Duplicate Invoice Books

About duplicate invoice books

A duplicate invoice book is a 2 part carbonless (NCR) book: every invoice is a set of two sheets, the original you hand to the customer and one copy that stays bound in the book as your record. Ours hold 100 sets per book, 200 sheets in total, which is twice the number in many off the shelf duplicate books, and are printed in black ink with your own logo, business details and invoice layout. Each book is bound with a manilla cover, a cardboard back, a wrap-around writing shield and black spine tape, every sheet is perforated, and you choose from A6, DL, A5 and A4.

Need two copies of every invoice rather than one? See our triplicate invoice books. The personalised invoice books page covers both formats together.

How NCR copies work

NCR is short for No Carbon Required. The paper makes its own copy: the top sheet has a coating of dye capsules on its back, the next sheet a reactive coating on its front, and the pressure of a ballpoint pen brings the two together so a copy of your writing forms on the lower sheet. A triplicate set repeats the pairing for a third sheet. Every set in this book is printed with your layout, so the copy is not a blank sheet with handwriting on it but a complete invoice that matches the customer's.

Writing an invoice

1. Fold the wrap-around writing shield behind the set you are using so your pen pressure does not reach the sets below.
2. Write on the top sheet with a ballpoint pen, pressing firmly and evenly. The copy forms underneath as you write; in a triplicate set the third sheet needs the firm pressure most.
3. Tear the top sheet off along the perforation and give it to the customer. The copies stay bound in the book as your record, or tear one out for the accounts and leave the other.

Because every sheet is perforated, you can also lift a copy out later for your accountant or bookkeeper and leave the rest of the book intact, or keep the whole book as a bound record of the year and file it when it is full.

Duplicate or triplicate?

This product is the duplicate book. If you need the second copy, the triplicate invoice books are the same book with 50 three part sets, at the same price per book.

Full specification

The options you choose

Everything you can select is in the order panel above; the price updates as you change it.

• Size: A6 (105mm x 148mm), DL (99mm x 210mm), A5 (148mm x 210mm), A4 (210mm x 297mm). The size guide below explains the difference.
• Book type: duplicate, 100 sets and 200 sheets per book. Triplicate is a separate product.
• Quantity: 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 50 or 100 books. The price per book falls at each step.
• Sequential numbering: numbered from a start number you give us, or unnumbered. Included in the price.
• Perforation: top or left, which also sets the binding edge.
• Design: our free design service, from scratch or copying your existing invoice, or your own print ready file.

This book is printed in black ink. For full colour printing, see our personalised receipt books.

Who uses duplicate invoice books

Duplicate is the everyday format. If only one person or one file needs a copy of each invoice, it holds twice as many invoices as a triplicate book for the same price.

• Sole traders and small service businesses: one copy for the customer and one for the accounts is all that is needed, so a duplicate book gives the most invoices per book.
• Mobile trades: plumbers, electricians, gardeners and cleaners who invoice on site and keep one bound record for the bookkeeper.
• Shops, stalls and salons: a receipt or cash sale slip for the customer and a numbered copy for the till reconciliation.
• Drivers and couriers: a signed copy for the customer at the door and one kept as proof of delivery.
• Landlords and clubs: rent, subscription and donation receipts where one copy must be retained.
• Cafes, takeaways and market stalls: a numbered sales book by the till for the customers who want a receipt, with the copy added to the day's takings.

Personalisation

Every sheet of every set is printed in black with your layout. A typical invoice carries:

• Logo, trading name and strapline
• Address, telephone numbers, email and website
• VAT and company registration numbers, if registered
• The title (Invoice or another) and the sequential number
• Invoice details: date, number, customer, site address, reference, item lines with quantity and price, net, VAT and total
• Bank details and payment terms
• Terms, guarantee or signature line at the foot

Send us the list and we design it free, new or copied from your current book, or send finished artwork for us to proof. Because the ink is black, pale colours and tints are checked at proof.

Numbered or unnumbered

Choose numbering and each set is machine numbered in sequence, every sheet in the set carrying the same number, starting wherever you like: 0001, 0002, 0003 or 25001, 25002, 25003. The number normally sits beside the document title. It costs nothing extra and it gives you an unbroken audit trail: a gap in the sequence shows a lost or spoiled invoice, and any copy can be matched to its original. For VAT invoices HMRC expects a unique, sequential identifying number, which this provides. Tell us the number to continue from when you reorder. If you would rather write the numbers yourself, choose the unnumbered option.

Which size?

Duplicate books come in four sizes. All use the same NCR paper, cover, binding and numbering.

A6, 105mm x 148mm

A6 is 105mm wide by 148mm tall, the size of a postcard and a quarter of A4. Allowing 20mm for the binding edge there is roughly 85mm x 148mm (left bound) or 105mm x 128mm (top bound): room for your logo and contact line, a date and number, four to six short lines, a total and a signature. It is the easiest book to carry and the quickest to fill in; the trade off is that there is no room for an itemised invoice with a VAT breakdown and payment details.

DL, 99mm x 210mm

DL is 99mm wide by 210mm tall, a third of an A4 sheet folded and the size a DL envelope is made to hold. Allowing 20mm for the binding edge there is roughly 79mm x 210mm (left bound) or 99mm x 190mm (top bound): a header, a date and number, a single column of six to ten lines with a price column, a total and a signature. Top bound DL books open like a receipt pad and the slip tears off the top. The original fits a DL envelope flat and posts with the goods.

A5, 148mm x 210mm

A5 is 148mm wide by 210mm tall, exactly half of A4. Allowing 20mm for the binding edge there is roughly 128mm x 210mm (left bound) or 148mm x 190mm (top bound) to print on: a header with your logo and details, a customer and date block, six to ten item lines, a totals block and a footer with payment details. The original folds once to fit a DL envelope or slips into an A5 folder, and the book fits a jacket pocket, a tool bag or a glovebox. It is the size most mobile trades choose.

A4, 210mm x 297mm

A4 is 210mm wide by 297mm tall, the same as a standard sheet of office paper, so the original slips straight into the customer's A4 folder or lever arch file and the copy into yours. Allowing 20mm for the binding edge, there is roughly 190mm x 297mm (top bound) or 210mm x 277mm (left bound) to print on: a full item table of fifteen to twenty lines, a totals block, payment details and terms on one sheet. The trade-off is portability. An A4 book lives in the van, on a clipboard or in the office rather than in a pocket.

Whichever size you choose, keep 20mm clear along the binding edge for the glue and the tape, and keep the sheet portrait.

For the same sets in a tear off pad rather than a bound book, see NCR pads. For a full colour book, see personalised receipt books.

What the price covers

• Every book holding 100 duplicate sets
• Your layout in black on the original and every copy
• Binding: a manilla cover, a cardboard back, a wrap-around writing shield and black spine tape
• Perforated sheets throughout
• Numbering in sequence if selected
• Design service (from scratch or from your current book), proof and revisions at no cost
• Delivery to your UK address at no cost

There is nothing extra to buy. Size, format and quantity are the only things that move the price.

Free design, or your own artwork

Design is included with every order and you can use it two ways. From scratch: send your logo and the details the invoice must carry, and our designers lay out a clean invoice for the size you have ordered. Copy your existing design: send a photograph, scan or PDF of the book you use today and we reproduce it, changing only what you ask us to. Both routes end in an emailed proof and as many revisions as you need, free, before anything is printed.

To supply your own artwork, send a print ready PDF at 300dpi with 3mm bleed, sized to the finished book, with 20mm kept clear along the binding edge. AI, EPS, PSD, JPG, PNG and DOCX files are accepted too. Upload up to 50 MB on this page or email larger files to sales@personalisedinvoicebook.co.uk with your order number. Printing is black ink, so colour in the artwork becomes greyscale and pale tints can print faint; we flag this on the proof. A file that is not print ready is never printed as it is: we explain the problem, fix it without charge where we can, or ask for a replacement, and you approve a proof first.

The production process

1. Place the order. Options chosen, card payment taken, confirmation emailed.
2. Supply the content. A file uploaded at checkout, or a logo and details emailed with the order number.
3. Design and preflight. A new layout, a copy of your existing design, or a check of your artwork, ending in a proof.
4. Proof by email. Your chance to catch a wrong digit or a misspelt street before it is printed on every sheet.
5. Sign off. Approve or request changes. Production time is counted from approval.
6. Production. Printed in black on carbonless paper, numbered and collated into sets, perforated, and bound with a manilla cover, a cardboard back, a wrap-around writing shield and black spine tape.
7. Inspection and dispatch. Checked against the proof and dispatched within 3 to 4 working days of sign off.
8. Delivery. Free anywhere in the UK, with progress on the order tracking page.

Turnaround and delivery

Allow 3 to 4 working days for printing and dispatch once you have approved the proof; the clock starts at approval. UK delivery is free on every order with no minimum, and that includes the Highlands, Northern Ireland and Jersey. You can follow the order on the tracking page with your order number and email address. Working to a date? Email us first and we will give you a straight answer on whether it can be done.

How the price is worked out

Quantity, size and format decide the price, nothing else. Larger sizes cost more than smaller ones. The price per book steps down at 10, 15, 20, 30, 50 and 100 books. Numbering, design, proofing and free delivery are all in the price, which is shown excluding VAT. See the order panel or the price table for the current figure at each quantity, and use the bespoke quotation form for quantities above 100 or anything non standard.

Duplicate Invoice Books in use

• A window cleaner writes an A6 duplicate receipt at each house, leaves the top copy and keeps the numbered stubs to check against the round sheet.
• An electrician itemises materials and labour on an A5 duplicate sheet, hands over the original with the certificate and photographs the copy for the accountant that evening.
• A garage uses A4 duplicate books for job cards that double as invoices: registration, mileage, work done and parts, copy filed by registration.
• A flower stall takes orders in a DL duplicate book, the customer keeps the slip and the stall keeps the copy for the delivery run.

Help and after sales

We print personalised NCR books for businesses across the UK, with free design, a proof on every order and free delivery. For help before or after ordering, email sales@personalisedinvoicebook.co.uk, answered within one working day, or call 01933 81 21 51 between 09:00 and 17:30, Monday to Friday. You can cancel free of charge until you approve the proof; after that the books are made for you and cannot be returned. Faults, damage, shortages or anything different from the approved proof are reprinted or refunded when reported within 14 days of delivery. See the Reviews tab for customer feedback on this product.