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Overheard a fellow freelancer at a car repair shop drop a payment trick I never considered
I was waiting for an oil change and this guy next to me was on the phone with a client who owed him $2,400 for three months of web design work. He told them he was putting a 1.5% monthly late fee on the original invoice, retroactive to the due date. I asked him about it after he hung up and he said he adds that line into every contract now, right below the payment terms. He also mentioned sending a physical invoice through certified mail, which apparently makes some clients take it more seriously than an email. Since I started doing both these things six months ago, I've only had one person pay late and it was because of a bank error. Has anyone else had luck with physical mail or late fees getting results?
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shane_morgan13d ago
Read something similar in a small business forum a few months back where a graphic designer mentioned doing the certified mail thing too. She said it made a huge difference because clients can't play dumb about not seeing the invoice when there's a signature on delivery. The late fee part I heard about from a contractor friend who charges 2% monthly and he told me most clients pay on time just to avoid the headache of calculating it. He also said the key is making sure the fee is clearly stated in the contract so there's no argument later. Physical mail just feels more official I guess, like it carries more weight than another email that might get buried in spam.
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dakota_miller9313d ago
Certified mail is the game changer honestly. I started doing that last year and the number of "I never got that email" excuses dropped to zero.
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