The terms you will actually meet
Net 7, Net 15, Net 30, Net 60. The number is days from the invoice date. Net 30 is the default in most of the UK and US business-to-business work. Net 60 and beyond are common when invoicing large corporates and are usually not negotiable.
Due on receipt. Payment expected immediately. Honest about the intent but weak in practice — without a concrete date, accounts payable systems tend to schedule it into the next run anyway. Net 7 achieves the same thing with a date a system can act on.
EOM. End of month. Useful when a client runs a single monthly payment cycle, because it aligns your invoice with a run that already exists rather than fighting it.
CIA / PIA. Cash or payment in advance. Standard for new clients, small jobs, and any work where your exposure is mostly materials.
2/10 Net 30. An early-settlement discount. Costs you 2% to be paid twenty days sooner. Whether that is worth it depends on what the cash is worth to you — annualised, it is an expensive discount, so use it deliberately rather than as a default.
Choosing terms
Shorter is better only up to the point where it stops being credible. Net 7 to a large company whose payment run is monthly will not get you paid in seven days; it will get your invoice paid whenever the run happens, with your terms ignored. Match the term to how the client actually pays, and spend your effort on invoicing promptly instead — the single biggest driver of when you get paid is when you sent the invoice, not what the terms said.
For new clients, a deposit up front does more to protect you than any payment term. For established clients who pay reliably, Net 30 is rarely worth renegotiating.
Make the date explicit
Write both the term and the resulting date: “Net 30 — due 14 September 2026”. A term alone requires someone to do arithmetic, and anything requiring arithmetic gets deferred. The generator fills the due date automatically thirty days out, and you can change it.
If you are not paid
Terms are also what you rely on when payment is late. A term stated on the invoice is what makes an amount overdue on a specific date, which is the precondition for chasing it and for charging interest.
Last reviewed August 2026.