Having a well-defined customer policy is essential and having this communicated with your customers and clients prior to engaging with them is critical. 

Your credit terms should be one of the first items discussed with your customers – cash flow uncertainty and business pressure from day 1 is the number one reason a business fails. 

Typical Credit Terms: 

Cash/Payment on Delivery – this means when the goods are delivered when payment is received. 

7 days from invoice date – your customers have 7 days from the date of the invoice to pay you. 

7 days from month end – your customers have 7 days from the month that the invoice is raised.  Example an invoice raised on the 7th of January, is due for payment by 2nd March. 

Preferred Payment methods include: 

1. Stripe
Integration on your emailed invoice, online payment platform.  Fees range from 1.75% to 2.9% + 30c per transaction. 

2. Square
Mobile EFTPOS machine via a smart device app.  Fees range from 1.6 % for contactless to 2.2% for manual entered payment. 

3. Credit Card
Taking a customers credit card number & details over the phone.  Fees range from a monthly merchant fee plus a percentage fee, depending on the financial institution used. 

4. Paypal
Using the Paypal platform to complete payment for a sale.  Charge a fee per transaction and then a percentage of the sale value.

5. Afterpay 
Payments in 4 easy convenience installments for the customer every 2 weeks.  The rate charged is much higher, but you will receive your full payment upfront, unlike Afterpay who will be carrying the ‘burden’ of collecting from your customer.