We have never sent out individual invoices with each search, and most of our clients prefer one bill per month.  However, we do break out the fees for each search we send back on the bottom of our form.  We include the search fee, copy charges, any other miscellaneous charges and a line for any explanation of necessary additional fees.  This takes up two lines on our search form - rather than enter a completely separate invoice in our bookkeeping software.

If we had to create a separate invoice for every search before we returned it to our client, it would unneccessarily delay the delivery of our orders to our customers.  Since our customers do not pay for one order at a time, separate invoices would terribly complicate the issue.  We would have to figure out which invoices were being paid with the checks and we would have to enter the payment in our software for each of them. So, even though we would only get one check, we would have to enter dozens of payments.  Each payment takes a separate line on our computer generated deposit slips, so one check may not even fit on a deposit ticket.  While a separate invoice may sound like a good idea to some - it is not practical (at least not if the abstractor is doing any kind of volume at all).

Our customers get the preliminary information they need to determine the cost of the job when they get the search back.  At the end of the month, they get a detailed invoice showing each job for the month and the corresponding charge, along with a statement that shows their payment history for the previous 12 months.  The payment is then due Net30. They seem to appreciate the way we do things and it is really easier for both of us.

Best,
Robert A. Franco
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