What is a deduction?
A deduction is an amount a customer takes directly off an invoice rather than filing a separate claim. Here's why deductions erode margin and how ClaimDS gives them a dedicated inbox.
A deduction is an amount a customer takes directly off an invoice — a debit note applied at payment time — instead of filing a separate claim. The money is gone before you've agreed to it, which is what makes deductions one of the quietest sources of margin leakage in a distributor business.
What it means
When a customer short-pays an invoice and cites a reason — an agreed rebate, a shortage, damaged goods — that's a deduction. Because it arrives as less cash rather than as a request, it's easy to write off by default simply because chasing each one is tedious. Over a year, those write-offs add up.
How it differs from a claim
A claim is a demand you raise or receive and process through approval. A deduction has already happened. ClaimDS treats deductions as first-class items with their own inbox, grouped by the customer who raised them, so each is reviewed deliberately instead of absorbed into the invoice.
How ClaimDS handles it
In the deductions inbox you open each deduction, match it to its reason, and either accept it (it flows into reconciliation) or dispute it (the dispute is tracked on the record). Nothing is closed until it's been accounted for — which is how you stop unexamined deductions from becoming silent losses.
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