Invoice Payment Terms Explained: Net 30, Net 15, and Due on Receipt

A payment term states how long the client has to pay, counted from a fixed point — usually the invoice date. "Net 30" means payment is due 30 days after the invoice was issued, not 30 days after the client "gets around to it" or 30 days after the work finished.

The ambiguity almost always comes from that starting point. If the invoice date and the completion date are different (common on longer projects), spell out which one the countdown starts from.

A handful of terms cover most invoicing situations:

• Due on Receipt — payment is expected as soon as the invoice arrives. Common for small jobs, one-off work, or new clients without an established payment history.
• Net 15 / Net 30 / Net 60 — payment is due 15, 30, or 60 days after the invoice date. Net 30 is the most common default in B2B work; Net 60 is more typical for larger enterprise clients with slower internal approval processes.
• End of Month (EOM) — payment is due by the end of the calendar month the invoice was issued in, regardless of the exact issue date.
• Early-payment discount terms (e.g. "2/10 Net 30") — the client gets a small discount (2%) if they pay within 10 days, otherwise the full amount is due at 30 days.

Shorter terms improve your cash flow but can be a harder sell to larger clients whose accounts payable process simply doesn’t move that fast — a Net 30 request to a company that only runs payment batches monthly may functionally become Net 45 no matter what the invoice says.

A reasonable default for new or small clients is Due on Receipt or Net 15. For established clients or larger companies, Net 30 is usually the realistic middle ground. Reserve tighter terms for situations where you have leverage — rush work, deposits, or a client with a history of paying late.

Put payment terms in the contract or proposal before work starts, not for the first time on the invoice. An invoice should confirm terms the client already agreed to, never introduce new ones.

On the invoice itself, show both the term ("Net 30") and the actual due date as a calendar date. Relying on the client to do the math from the invoice date to figure out when payment is due is where most "we didn’t realize it was due" disputes come from.

If a client has paid late more than once, it’s reasonable to shorten their terms on future invoices, request a deposit upfront, or move them to Due on Receipt. This isn’t punitive — it’s adjusting to the actual payment behavior you’ve observed, the same way a bank adjusts credit terms based on repayment history.