Custom Framing Shop Invoicing and Deposit App (2026)
Custom framing is cut-to-order work: once the moulding is mitred to someone's photograph, it has exactly one buyer. ShowTheReceipts ($15/mo) takes a 50% deposit at the order, saves moulding, mat, and glazing as priced lines, and bills the balance at pickup — with storage terms printed from day one for the pieces that sit.
How we picked
Entry-plan prices as published in 2026, taken from each vendor's own pricing page or a recent third-party summary. Judged on the small framer's money workflow — deposits on cut-to-order work, line-itemized moulding and glazing, and balance collection at pickup — not on moulding catalogs, design visualizers, or wholesale ordering integrations.
| Software | Starting price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| ShowTheReceipts That's us | $15/mo | Small framers: order deposits, itemized moulding and glazing lines, pickup balances, storage terms |
| Square | Free + 2.6% + 10¢ | Counter card payments and simple retail receipts |
| Invoice2go | $9.99/mo+ | Basic invoicing away from the counter |
| Wave | Free / $16/mo | Free invoicing with light bookkeeping |
| LifeSaver | $99/mo+ | Established frame shops wanting a full moulding catalog and POS |
Cut-to-order means the deposit isn’t optional
Once the moulding is mitred to fit a customer’s print, it’s worth exactly nothing to anyone else. That single fact sets the whole billing shape: money at the order, balance at pickup, terms in writing.
1. ShowTheReceipts — $15/mo
50% deposit at the order, moulding, mats, and glazing as saved priced lines, balance invoiced at pickup, storage terms printed on the receipt.
2. Square — free + processing
Strong at the counter, thin on order deposits and balances.
3. Invoice2go — $9.99/mo+
Simple invoicing without an order workflow.
4. Wave — Free / $16/mo
Free invoices plus light bookkeeping.
5. LifeSaver — $99/mo+
Full frame-shop POS with a moulding catalog, priced for an established shop.
Itemize and the price stops being scary
- Moulding — per foot, by profile
- Mat — single, double, or specialty cut
- Glazing — regular, UV-filtering, or museum
- Mounting — dry, conservation, or float
- Fitting and hardware
- Rush — its own line, its own rate
One number reads as expensive. Six lines read as craftsmanship.
Write the abandonment terms on the order
A sign behind the counter isn’t an agreement. A storage fee and an abandonment date on the order receipt is — and it’s about the only version that gets a two-year-old package out of your back room without a difficult phone call.
Frequently asked questions
How much deposit should a framer take?
50% at the order, and say it's non-refundable once cutting starts. A mitred frame around someone's wedding photo has no second customer, so the deposit is the only thing that makes a cancelled order survivable.
Should I itemize moulding, mat, and glass?
Yes. Framing looks expensive as one number and completely reasonable as five — conservation glazing, a double mat, and hand-joined moulding are things people are happy to pay for once they can see them separately.
What do I do about pieces nobody picks up?
Print a storage fee and an abandonment date on the order receipt, not just on a sign behind the counter. Framers accumulate uncollected work for years; terms agreed at the order are what make that a policy instead of a cupboard.
Do I need frame-shop software or is invoicing enough?
If your moulding pricing already lives in a spreadsheet you trust, what's missing is the money side — deposits, balances, and storage terms. A dedicated catalog system is worth it when the catalog itself is the bottleneck, which for a small shop it usually isn't.