Freelancer Payment Terms??

[Adlopa]

3 months? I had to wait 10 months for one invoice.

Luckily it was for a mere £300 and plenty of money was coming in from elsewhere.

Yep, I have similar experiences. This is for £4k and while the money isn't a problem for cashflow purposes (and I don't doubt it will be paid eventually), the principle is – this was for a series of work all briefed at the last minute with a tight turnaround. And the client wanted a trade reference from *me* beforehand...

[RSoles]

Luxury....

[northernladuk]

Interesting timing.
https://www.ipse.co.uk/news/late-pay...ns-freelancers

[kaiser78]

Hey everyone! I'm looking to get into freelancing and I wanted to know what payment terms (when you get paid) people have experienced. I have heard of top tier companies making you wait up to 3 months, which is frustrating! What have people seen? And how do you manage cash flow?

Many thanks in advance!

Payment is weekly for me bud, and always on time

[StefPrivate]

If you mean 'freelancing' rather than contracting, then good luck getting paid in anything like a timely fashion. I have invoices approaching 3 months late with one major international client, which is far from a record.

Yeah I do mean 'freelancing', this is what I am worried about.. That's super late! Can I ask, who is the company, or what industry are they in?

[Adlopa]

If you mean 'freelancing' rather than contracting, then good luck getting paid in anything like a timely fashion. I have invoices approaching 3 months late with one major international client, which is far from a record.

[northernladuk]

And how do you manage cash flow?:

I have to start paying for everything in £20 notes instead of £50 in lean times...

HTH

[RonBW]

It varies from place to place. I'm currently on monthly invoicing with 60 day terms that usually pay early, but I've also had weekly invoicing with payment the following Wednesday.

In terms of managing cash flow, that's easier once you've got a few invoices paid - in the early days you may need to lend the company money to pay the bills while you wait, for example. Once you have some retained profit in the company then it's a lot easier, until you have a long stretch with no income. At which point, you revert to lending the company money as necessary.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

[NigelJK]

Getting rarer those ones tho'.

[PurpleGorilla]

Currently invoice weekly and if I get it in with a signed time sheet by 5pm the following Tuesday, I get paid on the Friday.

Lovely :-)

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Payment within 14 days as standard, but some clients insist on net 30 which I'm happy to accommodate. Invoice frequency depends on my billing basis (I sometimes charge a daily rate, sometimes a fixed per-sprint rate) but usually fortnightly.

I have no experience working for big multi-national firms who no doubt have their own excessive payment terms and bully their suppliers into accepting. I don't work for them.

[StefPrivate]

Hey everyone! I'm looking to get into freelancing and I wanted to know what payment terms (when you get paid) people have experienced. I have heard of top tier companies making you wait up to 3 months, which is frustrating! What have people seen? And how do you manage cash flow?

Many thanks in advance!