Every client I have ever had has paid me using a credit card through PayPal. The payment is immediate. And of course, I pay the fees to receive the payment.

I have a new client who wants to pay using PayPal's e-check. I know that e-check is 3-5 business days to receive the payment, which means obviously that payment would not be immediate. I do not believe there are fees for receiving e-check payments, which might be a good thing.

I was wondering if e-check payments posed a problem for any other VAs. If I bill on a Friday (my normal billing day), payment would not be received until the following Thursday or so.

Thanks,
Janine

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Hi Janine,
We've also received echecks and while it is sometimes not ideal to have the 3-5 day waiting period for the echeck to clear, and then another 3-4 days for the funds to transfer to our bank account I've just learned to plan accordingly.

We do pay fees for echecks, but they are much lower than regular PayPal payments.

Hope that helps answer your question a bit

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Thank you. Good information, Tess.

One of my business policies is not to proceed with work until payment has been made. My terms are payable upon receipt of invoice. (I've had problems in the past so I've had to be rigid.)

So since e-check has that delay, and technically, payment has not been made; this puts a bit of a twist in my payment/work policy.

I'm trying to decide what to do.

Thanks,
Janine

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I had the same thoughts initially, but the deposit I require from new clients [and hold for 6 months of paid invoices] covers any concerns about the echeck not clearing. I guess it would also depend on how long the client has been with you and what kind of payment history they have with you.

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Hi Tess,

This would be a new client so there is no payment history.

Now I see why you take that 6-month deposit.

I use a 50% upfront payment fee for any given month for 3 months until a history is established.

But now I think I need to change my payment policy. It all worked out well when payment was immediate on a Friday and then I resumed work on a Monday.

Asking for a deposit makes perfect sense particularly if a payment is going to be delayed with use of e-checks.

Let me ask you about the 6-month deposit...after 6 months do you then use that toward the next 6 months?

Thanks,
Janine

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Well, I don't work on retainer so my situation is a little different. But assuming the first six months of invoices is paid on time and in full consistently, then their deposit ($500) is applied to their next invoice[s] until it's been returned to them.

I will say though that for large projects or one-off interactions where we're not looking at long-term support I often do require payment in full or at the very least 50% [based on the estimate] up front. Any hours over or under, after the fact, are handled accordingly.

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Well, I start out new clients on retainer and then I switch to bi-monthly or weekly billing when a history of good payment has been established.

I'm going to implement a deposit policy for checks and e-checks.

You have given me excellent advice. I appreciate this.

Janine

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Maybe the client doesn't understand the e-check vs. instant payment concept, or sometimes a PayPal account holder's payments default to echeck without them realizing it. Have you thought about asking them why they want to use an e-check?