales contact needs a specific question: does the purchaser approve the stated price for the intended payment method on this order? Retain the answer with its document and version reference. A general statement saying our company pays by card is not confirmation of a changed amount. If your quote and the purchase order conflict, resolve the mismatch before treating the order as commercially settled.
Check invoice software before rollout. Verify the agreed payment price, invoice total and purchase-order reference appear consistently in the buyer-facing document and payment workflow. Test a partial payment and a credit using a fictional order. Your accounts receivable team should see which balance is still due. This worksheet does not calculate taxes, rewrite purchase-order law or establish a universal contract template. Review confidential purchase-order records only in your approved business systems, following the machining privacy checklist.
Give staff one current price reference
BlueFinch reviews approved payment-pricing arrangements for machine shops. Bring your actual buyer process and existing payment channels to the review. BlueFinch does not promise that every purchasing department will accept a price change. The register prepares the commercial questions so the processor review and the buyer conversation refer to the same proposed setup.
Once the policy is agreed, give staff the approved documents and an escalation route for exceptions. Keep unresolved buyer rows open. Inspect the first invoice and payment with accounts receivable, then verify settlement against the agreed amount. A consistent record prevents a new payment policy from becoming an avoidable purchasing dispute after the parts have shipped.
Primary sources
BlueFinch last reviewed these sources on October 4, 2026. Payment rules and state requirements can change.
Use this page for general business information. It is not legal, tax, or accounting advice.
Related resources
- 2026 Credit Card Processing Cost Report
- Auto Repair Shop Payment Guide
- Auto Repair Shop Credit Card Processing Calculator
- Connect a machine-shop invoice to the correct buyer and purchase order
- Protect customer drawings when evaluating a machine-shop CRM
- Machine shop payment software: run an integration acceptance test