How to send a payment link to a customer (and get the right amount)

"Just send it to my username" works until someone sends $45 instead of $54, or pays the wrong person with a similar name. A payment link fixes that: one tap opens the customer's payment app with your name and the exact amount already filled in.

When a payment link beats a price list

• One-off jobs: a custom cake, a home visit, a catering order.
• Deposits: part of the price up front to hold a date.
• Balances: the rest, once the job is done.
• Regular bills: weekly lessons, monthly cleaning, a standing order.

What a good payment link does

1. Opens the app they already use. Cash App, Venmo and PayPal can open with the amount entered. Zelle has no payment link, so the customer needs your name, the amount and a note to copy.
2. Carries a note, so you can tell which payment is which.
3. Shows what it's for: the lines, the total and the due date.
4. Lets them pay by card if they'd rather, when you take cards.
5. Tells you when it's paid, or makes it easy to check.

How to send one with Utilica

Make an invoice with a payment link: add the lines, add tax or leave it off, set a due date and choose which ways it can be paid. Text or DM the link, or add their email and we send it. Cards go through your own Stripe or Square account and are marked paid by themselves.

Following up without nagging

For money owed on a schedule, set a payment reminder once, weekly, every two weeks or monthly. The first email goes on the due date or a few days before. If it isn't paid, we follow up on the due date and again 3 and 7 days late, so you don't have to write "just checking in".

A few tips

• Send the link the moment the job is agreed. Payments slow down the longer you wait.
• Put the job in the note ("Saturday cake, 2 dozen"), so the payment explains itself.
• Take a deposit for anything you buy supplies for. Here's how to ask for one.