Sales order created

Order entered manually, via EDI 850 (the electronic purchase order retailers send), B2B portal, or DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) channel. Customer credit limit and outstanding AR are checked instantly.

Credit approval — four options

Every order goes through one of four credit paths depending on the customer's credit history and your relationship with them:

• Factor credit approval — order is transmitted to your factor (Hilldun, CIT, Rosenthal, White Oak, Wells Fargo, etc.) for a credit decision. Approval, decline, or partial cover returns to AIMS360 automatically. Best for selling to large department stores and big-box retailers.
• Credit card deposit — customer pays a deposit (often 25–50%) via AIMS360 Pay before the order ships. Ideal for new accounts or unrated buyers where you want skin in the game upfront.
• Card on file — a saved card is authorized at order entry and captured on shipment. No factor, no manual invoice chase — the order is self-secured from the moment it's placed. Common for boutique buyers and repeat wholesale accounts.
• Net terms (open credit) — you extend credit directly to the customer based on your own credit review. AIMS360 supports every standard apparel net-term structure:
  • Net 15 / Net 30 / Net 45 / Net 60 / Net 90 / Net 120 — payment due 15 to 120 days after the invoice date
  • 2/10 Net 30 (and variations 1/10, 3/10, 2/15) — early-payment discount: 2% off if paid within 10 days, otherwise full balance due in 30 days
  • Net 30 EOM (End of Month) — payment due 30 days after the end of the month the invoice was issued; common with department stores
  • Net 60 EOM, Net 90 EOM — same EOM logic at longer windows
  • 10th Prox / 25th Prox — payment due on the 10th or 25th of the month following the invoice date (proximo)
  • MFI (Month Following Invoice) — payment due on a specific day of the month after the invoice month
  • COD (Cash on Delivery) and CIA (Cash in Advance) — for highest-risk accounts
  • Custom seasonal terms — dated billing common in apparel (e.g., "ship March, due August") to align retailer cash flow with sell-through

Goods ship — invoice generated

On pick-pack-ship completion, AIMS360 creates the customer invoice, calculates terms, and posts AR.

Invoice transmitted & assigned to factor

EDI 810 (electronic invoice) flows to the retailer; assignment notice flows to the factor. No double entry, no manual emails.

AR ages in real time

Aging buckets update on the dashboard with every transaction, alongside DSO (Days Sales Outstanding — average days to collect after a sale), AR turnover (how many times AR is collected per year), and ADD (Average Days Delinquent — how late payments arrive on average).

Collections work the exceptions

Past-due invoices surface with reason codes and contact history. Dunning notices, customer statements, and credit holds trigger from the same screen.

Cash applied automatically

Factor advances, retailer ACH, AIMS360 Pay credit card, and check payments post against the correct invoices — partial payments, prepayments, and short-pays handled.

Chargebacks & deductions

Markdown allowances, RTVs (Return To Vendor — when a retailer ships unsold goods back at your cost), EDI fines (penalties retailers charge when EDI documents are late, malformed, or non-compliant with their routing guide), and other deductions track against the original invoice with reason codes and a dispute workflow back to the retailer or factor. Disputed deductions stay flagged on the AR aging report so collections can recover legitimate claims.

Returns, RMA & refunds

Customer returns close the AR loop. AIMS360 manages the full return cycle natively:

• RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) — every return starts with an RMA number issued from AIMS360 with reason code, expected quantity, and authorized return window. The buyer can't ship product back without one, which prevents surprise returns from clogging your warehouse.
• Receive & inspect — when the goods arrive at your DC (Distribution Center), warehouse staff scan the RMA, confirm quantities and condition, and route units to resellable inventory, defective bins, or destroy. Inventory is restored automatically.
• Credit memo issued — AIMS360 generates a credit memo against the original invoice, which appears on the customer's account, ages backwards in AR, and offsets future invoices or releases as a refund.
• Refund — refunds can be processed back to the original credit card (via AIMS360 Pay reversal), via ACH (Automated Clearing House bank transfer), as a check, or applied as a credit on the customer's open balance. Factor-assigned invoices route the credit through the factor for offset against future advances.
• Restocking fees & partial returns — fully supported with line-level credits, so a 50-unit return out of a 200-unit invoice posts only the partial credit and keeps the rest of the AR open.

Returns, refunds, and credit memos all sync to QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, or Xero automatically — same audit trail as invoices and payments.