Ask HN: How can I issue a single monthly invoice for aggregate software sales?

[hiddentao]

I want to sell products X and Y to many customers each month. X requires a one-off single payment, Y requires a monthly subscription payment.

My accounting software's invoicing system is clunky and so I don't want to have to issue an invoice for every single customer myself. I want a payment processor / provider which will issue an invoice and/or sales receipt to customers, collect the money paid, and then allow me to issue them a single monthly invoice. Also, I am based in the EU and so EU VAT rules apply.

I am thinking that a setup like ChargeBee + Stripe might work for this, though my accountant says that since Stripe is just a payment processor I still have to issue an invoice myself for every sale :/

How have others solved this issue?

[brudgers]

Just a thought: collecting money is the most important thing a business does. If the accounting software is standing in the way, it is worth considering replacing it with something that does not stand in the way as an alternative to outsourcing billing and collections.

In particular because outsourcing accounting is a very very common business practice and their are well established standards for the people who perform the service. And anyway, outsourcing billing and collections is outsourcing accounting.

Good luck.