[kc6789]

Just wondering if ur doing a job and you know the whole price, do u have the customer pay all up front, half up front or all at the end? I'd probably have to get half up front to pay for the shirts...


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[slidways]

i would atleast charge half upfront, for a couple reasons, one because if they have money invested then they wont back out, two you may need product, and i could probably come up with a couple more reasons, but those two are good enough.

 

[foot print]

i say half and half ateast until the become a repeat and trust customer..just in case they flake atleast materials no money out of your pocket..plus those shirts will make great test shirts and rags..

 

[muneca]

depending on the size of the order and the customer, i would do half up front & the remaining balance @ time of delivery. you gotta at least cover your costs. if it's a REALLY good/repeat customer...i may bend the rules a little.

 

[TshirtGuru]

I do 100% up front, ALWAYS. Not a problem yet. Whether it's a $6000 order or a $200 order, pay up or I'm not even going to think about your shirts.

I did 50/50 when I first started but that became a huge headach. If they have the money they'll be willing to pay all of it up front. This 50/50 is nonsense.

 

[taricp35]

I have local customers that I let pay half up front then the balance when they pick them up but for my out of state customers they must pay 100% up front. The finished product will be shipped to them so I need all my money before they leave the store.

 

[rhilferding]

We are 100% prepay on all orders.

 

[selanac]

I'm sure you've heard enough, but we charge in state 67% up front. Many customers dislike it, but that's business.

 

[Celtic]

50% up front, then balance on pick-up.

 

[TshirtGuru]

I'm sure you've heard enough, but we charge in state 67% up front. Many customers dislike it, but that's business.

Why 67% and not 60%? Just thinking of why the extra 7%. 7% sales tax?

 

[Flagrant-T]

I'm guessing 67% = 2/3 (roughly)???

I'm 50% big orders, 100% small orders. I do take P.O.s from schools and select companies. Some of my best repeat customers that I really trust just do pay when they pickup. I know I'll get burnt one of these days, but its just easier for both parties sometimes.

 

[nativesonjls]

I haven't dealt with the shirts yet since mine are sale as you go, but my policy on graphics work, such as blue prints, flyers, brochures, etc., 50% upfront the rest on pickup, only have 2 long time customers that I do invoice work with a 30, 60, or 90 day final payment but always 50% upfront for all incidentals.

These guys have done business with me since college, and we've worked together for various firms, small jobs they just pay up, but sometimes they have their money held at the other end, and they refer lots of work my way, so its not a deal just anyone gets. Don't know if shirts will fall into this area, the order would have to be ridiculous huge.

 

[TshirtGuru]

I'm guessing 67% = 2/3 (roughly)???

I'm 50% big orders, 100% small orders. I do take P.O.s from schools and select companies. Some of my best repeat customers that I really trust just do pay when they pickup. I know I'll get burnt one of these days, but its just easier for both parties sometimes.

Weird, I would think it would be more important to collect 100% on larger orders as if they flake your at more of a loss than a smaller order.

Doesn't the 50/50 hurt your cash flow? I do some contract printing for local embroidery companies here and they insist that they offer 50/50 to their customers but every month I hear the owners complaining of companies not paying, slow paying, or how they have no cash flow. I keep telling them to change it to a 100% upfront business but they are stuck to their own ways which obviously isn't working too well because they couldn't pay their employees due to this and almost went bankrupt.

 

[nativesonjls]

Your right on most counts but I was referring to the work involved not the payment, I would not worry even a little about getting payed, these guys I give a pass to have payed me based on the 30 60 90 even if they got stuck for their end (some serious cheddar too), so they earned a favor from me but this isn't the way I normally do business, I was just making a point that anything less than 50% up front and remander at delivery is a special circumstance. I don't even give my family that favor just 2 guys that put their selves on the line to make something right.

Construction and architectural work are based on bank disbursement to the contractors so 30 60 90 are the norm on bigger projects for sub work, even drawings & prints, this can suck sometimes so I only work the bigger projects with these guys. The kind of work I stick to is residential or light commercial jobs for the most part. Total different animal than my desktop publishing work.
"you can only trust one man in a thousand"

 

[TshirtGuru]

Your right on most counts but I was referring to the work involved not the payment, I would not worry even a little about getting payed, these guys I give a pass to have payed me based on the 30 60 90 even if they got stuck for their end (some serious cheddar too), so they earned a favor from me but this isn't the way I normally do business, I was just making a point that anything less than 50% up front and remander at delivery is a special circumstance. I don't even give my family that favor just 2 guys that put their selves on the line to make something right.

Construction and architectural work are based on bank disbursement to the contractors so 30 60 90 are the norm on bigger projects for sub work, even drawings & prints, this can suck sometimes so I only work the bigger projects with these guys. The kind of work I stick to is residential or light commercial jobs for the most part. Total different animal than my desktop publishing work.
"you can only trust one man in a thousand"

My motto, "trust no one, not even yourself."

 

[selanac]

We did 67% for 2/3rds pay. We haven't had many customers flake out, but it does happen to everyone.

If we have a customer that says, well we really didn't like this so we want our money back, then we say fine, but we want all the t-shirts back. We do this to make sure they don't sell the t-shirts anyways. If they don't have all the shirts, we deduct that amount.

You know how some people are, and even the nices people will rip you off.

 

[nativesonjls]

I agree, early on I got stuck on a few upfront jobs thats why I stopped, sad thing is the only three I ever got stuck for were for churches/ministers, just never have the money and I dropped my price to cost to start.............just never know, don't do any charity or church work unless its cash up front.

 

[selanac]

Sadly to say, one of our toughest customers is our own church. One of the groups we always have problems with, and the last 2 or 3 years we outsourced, and either the Outsource company or us, and had to pay to fix something our Church messed up.

We love them dearly, but sometimes it hurts doing business with certain groups.

 

[Unik Ink]

100% for retail customers, 50% down, 50% balance before delivery or C.O.D. for contract orders. The few times that we have not stuck to this, it has turned out to be a huge ordeal to collect.

 

[Flagrant-T]

Weird, I would think it would be more important to collect 100% on larger orders as if they flake your at more of a loss than a smaller order.

Doesn't the 50/50 hurt your cash flow?

I do the 100% on small orders because it is not worth the time to get a check for $62 and then have to collect the $62 again later on a $124 order, easier to get it all at once.

I haven't really had any problems yet with the larger orders. The 50% down is a big enough number that I don't think customers are going to just leave the first half and not get their order. It would be great to get 100% down all the time (which I am doing more and more) but I turn the jobs pretty fast, so the cash flow is not a problem yet.

I do a couple schools on purchase orders, and they always pay, but sometimes a little slow. I price this into the shirts.