If you run a small business on Xero and you’ve ever needed a customer signature on an invoice or a quote, you’ve probably noticed there’s no native way to do it. Xero is excellent accounting software. It just never shipped signature capture.
That’s a real gap, especially in Xero’s strongest markets. Tradies in Sydney signing off a job. Builders in Auckland delivering materials. Plumbers in Manchester finishing a callout. All of them want a signature on the paperwork as proof of delivery. Xero leaves that to you.
This post covers what you can do about it. The three options that work, what each costs, and how the Billet flow looks for a typical Xero shop.
Why Xero never built it
Xero’s product strategy has always been “do accounting beautifully and integrate with everything else.” Signature capture is a workflow problem, not an accounting problem, and Xero has consistently chosen to let third-party apps fill that role. The result is a long list of apps that vaguely promise signature support, most of which weren’t actually built for the field workflow that Xero shops run.
Option 1: A standalone e-signature tool
DocuSign, PandaDoc, Adobe Acrobat Sign. Each has a Xero integration of sorts, usually via Zapier or a partner API. The flow:
- Send a Xero invoice or quote.
- Open the e-sign tool.
- Upload the PDF.
- Add signature fields.
- Send to the customer’s email.
- Wait.
- Manually update Xero when the signed copy comes back.
It works. The math doesn’t, for most shops. DocuSign starts at $35 per user per month. PandaDoc at $19. For a five-person Xero business with two field staff and three office, that’s $175 to $95 every month before you’ve collected a single signature.
Option 2: Print, sign, scan
The fallback. Print the invoice, hand it over with a pen, scan the signed copy, attach it to Xero manually. This is what most Xero shops actually do today. It works at low volume. It collapses the moment you grow past a couple of dozen jobs a week, and it gives you no GPS proof, no timestamp accuracy, and no audit trail.
Option 3: A field-first signature app that integrates with Xero
This is what Billet was built for. The app talks to Xero directly via the official API. When a customer signs, the matching Xero invoice or quote gets stamped automatically with the signed status, the signature image, and the timestamp. $5 per active user per month.
How Billet works with Xero
The flow:
- Connect Xero from Billet’s Integrations page. Standard OAuth, takes about ten seconds.
- Your Xero contacts, items, and tax rates (GST in Australia and New Zealand, VAT in the UK, sales tax in the US and Canada) sync into Billet automatically.
- Create or import an invoice or quote in Xero. Or create it directly in Billet, which pushes to Xero on send.
- Send for signature. Pick the document, click Send, customer signs in their browser via a magic link. Or hand over the iPad in person and the customer signs on screen with GPS coordinates captured.
- The signed status, signature image, and timestamp flow back to the Xero record automatically. The signed PDF is stored in Billet and attached to Xero.
That’s the whole loop. No second dashboard, no manual reconciliation, no PDF uploads.
Country notes
Billet supports the five Xero markets natively:
- Australia. BAS-aware tax handling, AUD currency, ABN displayed on invoices, BSB plus Account Number for direct deposit details.
- New Zealand. GST handling, NZD currency, IRD/GST number on invoices.
- United Kingdom. VAT handling, GBP currency, Sort Code plus Account Number for bank details, no mention of US-only “checks” or ZIP codes.
- United States. Sales tax, USD, EIN, ABA routing.
- Canada. Multi-province tax handling, CAD, BN, Transit plus Institution plus Account.
Date formats follow local convention automatically (DD/MM/YYYY in AU, NZ, and UK; MM/DD/YYYY in US and CA). Currency symbols and tax labels adapt without you having to configure anything.
The “office staff for free” model
Billet bills per active user. Office staff who only view records and run reports are free. You only pay for users who actively send for signature or capture them in person. For a typical five-person Xero shop, that’s usually $10 per month total, not $25.
Try it free for 14 days
Every Billet account starts with a 14-day free trial. No credit card required. Connect Xero during signup and capture your first signed invoice or quote on the same day.