AIBU to expect monthly payment promptly after sending the amount due?

[Chocchipminipancakes]

I’m self employed. After sending out the payment amount needed for that month (regular monthly pay, but payment varies slightly)
When would you expect the transfer to be done?
When would you pay it if you were the one paying?

What is fair basically?

It’s best to have a “pay by date” in any bill

normally I would pay within 24hrs with bank transfer

unless I was waiting for pay day or I was on holiday

but sometimes things slip so I like reminder if that happens

Who are you invoicing? Did you specify terms? A large corporate may not have processes to pay outside a standard 30 day cycle.

No it’s an individual

It depends on the service. Cleaner, window cleaner etc - pay asap after the work was done. B2B services e.g. VA work or printing, I’d expect 7 days after I was invoiced unless otherwise agreed.

I'd pay the same day, but I'd expect it to be done within a week, unless the terms state otherwise.

Similar service to cleaner etc

We chase after a week with domestic customers.

On commercial invoices you usually get 28 days to pay. If I were you, I would specify a due date on the invoice and add a fee if late - this will incentivise prompt payment

Within a week is a long time to leave an individual waiting for their monthly pay

State 'payment due on receipt'. On you request for payment/invoice

If you want it immediately then you have to say

I pay same day, but within a week seems reasonable.

Does that mean immediate

Send weekly rather than monthly
might also help

because if you leave it a month to invoice it feels like o could leave it a month to get the cash together

The same day would be my preference

You have to be pragmatic. Immediate doesn't equate to seconds after an email lands - they may not see it for hours or days.

Do you not have agreed terms for payment?

If not, you need to set them and advise there is a fee added for late payment following a fixed period.

A week may be perfectly reasonable - how often are you billing customers? How many customers do you have?

Something like a cleaner, window cleaner, babysitter on the same day. It is so easy now to do it on your phone.

It depends on the terms agreed and stipulated in your contract, surely?

I'd expect cleaning etc to be due on the day.
I'd think tutoring or music lessons pay a term in advance.

But what I would expect is irrelevent. Check your contract, that's the only thing that matters.

Not everyone does payments on their phone

Yes a service like this and I agree, i’d do the same

What do your invoices say?

When I do freelance work my invoices have payment terms on, payment is due within 5 working days (so a week) of the invoice. I think when I'm billing monthly a week is reasonable terms.

you only pay on your phone immediately if you do phone payments and you have the cash to hand

monthly invoices that arrive after wages in and major bills out will leave some people waiting to manage their own cash flow

Put a date on it.

Most things I'm not going to pay immediately because I'm busy with other things, and I'll do it when I get the chance. If it's got a date then I know where I am.

Some things like my child's tutor we pay in cash on arrival.

I'm self employed and I guess about two weeks is normal for me, but in the past it's ranged from immediate (very rarely) to over a year, with 2-4 weeks being the most common.

Obviously the clients took over a year are not acceptable, but providing it's a reasonable time (for me less than a month), then it's for me to manage my cash flow as a self-employed person. If I don't like how slowly a client pays then it's up to me to replace the client if I prefer.

I pay the same day. Being self employed is tough enough without having to spend time chasing payments.

I pay most bills in batches. It’s just easier to sit down and do them all at once rather than deal with each one as it arrives. So they go in a stack until I am ready to deal with them within a week or two. Everything is always paid on time in terms of actual due dates. I would think that is a reasonable amount of time for a monthly invoice.