Why this screen exists next to the invoice list
A client portal with both an invoice list and a payments screen looks like duplication. It is not, and the distinction is worth being clear about because it determines which one you should open.
Invoices is document-level. It answers questions about a specific bill: what is on invoice 0148, when is it due, let me pay it, give me the receipt. Every action lives there.
My Payments is aggregate. It answers questions no single invoice can: how much have we spent with this agency in total, how exposed are we right now, what is the next thing that will need paying, and where is the money going across three suppliers. There is no invoice-level action here at all — the banners hand you back to the invoice list to actually do anything.
That is a reasonable split. Mixing a metrics dashboard with a transactional list produces a screen that is bad at both.
The four metrics, defined precisely
Four cards sit across the top. Here is exactly what each one counts, what its smaller subline adds, and where it can mislead.
| Metric | Definition | Subline shows | Read with care because |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Spent | The sum of the full invoice value of every invoice marked Paid. It counts invoice totals, not payment transactions, so a single invoice settled in three instalments contributes its total once. | How many paid invoices produced that figure. | It measures settled billing, not cash movement in a period. It is a lifetime figure across the whole relationship, not a year-to-date one. |
| Outstanding | The sum of remaining balances across every invoice not marked Paid. Each contributes its total minus whatever has already been paid against it, so part payments are correctly netted off. | How many invoices are unpaid. | This is a balance, not a count of bills. One large invoice and eight small ones can produce the same number, so read the subline too. |
| Next Due | The soonest upcoming due date among unpaid invoices, expressed in relative words rather than a raw date. | The invoice number that date belongs to. | When nothing is outstanding it reads None with All clear beneath it, which is the one metric on the screen you want to be empty. |
| Invoices Paid | A ratio of paid invoices to total invoices, shown as one number over the other, with the percentage cleared underneath. | The percentage of all invoices that are settled. | It is a count-based ratio, not value-weighted. Nine small invoices paid and one large one outstanding reads as ninety per cent cleared while most of the money is still owed. |
All four respect the agency filter, so a client with three connections can read the same four figures for one agency at a time or for everything at once. That is the feature that turns this from a nice-looking panel into something genuinely useful for a client managing multiple suppliers.
The two figures most often misread
Two of the four deserve a warning rather than a definition.
Total Spent counts invoices, not payments. It sums the total of each invoice marked Paid. So an invoice for a large sum, settled across a deposit and two instalments, contributes its total once, not three times. This is the right way to count — it stops staged billing inflating the figure — but it does mean the number is not a cash-flow statement. It is the value of work that has been billed and settled, for all time, not spend within a period.
Invoices Paid is not value-weighted. It is a count over a count. Nine invoices of modest size settled and one large invoice outstanding reads as ninety per cent cleared, while most of the money is still owed. Anyone using this screen to judge financial position should read Outstanding, which is a value, and treat Invoices Paid as a measure of how tidy the paperwork is.
Neither is a flaw. Both are the sensible calculation for what the metric is named. They are simply two numbers that a hurried reader will combine into a conclusion neither of them supports.
How Next Due is worded
Next Due does not show a date when a date would be less useful. It picks the earliest upcoming due date among unpaid invoices and words it according to how close it is.
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Nd overdue | The due date has passed. The number is how many days ago. |
| Due today | Today is the due date. |
| Due tomorrow | One day out. Called out separately because tomorrow reads more urgently than "due in 1d". |
| Due in Nd | Anything from two to seven days away. |
| A calendar date | More than a week out, where a relative phrase stops being informative. |
Under seven days the phrasing is relative; beyond that it reverts to a calendar date. That threshold is well chosen. “Due in 4d” is immediately actionable, whereas “due in 43d” forces the reader to do arithmetic to find out which month it lands in.
The subline names the invoice the date belongs to, which turns the metric from a warning into a lead. And when there is nothing outstanding, the card reads None with All clear beneath it — the only metric on this screen you actively want to be empty.
Recent Payments, and the ten-item ceiling
Below the metrics runs a timeline of settled payments, each showing the invoice number, a paid marker, and, where several agencies are involved, which agency it went to.
It is capped at ten, with an indication when more exist. That cap is a deliberate scoping decision rather than a limitation, and it is worth defending: the job of a recent-activity list is recognition. You look at it to confirm that what you believe you paid has actually registered. Ten entries does that. A hundred entries is an accounting record, and the invoice list already keeps every invoice permanently with its receipt attached.
On a new relationship the panel says there are no payments yet and that completed payments will appear there, which is more useful than an empty box.
Spending by Agency
Total spend is broken down per agency, each shown with its share of the whole and a coloured marker so the segments are distinguishable.
For a client with a single agency this section is arithmetic theatre. For a client with three, it is the most valuable thing on the screen, because it answers a question that normally requires exporting invoices from three separate portals into a spreadsheet: which supplier is actually consuming the budget.
It is also, from an agency’s point of view, a slightly exposing feature to offer. Which is precisely why offering it reads as confidence. An agency that is comfortable showing a client exactly what proportion of their spend it represents is an agency that expects to justify it.
Saved payment methods
A panel on this screen holds payment methods. It lists any cards saved, marks one of them as the default, and lets a card be removed.
One thing to understand before you rely on it: saving a card is a Stripe-only capability. Whether it is available to you depends on the agency having Stripe connected. Where an agency takes payment through Razorpay, invoices are still fully payable online, but each payment goes through checkout rather than drawing on a card held on file.
This is a gateway limitation rather than a portal one, and the screen is upfront about it rather than presenting a stored-card feature that silently does nothing for half of users. If holding a card on file matters to your clients, it is a reason to connect Stripe; the agency-side setup is covered in Payments.
Reading this screen against your own records
If you are comparing these figures to a finance system, three rules make the reconciliation work.
- Compare Total Spent to invoice values, not to bank movements. It counts settled invoices at face value, so it will not match a sum of transactions where instalments were used.
- Compare Outstanding to your aged payables balance. It nets off part payments, which is the same basis most payables reports use.
- Ignore Invoices Paid entirely for financial purposes. It is a count, and counts do not reconcile against money.
And if a figure still looks wrong, the resolution is on the invoice list, not here. Every number on this screen is derived from invoices, so a surprising total is almost always one invoice with an unexpected status or an unrecorded part payment — both of which are visible per invoice in Invoices, and both of which are agency-side to correct.
Frequently asked questions
What is the My Payments screen in the Arpixa client portal?
It is the aggregate view of a client’s billing position, sitting alongside the invoice list rather than replacing it. Four headline metrics summarise spend and exposure, two banners surface anything overdue or imminent, a timeline shows recent settled payments, and a breakdown shows spend split by agency. Invoices themselves are viewed and paid on the Invoices screen.
How is Total Spent calculated?
By adding up the full invoice total of every invoice marked Paid. It is invoice-based rather than transaction-based, so an invoice settled across several payments still contributes its total exactly once. It is a lifetime figure across all connected agencies, not a figure for the current year.
Does Outstanding account for part payments?
Yes. Each unpaid invoice contributes its total minus the amount already paid against it, so a large invoice with a deposit received shows only the remaining balance in the figure. That makes Outstanding a genuine measure of what is still owed rather than the face value of unsettled paperwork.
Why does Invoices Paid say a high percentage when I still owe a lot?
Because it counts invoices rather than weighting them by value. Nine small invoices settled and one large one outstanding produces a ninety per cent figure while most of the money is still owed. Outstanding is the metric to read for value; Invoices Paid is a measure of administrative tidiness.
What triggers the red and amber banners?
The red banner appears when any unpaid invoice is past its due date, and states how many there are and their combined outstanding value. The amber banner appears when unpaid invoices fall due within the next seven days, and states how many. Both link straight through to the invoice list.
Why does the payments timeline only show ten entries?
Because a timeline is for recognition, not accounting. Ten recent payments is enough to confirm that what you think you paid has landed, and the screen indicates when more exist. For the complete history, the invoice list keeps every invoice permanently with its receipt.
What is the Spending by Agency breakdown for?
It splits total spend across the agencies a client is connected to, with each one shown as a proportion. For a client with one agency it is redundant. For a client with three, it answers a question they cannot otherwise answer without a spreadsheet: where the budget is actually going.
Can a client save a card on file?
The screen has a panel for saved payment methods, which lists any cards held, marks one as the default, and allows removal. Saving a card is a Stripe-only capability, so it depends on the agency having Stripe connected. Where an agency uses Razorpay instead, invoices are still paid online through checkout each time rather than from a stored card.