Almost every shop and wholesaler in Pakistan sells on credit. Regular customers expect it, and refusing udhaar often means losing the customer to the shop next door. The problem is never the first sale on credit. The problem is the balance that grows month after month until it is too big to ask about comfortably.
Collecting udhaar is a weekly routine. Shops that collect well do the same few things every week. Here they are.
Work out what udhaar is really costing you
Suppose Rs 500,000 of your money sits with customers for three months. If that cash could have bought stock that you sell each month at a 10% margin, each month it earns you Rs 50,000. Over three months, that is Rs 150,000 of profit you did not make. And that assumes every rupee eventually comes back, which it rarely does.
Once you see the number, it becomes easier to treat collection as part of the business rather than an awkward favour you ask of friends.
Set credit rules before the sale
The easiest udhaar to collect is the udhaar you agreed on clearly. For each credit customer, decide two things when you open their account:
- Credit limit: the most they can owe at any time, for example Rs 50,000 for a small retailer or Rs 300,000 for a large one.
- Payment terms: how many days they get to pay, for example 15 or 30 days from the invoice.
Tell the customer the limit and terms politely when you start. When they reach the limit, the next sale is cash or part-payment first. Because the rule was agreed earlier, enforcing it does not feel personal.
Start new customers small
Give a new customer a low limit and raise it after they have paid on time for two or three months. A customer who wants a Rs 200,000 limit on the first day is a risk, however good the story.
Read your aging list every week
An aging list sorts what customers owe by how old the balance is. It tells you where to spend your effort. Here is an example for a Multan distributor with Rs 1,240,000 outstanding:
| Age of balance | Amount (Rs) | Share of total | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to 30 days | 620,000 | 50% | Normal. Friendly reminder at due date. |
| 31 to 60 days | 340,000 | 27% | Call or visit. Agree a payment date. |
| 61 to 90 days | 180,000 | 15% | Stop new credit until part-paid. |
| Over 90 days | 100,000 | 8% | Owner speaks to the customer directly. |
| Total | 1,240,000 | 100% |
Shares are rounded. The point is the pattern: half the money is fresh and fine, but Rs 280,000 is older than 60 days. That is where your phone calls should go this week.
You cannot produce this list from a paper khata without hours of work. Any system that keeps an accounts receivable ledger with invoice dates can produce it in seconds.
A reminder routine that works
Consistency matters more than strong words. Customers learn which shops follow up and which ones forget. A simple schedule:
- On the invoice day: send the invoice on WhatsApp with the due date written on it.
- Three days before due: a short, polite message with the amount and date.
- On the due date: a reminder with the current balance and a way to pay, such as your bank account or mobile wallet number.
- Seven days late: a phone call. Ask for a date, not a promise.
- Thirty days late: stop further credit and send a full statement.
- Sixty days late: the owner visits or calls personally and agrees a written instalment plan.
What to write in a reminder
Keep it short, respectful and specific. For example: 'Assalam o Alaikum Bilal sahib, your balance with us is Rs 46,500 as of today, and Rs 30,000 of it was due on the 15th. Please arrange payment when convenient. Our account details are below. JazakAllah.' Mention the exact amount, the due date and how to pay. Do not argue on WhatsApp; move disputes to a phone call.
Send statements, not just totals
Many disputes start because the customer remembers paying and you do not have it marked, or the other way round. A statement listing each invoice and each payment from their ledger settles most arguments in a minute. When a customer says 'I paid Rs 20,000 last week', you can both look at the same list.
Record every payment the same day
Payments that are collected but not recorded are the biggest source of khata fights. If your salesman collects Rs 15,000 from a shop on his route, it should be entered that evening, with the date and whether it came as cash, cheque or bank transfer. Give the customer a receipt or a WhatsApp confirmation each time. This protects you and the customer, and it shows you if a collector is holding money back.
Make paying easy
Some customers delay simply because paying is inconvenient. A retailer who has to close his shop and travel to your godown with cash will put it off until the end of the month. Remove the friction:
- Print your bank account and mobile wallet numbers on every invoice and statement.
- Ask customers to send a screenshot after a transfer, and confirm receipt the same day.
- Let route salesmen collect on their regular visits, with a numbered receipt book or an entry on their phone.
- Accept part-payments. Rs 10,000 today is better than Rs 40,000 'next week' that never comes.
Example: a weekly collection round
A distributor's collector has 12 shops on his Thursday route with a combined balance due of Rs 186,000. He collects Rs 74,000 in cash, Rs 38,000 arrives by bank transfer the same day, and two shops promise Rs 25,000 each for Saturday. That leaves 186,000 - 74,000 - 38,000 = Rs 74,000 still open, of which Rs 50,000 has a firm date. The owner now knows exactly which Rs 24,000 needs his own phone call.
Handling customers who will not pay
- Offer an instalment plan with fixed dates, for example Rs 10,000 every Friday.
- Accept goods back at a fair value if they are unsold and undamaged, and issue a credit note.
- Stop credit completely and move them to cash sales.
- Write off the smallest, oldest balances once a year so your reports show the real picture. Your accountant can advise on how to record it.
Tools that make collection easier
The routine above works on paper if you are disciplined, but software makes it much lighter. In Taajir, each party has its own ledger, credit customers show up in an outstanding list, and you can send invoices and payment reminders over WhatsApp from the same screen. The WhatsApp payment reminders page shows how that works for a wholesale business.
Whatever you use, block one hour each week for collection. Read the aging list, send the reminders, make the calls. Udhaar that is followed up every week rarely turns into a bad debt.