Invoice terms and conditions

[DFaltPhoto]

Im looking to improve the terms and conditions on my invoices.

Anyone have a route that seems to work best?

Ive thought about charging a small 1.5% fee for late payments and inserting a small paragraph that will cover me in general for different things.

Any thoughts anyone?

 

[tirediron]

Invoices for what kind of work? What T&C do you have now? What "different things" do you want to cover yourself against? 1.5% per.... week? Month? Decade?

 

[Designer]

Im looking to improve the terms and conditions on my invoices.

Anyone have a route that seems to work best?

Ive thought about charging a small 1.5% fee for late payments and inserting a small paragraph that will cover me in general for different things.

Any thoughts anyone?

Write down what you want in your contracts and present it to your attorney to include in your contracts.

 

[astroNikon]

on another note ...
Are commercial accounts not paying on-time?
or are individual customers not paying upon receipt of work ?

essentially, exactly what type of problems are you trying to correct in your customers from paying late? If it's individual, then maybe don't give them all the end product until they are 100% paid. For commercial accounts, talk more with their acctg departments to determine why they may not pay on time (some may pay 30 days, 60 days out, etc or just don't want to pay after the fact).

 

[PersistentNomad]

Yeah, can you post a sample? And what branch of photography is this?. Commercial, events, editorial? I second @astroNikon: at my last job, from the time I wrote the check request to the time a check was received by the vendor it could be up to 3 weeks because of interoffice mail, accounting priorities, cash flow, mailing time, holidays, etc. That's why most people who don't set out well in advance the due dates for payments allow a net 30 for receipt of payment on a mailed invoice.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Get on http://asmp.org or try PPA and look up info. on contracts, licensing, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. and learn what to do.

 

[table1349]

Read your credit card statement. Pretty good example there.

 

[DFaltPhoto]

Invoices for what kind of work? What T&C do you have now? What "different things" do you want to cover yourself against? 1.5% per.... week? Month? Decade?

Thanks for the reply!

- I invoice for a bunch of different things. Sometimes it might be an image printed in a magazine. Ive been invoicing for production assisting and photographer assisting on ad campaign shoots and my own personal shoots with couples and families but I get paid on the day of the shoot for those so I'm not worried about the personal shoots.

- At the moment I don't have any terms and conditions on my invoices.

- I want to create terms and conditions that help me get paid sooner than later by the companies I happen to work for. It's always a new and different company and sometimes I have to wait a couple months to get paid but it varies with every invoice. The worst are the magazines... you never know when you will be paid.

- Somehow putting t&c in my invoice so there is a 1.5% fee per day after 30 days might be good? I don't know what is normal or best.

Ive attached one of my invoices it's so basic and could use some work.

 

[PersistentNomad]

I mean, definitely putting at least a "due by date" would be good, and allowing (and planning) for net30 payments would probably work for most vendors.

 

[DFaltPhoto]

Im looking to improve the terms and conditions on my invoices.

Anyone have a route that seems to work best?

Ive thought about charging a small 1.5% fee for late payments and inserting a small paragraph that will cover me in general for different things.

Any thoughts anyone?

Write down what you want in your contracts and present it to your attorney to include in your contracts.

I don't have an attorney /:

 

[DFaltPhoto]

on another note ...
Are commercial accounts not paying on-time?
or are individual customers not paying upon receipt of work ?

essentially, exactly what type of problems are you trying to correct in your customers from paying late? If it's individual, then maybe don't give them all the end product until they are 100% paid. For commercial accounts, talk more with their acctg departments to determine why they may not pay on time (some may pay 30 days, 60 days out, etc or just don't want to pay after the fact).

I'm tired of waiting longer than I should to receive payments. For clients that I photograph I always collect a deposit and the remaining balance the day of the shoot. My main concern is getting paid on time from magazines and companies.

 

[DFaltPhoto]

Yeah, can you post a sample? And what branch of photography is this?. Commercial, events, editorial? I second @astroNikon: at my last job, from the time I wrote the check request to the time a check was received by the vendor it could be up to 3 weeks because of interoffice mail, accounting priorities, cash flow, mailing time, holidays, etc. That's why most people who don't set out well in advance the due dates for payments allow a net 30 for receipt of payment on a mailed invoice.

My invoices are really basic for the jobs or images I have trouble getting paid on time for. Every now and then Magazines will contact me and ask for a photo so I ask them their rates and if it's good I just send the file over with an invoice and w9. When the mags or companies pay me there is no telling when I will be paid so I wan't to do what I can to make sure it's sooner than later.

 

[DFaltPhoto]

Get on http://asmp.org or try PPA and look up info. on contracts, licensing, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. and learn what to do.

Thanks for that idea. I use PPA and will look into that now!

 

[DFaltPhoto]

I mean, definitely putting at least a "due by date" would be good, and allowing (and planning) for net30 payments would probably work for most vendors.

As of just recently I've been putting a due date of 30 days on their. But It wouldn't hurt to have a T&C giving them an incentive to pay on time. Like a small percentage everyday after 30 days.

Your thoughts?

 

[Designer]

I don't have an attorney /:

Well then how do you get your contracts written?