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Estimates share the same line-item shape as invoices, but they’re deliberately simpler under the hood: no stock deduction, no expense-linking, no effect on a client’s balance. This guide covers what’s different from invoicing, since most of what you already know from Create and send an invoice about line items still applies.

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Create an estimate

Line items follow the same rules as invoices: each needs an item_id or a description, qty must be greater than 0, rate must be 0 or more.
One difference from invoices: a line item on an estimate can’t carry expense_id. There’s no expense-linking on this resource at all, since bb_estimate has no balance or paid columns to reconcile against, only invoices affect accounts receivable. Sending expense_id on an estimate line gets rejected by validation.
Totals (subtotal, discount, taxtotal, nettotal) are computed the same way as invoices: always server-side from items, any submitted total-shaped value in the request body is ignored.

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Update an estimate

As with invoices, items is a full replace on update, not a patch, submit the complete desired line set every time. Every other field is a genuine partial patch.

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Converting an estimate to an invoice

There’s no dedicated “convert” endpoint on this API. To turn an accepted estimate into a bill, create a new invoice through the Invoices endpoint using the same client_id and line items. That keeps the two resources’ side effects properly separated: the estimate itself never touches stock or client balance, only the resulting invoice does.

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Deleting an estimate

There’s no guard rail on this delete at all, not even a payment or approval-state check. An estimate that’s already been marked accepted, or that a related invoice was already created from, can still be deleted outright through this endpoint. Unlike Invoices (which blocks deletion if a payment exists) or Clients and Items (which block deletion if they’re referenced elsewhere), Estimates has no equivalent protection. If your workflow depends on approved estimates staying around as a record, don’t rely on the API to enforce that, check the estimate’s status yourself before calling delete.

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What’s next