Net 30 (Payment Terms)
Net 30 means payment is due 30 days after the invoice date — net simply means the full amount, with no discount attached. Net 14 and Net 7 work the same way with shorter windows. Pick one standard and use it on every invoice.
What it means
The number after “net” counts days from the invoice date, not the job’s completion date, so it matters when the invoice actually goes out. Send it the same day the job finishes and “Net 30” means the money’s due in a month; sit on the invoice for two weeks first and you’ve quietly given the client 44 days without meaning to.
Shorter terms — Net 7 or Net 14 — get you paid faster and suit most small jobs, especially if cash flow is tight. Net 30 tends to show up with bigger commercial clients whose own accounts-payable process runs on a monthly cycle; you can ask for shorter terms, but be ready for some clients to say their process doesn’t move that fast.
You send an invoice on July 1st marked Net 14. Payment is due July 15th, whether the client remembers that or not — the due date is a fact on the page, not something either of you has to calculate later.
Writing “due upon receipt” instead of a real Net-X term — it sounds firm but gives the client nothing concrete to be late against, so there’s no clear day to start a reminder cadence from.
See also
Where this shows up
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