Can one party be both a customer and a supplier in FastBilling?

Yes. A party is a single account that can be marked as a customer, a supplier, or both. Sales, purchases, receipts and payments all post to that one account, so there is one balance.

Can a sale and a purchase go on the same bill?

Yes. A bill has an inward side for what you received and an outward side for what you gave. Both can be filled on one bill, with cash either way, and the bill shows the net amount.

How is the balance shown?

In words: “to receive” when the party owes you, and “to pay” when you owe them. The words debit and credit do not appear on the screens.

One account for a party who is both your customer and your supplier

You sell him rice and buy his dal. At the end of the month, who owes whom? One account, one bill, one answer.

The problem with two accounts

In most billing and khata apps a party is either a customer or a supplier. A trader you both buy from and sell to has to be entered twice: once in each list. Now there are two balances for one person, and the real position is the difference between them — worked out on paper, every time you settle.

It goes wrong in the usual ways. A payment is recorded against the wrong one of the two. A purchase is forgotten because you were looking at the sales side. He says he owes you 4,000; your two screens say 12,000 and 8,500, and you are both doing subtraction at the counter.

How FastBilling handles it

A party is one account. When you add it you say whether it is a customer, a supplier, or both — and “both” is an ordinary choice, not a workaround.
One bill has two sides. What you sold goes on one side, what you bought goes on the other, and cash can move either way on the same bill.
The bill nets itself. If you sold ₹10,000 of goods and took ₹6,500 of his, the bill says ₹3,500 to receive.
The party has one balance, and it is written in words — “to receive” or “to pay” — never as debit and credit.

A worked example

Ram Kumar Traders takes 20 bags of rice from you at ₹1,200, and on the same visit you take 10 tins of oil from him at ₹1,850. He pays ₹2,000 in cash.

Sold to him: 20 × ₹1,200 = ₹24,000
Bought from him: 10 × ₹1,850 = ₹18,500
Net on the goods: ₹5,500 to receive
Cash received: ₹2,000
Left on this bill: ₹3,500 to receive

What you see afterwards

His statement lists every bill and payment in date order with a running balance, so the two of you are reading the same page when you settle.
The receivable and payable reports count him once, on whichever side his balance actually sits.
A payment in either direction is a receipt or a payment against the same account — there is no second ledger to keep in step.

What it does not do

FastBilling is billing and party accounts only. It has no GST, no stock or godown records and no barcodes. If you need GST invoices or stock valuation, you will need another tool for those.

Try it with your own parties

Thirty days free, no card. Add two or three parties and enter yesterday’s bills; that is enough to see whether it fits your counter.

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Questions

Can one party be both a customer and a supplier in FastBilling?: Yes. A party is a single account that can be marked as a customer, a supplier, or both. Sales, purchases, receipts and payments all post to that one account, so there is one balance.
Can a sale and a purchase go on the same bill?: Yes. A bill has an inward side for what you received and an outward side for what you gave. Both can be filled on one bill, with cash either way, and the bill shows the net amount.
How is the balance shown?: In words: “to receive” when the party owes you, and “to pay” when you owe them. The words debit and credit do not appear on the screens.