Thank you for the quick response. I think I’ll go for 3% as it’s probably more than their getting for the money sitting in an account. I think also adding the caveat of all work belonging solely to me until full payment has been received (as mentioned on here) should hopefully give them that little bit of encouragement they seem to need.
Depends where you are.
In the UK you can charge up to 8.5% apr. But this isn’t much of an incentive to pay on time, so it’s worth adding an admin fee as well. In the UK you’re allowed to charge an admin of £40 (if the invoice is <£1000) or £70 (if the invoice is >£1000)
You’ll come across clients who will try to put off payment for as long as they can, so it’s wise to have late fees in your contract.
Thanks for the info. I’m in the UK but decided to go with the 3% a month (being a smaller number it looks less intimidating yet adds up to more than 8.5% apr). I left out the ownership to try and keep it feeling friendly and went with ‘Payment to be received within 28 calendar days of date of invoice.*’
*Failure of payment to be received within 28 calendar days will result in an additional charge of 3% invoice total, and an additional 3% cumulative every 28 days thereafter.
I told them in advance that I would be adding this to my invoice (in an email chasing payment for my last invoice) so hopefully it will provide that little incentive to pay me on time without putting their nose out of joint. The 28 days also aligns with when I submit my invoices and they pay their salaried staff.
Craigslist freelance design adverts = Huge red flag
Just wanted to add another note to this post. In order to prevent this, I drafted up a Statement of Work, which basically outlines any agreement between myself and the client and requires them to sign it in order for work to begin. Sometimes negotiation would drop off at this point because the client doesn’t want to sign a document stating that they will pay x amount at y date. It helps me filter out those who plan on paying and those who don’t. I welcome any input regarding this practice; yes I’ve lost a client or two, but at least I didn’t spend time working for free.
This was a common practice at frog as well. SOWs were pretty standard and used as an initial kickoff milestone, basically both parties agreeing on the specific scope of the project, deliverables, timeline, and fees. I think it is a good practice.
Not Industrial Design per se, but here’s how one graphic designer deals with it: It's like Twitter. Except we charge people to use it.
(Above GIF copyright of Simon Edhouse)
BlenderDefender???