Please Don’t Make Me Pay to Get Paid
Freelancing comes with a lot of jobs nobody tells you about.
You are the designer.
You are the account person.
You are the scheduler.
You are the bookkeeper.
You are tech support.
You are collections.
And apparently, sometimes, you are also expected to finance the privilege of receiving your own money.
That last one is where I draw the line.
I Already Gave You a Deal
Freelancers do this all the time.
We shave a little off the estimate.
We throw in one more revision.
We don't charge for the five-minute thing that somehow becomes twenty minutes.
We try to be reasonable.
We try to be good partners.
So when a client then tells me the only way they want to pay is by credit card, my first thought is:
Wonderful. Who is paying the processing fee?
Because if the answer is me, then what you have actually said is:
"We would like a small additional discount."
You just didn't call it that.
Take a $5,000 invoice.
At roughly 3%, you can lose around $150 just because of the payment method.
For a large company, $150 may look like a line item.
For a freelancer, $150 looks like hours of work.
Those are very different things.
Then There Are the Payment Platforms
Now we have an entire industry of companies designed to help companies pay other companies.
Which sounds fantastic.
Until you are the freelancer at the bottom of the chain trying to get the money.
Recently, I had to deal with BILL.com.
The client uses BILL.
Fine.
The client had my information.
BILL had my information.
My bank had my banking information, which I think we can all agree is a reasonable place for it to be.
And yet somehow, getting the money from Point A to Point Me became an event.
The bank connection didn't work correctly.
Payment was delayed.
And I found myself trying to understand the internal mechanics of a financial platform I never selected, never asked for, and had no particular desire to become familiar with.
This is the part I find fascinating.
Companies choose these systems because they make Accounts Payable easier.
The approvals are easier.
The accounting is easier.
The vendor tracking is easier.
Everything is easier.
For them.
That last part seems to get lost.
BILL.com May Be Great for BILL Payers
To be fair, BILL.com may be very useful for the company paying the bills.
That is what it is designed to do.
But something can be wonderful for an Accounts Payable department and still be annoying for the person waiting to be paid.
Both things can be true.
BILL currently lists a recipient fee even for a standard ACH/ePayment, with faster transfer options costing more.
And that is where my brain stops.
Why am I paying to receive money you owe me?
Did I hire BILL?
No.
Did I choose BILL?
No.
Did I wake up one morning and think, You know what my business needs? Another financial account and another password.
Also no.
We Need to Start Asking This Before the Job
Freelancers ask about everything else.
What is the scope?
How many revisions?
What is the deadline?
Who approves the work?
What size is the final file?
But very few of us ask:
How exactly are you planning to pay me?
We should.
Because payment method is part of the project.
If your company requires vendors to use a particular platform, tell me before I start.
Tell me whether there is a fee.
Tell me whether I need another account.
Tell me whether my bank has to connect to it.
Tell me what happens if it doesn't.
And tell me whether there is a backup plan involving something revolutionary like an ACH transfer or a check.
A Payment Method Is Not Free Just Because the Client Doesn't Pay for It
This is the part businesses sometimes miss.
Credit card processing fees are real.
Transaction fees are real.
Instant transfer fees are real.
Some services cost more than others.
And somebody is paying.
If that somebody is the freelancer, then it needs to be part of the conversation.
Because there is a difference between:
“I choose to use this service because it makes my business easier.”
and
“You are required to use this service because it makes our business easier.”
Those are not the same arrangement.
If I choose Stripe, PayPal, Square, Wise, or any other payment platform because I like the convenience, then I can decide whether the fee is worth it.
That is my choice.
But when a client chooses the system and then passes the inconvenience or expense down to me, I become less enthusiastic.
Funny how that works .
Direct ACH Is Not Very Sexy
Nobody is writing love songs about ACH.
It doesn't have a cute app.
It doesn't promise to disrupt finance.
It doesn't need a clever startup name.
It just moves money from one bank account to another.
Which is rather exactly what I need it to do.
Zelle can also work beautifully for some small businesses.
Wise can be especially useful for international payments.
Stripe, PayPal, Square, and similar systems can be great tools when you understand their fees and choose them knowingly.
The issue isn't that payment services are bad.
The issue is choice.
And transparency.
And maybe not taking a bite out of somebody's invoice on the way past.
My New Freelance Question
From now on, somewhere between:
"When do you need it?"
and
"Who is approving the final?"
I think freelancers should add:
“How do you pay your vendors?”
Because the answer matters.
And if the answer is:
"We only pay through BILL.com,"
or
"We only pay by credit card,"
then my next question is going to be:
“And what does that cost me?”
That is not being difficult.
That is running a business.
My New Rule
I am not saying nobody should ever use BILL.
I am saying I would be very reluctant to accept a job where BILL was the only way I could get paid unless I understood the entire process first.
Will my bank connect?
Will I be charged?
How long does payment take?
What happens if something fails?
Can the client send a regular ACH?
Can they issue a check?
These are not questions I want to discover the answers to after the work is finished.
At that point, I am no longer negotiating.
I am hostage to the payment process.
And that is not a particularly fun phase of a design project.
One Final Thought
I pay Adobe because I chose Adobe.
I pay for software because I chose the software.
I pay my bank for services I chose to use.
I have no problem paying for things that help me run my business.
But I have a philosophical problem with paying a company I didn't hire, using a system I didn't choose, so that a client can send me money they already owe me.
I designed the work.
I revised the work.
I delivered the work.
I sent the invoice.
At this point, I feel I have participated enough.
Please don't make me pay to get paid.
P.S. One thing I should add: the client I was dealing with wasn’t the problem. They were sympathetic and said they would take it back to their accounting firm. Which may be the most telling part of all. Sometimes the people inside the company are jumping through the same hoops the freelancer is. The difference is, they already have the work. The freelancer is still waiting for the money.
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