8. Dispatch routes

An invoice can reach its recipient three ways. All three appear in the invoice's History, so what went out when is always traceable.

1. E-mail

Included in every plan, at no extra cost.

On the invoice page: Send by e-mail. You can override the recipient address and add a personal message.

The archived files are attached — the PDF and, where they exist, the XRechnung and the ZUGFeRD. So the customer receives exactly the document that was issued, not a freshly generated one.

The link to the payment page is inserted automatically.

Important

Before the first dispatch the invoice must have been issued once, so an archived PDF exists. Without it the platform says: "No archived PDF yet — issue the invoice once."

2. Letter

A chargeable extra, not active by default. We enable it for your company on request.

Some recipients want paper — authorities, older business partners, or where delivery has to be evidenced. The platform hands your invoice to a print service, which prints it, puts it in an envelope and delivers it through Deutsche Post. You need neither a printer nor a stamp.

How it runs:

1. On the invoice page, Send by letter.
2. The platform puts a DIN 5008 compliant cover page in front of the invoice, with the recipient's address exactly where the standard requires it.
3. The letter is submitted and the History shows Letter submitted.
4. Within minutes the service reports the change to sent, later delivered — or undeliverable if the address is wrong.

Requirements: the customer needs a complete address with name, street, post code and city. If something is missing the platform refuses the dispatch with a message, rather than paying for an envelope that cannot arrive.

The cost per letter depends on the number of pages and the delivery class; a standard domestic letter is around €1.14.

3. PEPPOL

A chargeable extra, not active by default. We enable it for your company on request.

PEPPOL is the European network for electronic business documents. Instead of mailing a file, you hand it to an access point, which delivers it across the network directly into the recipient's software — with a delivery confirmation. Public authorities and large corporations increasingly require this route.

How it runs:

1. First produce the XRechnung for the invoice (see E-invoicing). Only a valid XRechnung can be sent.
2. On the invoice page, Send via PEPPOL.
3. The History shows PEPPOL submitted, then the network's status messages: sent, delivered, accepted — or rejected with a reason.

Requirements:

• Your VAT identification number must be in the company profile. The access network only sends invoices whose sender it recognises as a registered identity; on the first dispatch the platform sets that identity up for your company automatically.
• The recipient's VAT identification number must be present and formally valid — it is checked with a checksum.
• For authorities, the Leitweg-ID additionally belongs in the Buyer reference field.

Note

Each invoice is sent over PEPPOL once. A second attempt is refused with a note that the invoice has already been submitted — an invoice number may appear only once in the network. The current state is always in the History: the platform polls the access point for it on its own — nothing to set up, nothing to reload.

Which route when?