A customer khata is a running record of what a customer owes and how that balance changes. For a shop that sells on credit, it should tie the opening balance, new credit sales, repayments and adjustments into one history that any staff member can explain.
Starbooks POS has customer khata and loyalty built in, alongside billing and inventory. It is in early access with a three-month free trial, and our team sets it up with you. Use the workflow below to prepare your records and to test the credit-sales situations your shop deals with every day.
Separate a credit sale from a collection
A credit sale creates an amount due. A later repayment reduces it. If a repayment is recorded as another sale, your sales figure is overstated and the original debt still looks unpaid.
Here is a worked example. A customer starts with an opening balance of ₹1,200, buys ₹800 on credit and later pays ₹1,000. Their outstanding balance is now ₹1,000. If they then return goods worth ₹200 and you credit their account, the balance becomes ₹800.
| Entry | Change in amount due | Running balance |
|---|---|---|
| Opening amount due | ₹1,200 | ₹1,200 |
| New credit purchase | + ₹800 | ₹2,000 |
| Customer repayment | − ₹1,000 | ₹1,000 |
| Return credited to account | − ₹200 | ₹800 |
During your trial, enter these same four steps in Starbooks and check that the customer's khata shows ₹800 at the end, with each movement listed.
Check opening balances before moving the khata
Check each existing customer balance against your notebook, spreadsheet or old software. Note the date of the balance and where it came from. Resolve doubtful entries before entering an opening amount, not after.
Give each customer a stable identifier, such as a mobile number. Similar names are not enough to merge two accounts. Collect only the contact details you actually need, and decide which staff can view customer records.
Be careful not to bring in both an opening balance and the original unpaid bill, which counts the same debt twice. Tell us how your khata is kept today and we will help you choose the cleanest way to bring it into Starbooks.
Agree how staff handle partial payments
Customers often pay part of an old balance while buying something new. Make the sequence clear for staff: select the customer, bill the new purchase with its payment, then record the payment against the existing balance.
Practise this during setup with both cash and UPI examples, and check the remaining balance after each step. Your closing reports need to show these collections separately from the day's sales.
Our multi-counter day-close checklist explains why collections on old dues must be kept apart from today's sales when you count the drawer.
Make returns and corrections traceable
A return can change both the customer's balance and your stock. Decide whether the customer gets cash back, credit on their account or an exchange. Also decide whether the returned item goes back into sellable stock or is set aside as damaged or expired.
Decide who in the shop can cancel a bill or adjust a balance, and walk through a correction during setup so everyone knows what remains visible in the history afterwards.
Keep a written reason for every manual adjustment. A balance that changes without explanation leads to avoidable arguments with customers.
Review outstanding amounts regularly
Set a routine, weekly for example, to review unpaid balances. Make one person responsible for disputed entries, unmatched payments and accounts that need follow-up. Use the khata and reports in Starbooks to see who owes what, and tell us if you need a particular statement format.
Before you share a balance with a customer, double-check the amount and that you are contacting the right person.
If you bill on more than one device, remember how offline-first sync works. Each device keeps billing without internet and syncs when it reconnects. If a credit sale happens on one disconnected device and a repayment on another, the khata on each device shows the full picture only after both have synced. Settle the account once both devices are back online.
Try it with a small khata rehearsal
Make a few test customers covering an opening balance, a new credit sale, a partial payment, a return and a correction. Run through them in Starbooks with our team, then compare the final balances with your own calculation.
Request early access on the Starbooks POS page. If you are also moving inventory out of a spreadsheet, follow the Excel-to-POS migration checklist so customer balances and opening stock use the same cutover date.
Frequently asked questions
Is collecting an old balance part of today's sales?
No. It is a collection against an existing amount due, not a new sale. Keep the two separate when you review the day's performance.
Can two customers with the same name share a khata?
They should have separate records unless they have deliberately agreed to share one account. Names alone are not reliable identifiers; use a mobile number or another unique detail.
Does Starbooks send automatic payment reminders?
Ask our team about reminders when you request access, and tell us how you follow up on dues today. We will show you what is available in the current early-access release.