Accepting Installment Payments

[Jonny Boy]

Had a potential client email yesterday, very interested in a combi-package for August next year, but wanting to know if she could pay the balance in installments. The total price comes to a round figure.

Ostensibly, I can't see a problem with this. I'd imagine I'd take the usual £100 deposit and attach a list of dates with contract/booking form on which each payment is due, the final date being my standard 30 days before the event.

I imagine cheques/BACs are one way to go, but that requries a bit more admin to keep on top of.
Would it be better to get her to set up a a standing order for that list of dates can be set up by her bank - that appears more work at the outset but then can be just left to run.

I don't take card payments on my business account (yet) as the costs are prohibitive for the amount of gigs I do, and likewise Paypal are a rip off for the amount of work I do

BUT, and as an aside,
Are there any implications (legal or otherwise) of taking installments that I should be aware of?
Do others on here take installment payments, and how do you admin it?
Any other suggestions how to take this forward in the most effective way?

Re: cancellations, I presume I'd have to repay everything other than the non-refundable booking fee if the client cancells before the 30-days period.... is this right?

Appreciate any/all input & suggestions....

[Vectis]

My understanding is that so long as the final payment is made before the service is delivered, you're not offering credit and therefore there's no legal issues.

I've done this in the past with a couple of wedding clients who wanted to pay say £50 a month, and for this I've used both a standing order (because that's completely under their control) and PayPal subscriptions.

If you object to PayPal's not-so-bad-actually-when-you-consider-the-alternatives fees, roll them into the quote as an 'admin charge'. IIRC you're not allowed under PayPal Ts & Cs to charge extra because a customer chooses to use PayPal. By calling it an 'admin charge' you can justify it all round.

So if the fees are the usual 30p+3.25% then on a £100 payment that'd be £3.55, so on say 6 payments of £100 that's top out around £20ish.

[yourdj]

Done this a few times this year as some people do struggle. 90% of my weddings are £3-10k so i do not get asked too much.

As you say the admin could be a pain unless you have an organized system and mistakes can be made.

But why cant they set up an account and save up for it? cut up the cards, only keep the cheque book and pay when the balance is due?

[rob1963]

Hi Jonny,

With regards to accepting a standing order, this is one of the easiest & cheapest options on your part, but will only be appropriate if the client wants to pay a fixed amount on fixed dates, such as £xx on the xxth of each month starting on xx/xx and finishing on xx/xx.

Your OP only stated that they wanted to pay in instalments, but not how much or how often, so a standing order might not be appropriate.

If more flixibility is required, another option is individual bank transfers (which could be done online), with the amounts & dates being agreed by both of you in advance.

However you accept payment, the most important thing is to set up some kind of diary system to check that the correct payments arrive when they should, and record the details of each payment received.

[Johnny P]

I would also recommend receipt of each payment possibly indicating remaining payment to be made.

[CRAZY K]

Had a potential client email yesterday, very interested in a combi-package for August next year, but wanting to know if she could pay the balance in installments. The total price comes to a round figure.

Ostensibly, I can't see a problem with this. I'd imagine I'd take the usual £100 deposit and attach a list of dates with contract/booking form on which each payment is due, the final date being my standard 30 days before the event.

I imagine cheques/BACs are one way to go, but that requries a bit more admin to keep on top of.
Would it be better to get her to set up a a standing order for that list of dates can be set up by her bank - that appears more work at the outset but then can be just left to run.

I don't take card payments on my business account (yet) as the costs are prohibitive for the amount of gigs I do, and likewise Paypal are a rip off for the amount of work I do

BUT, and as an aside,
Are there any implications (legal or otherwise) of taking installments that I should be aware of?
Do others on here take installment payments, and how do you admin it?
Any other suggestions how to take this forward in the most effective way?

Re: cancellations, I presume I'd have to repay everything other than the non-refundable booking fee if the client cancells before the 30-days period.... is this right?

Appreciate any/all input & suggestions....

Its a bit of a pain this--I agree if you get cancelled 31 days out your in trouble and will have wasted a huge amount of time.

Time is money and its not EASY to get quality replacement gigs at short notice--well not good payers I would suggest==e.g. Weddings, Birthdays, Corporate normally.

If you go down this route to offset the risk of losing time and money I would insist on a 60 day cancellation clause--I do that for peak dates --4th July for me OR double your booking fee ( non refundable)

[Jonny Boy]

But why cant they set up an account and save up for it? cut up the cards, only keep the cheque book and pay when the balance is due?

You'd think, wouldn't you?

Thanks for your input guys. I think I'll discuss options with client as the price without admin charge has already pushed her nearly £100 bit above her initial budget. But it's nice to be wanted, eh?

[DAVESOUNDS SERVICES]

Done this a few times this year as some people do struggle. 90% of my weddings are £3-10k so i do not get asked too much.

As you say the admin could be a pain unless you have an organized system and mistakes can be made.

But why cant they set up an account and save up for it? cut up the cards, only keep the cheque book and pay when the balance is due?

Am i missing soming here? You charge up to 10,000 pounds for a wedding???????
time i put my prices up

Davesounds

[DazzyD]

When I built our booking system, I included facilities for installments/part payments. To be honest, though, in all the time I've been doing this the times I've been asked to accept payment this way I could count on two fingers!

Am i missing soming here? You charge up to 10,000 pounds for a wedding???????
time i put my prices up

Davesounds

I'm assuming he means total price of the wedding not just the disco.