subject: 30 days definitions, when the Net is after you [print this page] 30 Days, It's like a magic number that people just rip the air, they are used to hear "30 days money back guarantee" and even product sales or sales campaign, Why 30 day payment terms?
One major difference between the commercial and consumer transactions that most of them, if not all, consumer transactions are paid in cash or by credit card at time of sale. Therefore, companies need not to worry about lending to consumers more than credited customers, and can carry out their activities in "all cash" premises. This allows to business owners focus on on their most important activities, "get more business" because they do not have to pay credits to slow and go through the expense of collecting such bad accounts.
For a Small Business, 30 day payment terms means trouble, why?, well you always have to plan ahead your cash flow a month in advance, and just think, if the payment is late, you are going to get stuck, and worst case scenario, you will end it up with a couple of debtors and soon you will be looking for a commercial collection agency. You need to do what it fits to you, the best practice is knowing their billing cycle, read Commercial Accounts don't pay on time, knowing their billing cycle gives you the advantage of invoicing just on time, and prevents you from short cash flow.
Let your future custumers or the ones you are going to lend credit, fill a simple credit application, you can ask information like;