That free invoicing app cost me $320 last month

I was sitting in a coffee shop in Denver last month, sending out invoices like I always do through this free app I'd used for about 2 years... and I didn't notice they'd changed their payment processor. A client paid me $320 and the money just vanished into some third-party holding account. I spent 4 hours on chat support trying to get it back, and they kept saying it was pending. Finally I switched to a paid invoicing tool that actually holds the funds in my own Stripe account. Never again with those free ones that hide their fees in the fine print. Has anyone else gotten burned by a supposedly free tool changing its payment terms out of nowhere?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_john2d ago

Ditch anything that routes payments through their own merchant account instead of yours. If the invoicing tool won't let you connect your own Stripe or PayPal, run the other way.

alext522d ago

100% agree with @the_john on this. I learned that lesson the hard way too when a free invoicing app held $450 of mine for 17 days before they finally released it. Now I only use tools that let me plug in my own Stripe account directly and I double check every update email for payment processor changes. These free apps hook you with convenience then switch the terms when you are not looking.