Net 15 vs. Net 30: Choosing the Right Payment Terms

"Net 30" shows up on invoices so often that a lot of small business owners use it without ever deciding it's actually the right call for their business. It might not be. Here's what net 15 vs. net 30 actually means, and how to pick the invoice payment terms that get you paid on a timeline that works for you — not just the timeline everyone defaults to.

What does net 30 mean? (And net 15, net 7, net 60...)

"Net" followed by a number means "payment is due this many days after the invoice date." So:

• Net 15 — payment due 15 days after the invoice is sent.
• Net 30 — payment due 30 days after the invoice is sent.
• Net 60 — 60 days. Common in industries with large corporate clients (construction subcontracting, wholesale), rare and often risky for solo operators.
• Due on receipt — payment expected immediately, no grace period.

None of these are universal rules. They're just common conventions — and you're allowed to pick whichever one fits how your business actually runs.

Net 15 vs. net 30: which is right for you?

Net 15 makes sense when:

• You're a small or solo operation and cash flow matters more to you than it does to a big client.
• You do residential or small-business work where clients pay from their own accounts (not routed through a corporate AP department with its own 30-day cycle).
• You want to signal "let's not let this drag."

Net 30 makes sense when:

• You're working with larger clients or businesses that have standard 30-day payment cycles baked into how they operate (this is genuinely common with corporate clients, and fighting it can cost you the relationship).
• The job or contract size is large enough that a client needs more runway to process payment internally.
• It's the industry norm for your specific trade, and clients expect it.

Due on receipt makes sense when:

• The job is small, one-off, or for a new client with no payment history with you.
• You've been burned by late payment before and want to remove ambiguity entirely.

How to choose without guessing

Ask one question: who's this invoice actually going to? A homeowner paying out of pocket for a repair doesn't need 30 days — they can pay from their phone the same day, and giving them a month just delays money you could have sooner. A property management company or general contractor with formal AP processes, on the other hand, may genuinely need that window, and net 15 terms might just get ignored or bounced back for "processing."

Match your terms to the client, not to what feels standard. It's completely normal to run net 15 for direct-to-consumer work and net 30 for your handful of bigger commercial accounts.

Communicate your terms clearly — every time

Whatever you pick, put it on the invoice in plain language ("Due within 15 days of invoice date") and mention it up front when you quote the job, not as a surprise buried in the fine print later. Clients who know the terms going in are far more likely to meet them.

Faster than either: with Featherwork, you can pair any payment terms with an online "Pay Now" button — so even a net-30 client can pay same-day if they want to. Terms set the deadline; making it easy is what actually moves the date up.