DL Personalised Invoice Books

About DL personalised invoice books

A DL personalised invoice book is a bound book of 99mm x 210mm carbonless (NCR) forms, a third of an A4 sheet folded, printed in black ink with your own logo, business details and layout. DL is the width of a standard DL envelope and the height of A5, so the original posts without folding and the book itself is slim enough for a jacket pocket. It suits receipts, cash sale slips, delivery notes and short invoices with a single column of lines. Each book is bound with a manilla cover, a cardboard back, a wrap-around writing shield and black spine tape, comes in duplicate or triplicate, numbered or plain, and includes free design and free UK delivery.

What is carbonless (NCR) paper?

Carbonless paper, sold as NCR (No Carbon Required), does the job carbon paper used to do without the carbon. A dye held in tiny capsules on the underside of the top sheet meets a reactive coating on the sheet below when your pen presses down, and your handwriting is reproduced where you wrote it. In this book every invoice is a set: an original that leaves with the customer and one or two copies that carry the same print, the same number and the same handwriting.

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 and triplicate compared

The price per book is the same for both, so pick the format by copies rather than cost: duplicate for one record copy and twice the invoices per book, triplicate when a second copy has somewhere to go.

DL Personalised Invoice Books at a glance

Configuring your books

Six decisions, all made in the order panel, with the price updating live.

• Two part with 100 sets, or three part with 50 sets. The book costs the same either way.
• How many books: 5 up to 100, and the unit price falls at every step.
• Numbering: on, from any start number, or off; included.
• Perforation on the top or the left edge, which is also the binding edge.
• Design: leave it to us (free, new or copied from your existing invoice) or upload a finished file.

All printing on this product is black ink; choose personalised receipt books for colour.

Who uses DL personalised invoice books

DL is the format for a slip rather than a sheet: a numbered receipt, an order or a delivery note that is written quickly and often posted or handed over with the goods.

• Shops, florists and bakeries: a slim receipt or order slip by the till that fits a DL envelope with the goods.
• Delivery drivers and couriers: a narrow delivery note with a signature line, easy to hold on a clipboard at the door.
• Restaurants, cafes and takeaways: order and bill pads in the classic tall format.
• Taxis, coaches and tour operators: fare and booking receipts.
• Mobile trades: a pocket invoice book with a single column of lines for short jobs.
• Ticketed events and raffles: numbered stubs where each entry needs a matching copy.

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.

Sequential numbering

Sequential numbering prints a unique number on every set, and the same number on each sheet in the set, so the customer's original and your copy always agree. You choose the start number when you order: a run from 10001 gives 10001, 10002, 10003 and so on through every book in the order. Numbering is included in the price, you can tell us where on the sheet it should sit, and when you reorder you tell us the number to continue from. HMRC requires a VAT invoice to carry a unique identifying number, and a sequential run is the simplest way to provide one. If you number your invoices another way, choose the unnumbered option.

Why DL, and how it compares

DL is 99mm wide by 210mm tall. Allowing 20mm for the binding edge you have 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 an A5 folder with room to spare.

DL and A5 are the same height; A5 is half again as wide, so choose A5 invoice books when you need quantity, unit price and total columns side by side. Choose A6 invoice books for a shorter, squarer receipt.

Top or left binding on a DL book

Top bound is the usual choice for DL: the book works like a tall receipt pad, the slip tears off the top and the 99mm width carries a single column of lines with the heading across the top. Left bound DL books open like a chequebook and give a continuous 210mm edge for a signature and a stub style layout. Both cost the same. If the slip will be posted, keep the address block in the top third so it shows through a DL window envelope; our designers will set that for you, or copy the layout of the book you use now, and you see a proof first.

For DL sets in a tear off pad, see NCR pads. For a full colour receipt book, see personalised receipt books.

In the box

• Books of 100 duplicate sets or 50 triplicate sets, printed in black with your design on every sheet
• Finished with a manilla cover, a cardboard back, a wrap-around writing shield and black spine tape
• Perforation, top or left, on every sheet
• Sequential numbering where chosen, from your start number
• Free design, either new or copied from your existing book, with an emailed proof and free changes
• Free UK delivery

No add ons, no upsells: the price shown is for everything above, plus VAT.

Artwork, design and proofs

You can hand the design to us or supply it. Our free design service will build an invoice layout from scratch around your logo and details, or copy the design you already use from a photo, scan or PDF so the new book matches the old one. Your own artwork should be 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 also accepted, up to 50 MB through the page or by email to sales@personalisedinvoicebook.co.uk for anything larger. Artwork prints in black, so colours are converted to greyscale and pale tints may print faint; we point this out on the proof.

In both cases we email a proof, you ask for changes as often as needed at no cost, and printing starts only when you approve it. If a supplied file is not print ready we say so, put it right free of charge where we can, or ask for a new one.

How your order is produced

1. Order online. Choose your options and pay by card. An order confirmation arrives by email.
2. Send details or artwork. Upload a file at the order stage, or email your logo and text quoting the order number.
3. Artwork check and design. We check your file, or design the layout from scratch or from your existing design, and prepare a proof.
4. Proof. The proof is emailed to you. Check spelling, telephone numbers, bank details and the start number: what you approve is what we print.
5. Approval. Approve the proof, or ask for changes and receive a new one. Turnaround starts from approval.
6. Printing and finishing. The sets are printed in black on carbonless paper, numbered, collated, perforated and bound with a manilla cover, a cardboard back, a wrap-around writing shield and black spine tape.
7. Quality check and dispatch. Each order is checked against the approved proof before it leaves, within 3 to 4 working days of approval.
8. Delivery. Free to the address on the order. Progress is shown on the order tracking page with your order number and email.

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 and format decide the price, nothing else. Duplicate and triplicate are the same price at each quantity; the duplicate book holds twice as many sets. 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.

DL Personalised Invoice Books in use

• A florist writes the order and the card message in a DL duplicate book; the slip goes in the envelope with the delivery and the copy stays with the shop for the driver's run.
• A bakery takes celebration cake orders on numbered DL sheets, one copy for the customer with the collection date and one pinned in the kitchen.
• A coach operator issues DL triplicate booking receipts: passenger, office and driver each hold one.
• A courier uses a top bound DL book as a delivery note pad, signed at the door, with the copy kept as proof of delivery.

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.