Hi English Forum

How long time can a client wait to pay their invoices? Basic freelance service. Film, video, graphics.

I have set 10 days as payment time, but non of my current clients seems to respect these 10 days?

Should i set more than 10 days or should i start pushing them to pay on time.

Regards Tom

Legally invoices should be paid immediately, but most organisations give 10 days grace, and a few give 28 days. In your sales T&C you could list the penalties for late payments, and then charge an extra fee, a "Mahnung"

I find it criminal that large companies expect 90 days of free credit. Friends of mine are farmers, and have to wait 3 months for the CHF 10'000 payment from the Migros for the live chickens they took. The wife told me they are not poor, but at times they struggle to make ends meet. In the meantime the Migros probably processed those chickens and sold them within a week, but the person with the most work and all the risks, has to wait 90 days to be paid.

Ok thanks you for great reply. Yeah i think it's sad too. Hope one day, corporate giants won't exploit their position whenever possible.

10 days is normal. keep that and call them on the 11th day

That said not all companies pay every week. Some have there standard payment cycles twice a month.

I always write: "Your prompt payment is always appreciated", with no time specified. My thinking is that if I put 10 or 30 days, clients would delay payment until the time specified.

And it works!

Sbrinz - is there a link to this - the reason I ask is that my son does work as a freelancer for a large swiss firm. He always has to resend the invoice when he chases it up with them and then they takes months to pay. e.g An invoice for January was eventually paid in May. As they are his main income this is really causing him a lot of problems.

I do not know of a law that says invoices are payable immediately. What I do know that is relevant is your contract with terms and conditions and what you put on your invoice. I used 14 days as a standard.

Film business is 1 - 6 months, depends if they need to use you again soon. I did get a first invoice paid in 2 days, the next bigger job took 6 months.

In the good (coughcough) old days, 30 days were typical. Many however gave a rebate for early payment in order to improve their cash flows. Like, 2% rebate for payment within 5 days, 1% rebate for payment within 10 days. That would be quite big today, perhaps half the rebates would still provide a strong incentive. Just a thought.

In the film business it's very likely that the employer has not been paid & simply does not have the money to pay bills until they have been paid, profit margins are very small.

I guess it's a general problem, but it worked for me to just keep reminding them to pay, even-though it seems like a pain that you always how to send your clients 2-3 reminders every time. And paying first time is a surprise.

Thanks for all the great answers and discussions.