How to Write an Invoice for a Coin Sale

An invoice for a coin sale lists who sold, who bought, each coin with enough detail to identify it (date, mint, denomination, grade, grading service, and cert number), the quantity and price of each line, the discount, shipping, and tax, the total, the due date, and how to pay. Give every invoice its own number and keep a copy. When the buyer pays in parts or returns a coin, record that on the same invoice so it always shows what is still owed.

A good invoice does three jobs. It tells the buyer what to pay and how. It proves which coins changed hands at what price. And it gives you a clean record for your books, your taxes, and any later question about the sale. The steps below cover each part and end with a worked example.

What goes on a coin sale invoice

Field	Why it matters
Invoice number	So both sides can refer to the sale. Never reuse a number.
Invoice date	The date of the sale, for your books.
Your business name, address, phone, email	Who the buyer pays, and who stands behind the coins.
Buyer name, email, phone	Who owes the money.
Ship-to address	Where the coins go, if they ship.
Each coin, one per line	See the next section.
Quantity and price each	So the buyer can check the math.
Subtotal, discount, shipping, tax, total	The amount due, built up step by step.
Due date	When payment is late.
How to pay	Your wire, check, or card instructions.
Return terms	How long the buyer has, and in what condition coins must come back.

How to describe each coin

The description is where coin invoices go wrong most often. "Morgan dollar, $425" does not prove which Morgan dollar you sold. Write enough that a stranger could pick the coin out of a box:

• Date and mint mark. 1881-S, not 1881.
• Denomination and type. Morgan dollar, $20 Saint-Gaudens, Mercury dime.
• Grade and grading service. PCGS MS65, NGC AU58. For a raw coin, write "raw" and your grade, and say it is your opinion.
• Cert number. For every certified coin. It ties the line to one holder.
• Your SKU. So you can find the coin in your own records.
• Variety or designation, when it changes the price: VAM number, CAC sticker, full bands, deep cameo.

For bullion, write the product, the weight, the purity, and the quantity: "2025 American Silver Eagle, 1 oz .999 silver, qty 20." If the price was set from spot, note the time you locked the price. A buyer who wires money a day later sometimes expects today's spot. The note on the invoice settles that.

Discounts, shipping, and tax

Put each one on its own line below the subtotal. Do not fold them into the coin prices.

• Discount. Show it as a separate amount. If you lower one coin's price instead, write the lower price on that line, so your profit on that coin is right.
• Shipping. What you charge the buyer, which may differ from what the label cost you.
• Tax. Sales tax on coins and bullion depends on the state, the item, and in some states the size of the sale. Some states exempt coins or bullion entirely, others in part, and the rules change. Whether shipping is taxable also differs by state. This is a question for your state's department of revenue or your accountant, not a guess. Find out once, write it down, and apply it the same way every time.

Payment terms

Pick terms and put them on every invoice:

• Due on receipt. Common for retail buyers and for bullion, where the price moves.
• Net 7, Net 15, or Net 30. Common between dealers who know each other.
• Deposit and balance. For a large coin a buyer is paying off.

Say how to pay: your wire details, who to make the check out to, and whether you take cards. Say when coins ship. Many dealers ship only after a check clears or a wire arrives, and saying so up front avoids an awkward call.

Large cash payments can carry federal reporting duties. The IRS page on Form 8300 explains them. Ask your accountant how they apply to your business.

Worked example

Linda Price buys four lines from you by phone and asks you to ship them:

Coin	Qty	Price each	Line total
1881-S Morgan dollar, PCGS MS65, cert 41234567	2	$425.00	$850.00
1924 $20 Saint-Gaudens, NGC MS63, cert 6012345-004	1	$2,450.00	$2,450.00
2025 American Silver Eagle, 1 oz .999 silver	20	$38.50	$770.00
Subtotal			$4,070.00

She is a repeat buyer, so you take $70 off. You charge $35 for insured shipping. In this example, assume your accountant has told you this sale is exempt from sales tax in your state.

	Amount
Subtotal	$4,070.00
Discount	−$70.00
Shipping	$35.00
Tax	$0.00
Total	$4,035.00

If the same goods were taxable at, say, 7% after the discount, the tax line would be $4,000 × 7% = $280.00 and the total $4,315.00. Use your state's actual rule and rate.

A deposit and a balance

Linda wires $1,000 the same day. You record it as a payment on the invoice:

• Total: $4,035.00
• Paid: $1,000.00
• Balance due: $3,035.00

A week later her check for $3,035.00 clears. Paid is now $4,035.00, the balance is $0.00, and you ship. One invoice, two payments. You never had to write a second invoice for the balance.

A return

Three days after delivery, Linda sends back one of the Morgan dollars. Your terms allow returns within 14 days in the original holder. You:

1. Check the coin against the invoice: same date, same grade, same cert number, holder not cracked.
2. Record the return on the original invoice for one Morgan at $425.00.
3. Refund $425.00. She paid by check, so you send the money back yourself.
4. Put the coin back in stock.

The invoice now shows a returns line of −$425.00 and a new total of $4,035.00 − $425.00 = $3,610.00. You took in $4,035.00 and refunded $425.00, so you kept $3,610.00, and nothing is owed either way. The original lines stay on the invoice, so anyone who reads it later sees what was sold and what came back.

Common mistakes

• Vague descriptions. Without the cert number, a return or a dispute turns into your word against theirs.
• One lump price for a group. Price each coin, or your profit per coin is a guess. If you sell a group at one price, split the price across the coins on the invoice.
• A new invoice for every payment. Record payments against one invoice. Two invoices for one sale double your sales figures.
• Deleting an invoice to undo a sale. Void it instead, or record a return, so the number stays in sequence and the record stays.
• Shipping before payment clears, without meaning to. Write your shipping policy on the invoice and follow it.
• No return terms. If the invoice says nothing, the buyer will assume whatever suits them.

How CoinManagerPro makes invoices

In CoinManagerPro invoices, you click "New invoice" on Invoices, pick a saved customer or type a name and choose "New customer", and add lines. Each line is a coin from your inventory or a "Description" for anything else, with a quantity and a price. You can set the "Due date", the "Source", a "Message on the invoice" for the buyer, and "Internal notes" for your team. To sell a single coin, click "Sell" on the coin page instead. Coins on the invoice come out of stock when you create it, and you cannot sell more of a coin than you have.

A line for a coin from inventory prints the grading service and grade, the SKU, and the cert number under the description. To add a discount, shipping, or tax, click "Edit" and fill in the "Discount", "Shipping", and "Tax" amounts under "Adjustments". You enter the tax amount yourself. CoinManagerPro does not work out sales tax for you.

A new invoice starts as "Draft". "Email invoice" sends it with a link to pay, or you can download a "PDF" or "Print" it. "Record payment" takes a full or partial payment by cash, check, wire transfer, ACH, Zelle, and other methods, and can email a receipt. The status moves from "Sent" to "Partly paid" to "Paid", and an invoice with a balance after its due date shows as "Overdue". In the "Returns" section, "Return items" credits a line, refunds a payment, and can put the coins back in stock. "Void" cancels an unpaid sale and puts every coin back.

Your logo, address, payment instructions, footer, and legal terms such as your return policy come from the invoice template. The steps are in Sell coins and create an invoice, Send an invoice and record payments, and Record a return and refund. To let buyers pay by card from the invoice, see online payments.

The short version

Number every invoice. Describe each coin down to the cert number. Show the discount, shipping, and tax as separate lines, and get the tax rule for your state from the revenue department or your accountant. Put the due date, how to pay, and your return terms on every invoice. Record deposits, payments, and returns on the original invoice, and void instead of deleting.