Collecting money

...anyone?

I just moved this to Internet Business discussion - hopefully you'll get more of a response here.

You will need to have something on paper for tax purposes anyway so some sort of invoice. I don't know why it would be weired to demand money on the spot - you are performing a serivce for them that they are required to pay for. If you delay payment you could easily end up with a lot of people "forgetting" to pay you which you don't want.

I also think that you should have some way of accepting payment by check. With the rise of debit cards a lot of people don't even carry that much cash anymore.

This is for your computer help serivce, right? I remember you asking about that. Where in Canada are you? Just curious (although I might already know that.... just forgot)

Yes, for the computer help service, now named "Tech Titans"

Located in Markham, Toronto.

The amounts would likely RARELY exceed $100, so it's really petty cash and a) they'd have an idea of approx price before hand b) not too much to have around.

I will 100% be issuing invoices... like I will be at my home computer and input all items of the service, costs, etc.

My issue is mainly two things:
1) How do I indicate money should be paid on the spot, upon completion?
2) If I am doing on-site work, should I give them anything right then or there, or just let them know that I will send an invoice in a couple of days?

You could also go to the office supply store and look for a book for writing out receipts and stuff. Then they'd have a receipt on the spot and you'd also have something for your records. That could also be an "I need the money now" sort of prompt.

If you're running a business like this you're going to have to get used to telling people that you need the money (now).

You should definitely let people know ahead of time that you only accept cash. I think you might be surprised to learn how much cash people carry around these days. For some it's not much.

I will head to Staples and see what they have...

Do you have some better suggestion for how I could basically say "I want cash. You need to pay when I finish"?

I would tell them about the payment methods in the first phone call. They'll probably ask about the cost of your service anyway - after that you could say something like "You should know that I only accept cash on site but can take credit cards online through paypal." Then, when you actually perform the work you could get the invoice ready and hand it to them when you finish. They'll probably reach for their wallets at that point or at least prompt you for more information on how to pay.

I don't have any experience with this sort of thing myself so I'm going out on a limb a little bit here I'm just thinking about what I would expect if I was on the other side of the transaction.

Simply say to them when quoting for the job that it is "Cash on completion" that way there is no confusion.

How many services do you use where you don't have to pay right away if something else isn't already pre-arranged?

I go get a hair cut, i pay when done. I get my car worked on, I pay when done. I call a guy to come plow my driveway, I pay when he's done.

(now an exception on that last one. I do have neighbors that have a service come plow all winter, and they pay at end of month based on a bill of how many times they end up coming out.)

The only people I would see as expecting to not pay right away would be a business, prefering to have an "account" that gets invoiced. However usually with those, they are set up in advance, and you can request references to see how they are paying their bills.

Another way of wording it would be "That service will run you $xx and hour, due when the job is finished. I prefer cash, but can also take credit card via paypal."

-Greg

Thanks a lot you guys... have definitely helped!