Invoices, Payment Links or QR: Choosing How to Ask for Money

Three tools, one job: getting a customer to pay. They cost the same to process, they take about the same time to send, and they convert at very different rates depending on the situation. Choosing well is worth more than most rate negotiations, because the fastest payment is the one that happens before you leave the property.

Invoices: for work that needs a record

An invoice is a document. It states what was done, what it costs, when payment is due, and it carries a number both sides can reference. That formality is exactly right for commercial customers, for larger jobs, for anything a bookkeeper will process, and for work that might be questioned months later.

It is exactly wrong for a $180 residential repair where the customer is standing in front of you with a card. Sending an invoice there converts a payment you could have taken now into a receivable you will chase.

• Use invoices for: commercial accounts, purchase-order work, larger jobs, anything with terms, anything a property manager will pay.
• Include the service period, a reference the customer can match, and consistent formatting month to month.
• Set automatic reminders. Most late invoices are forgotten rather than refused.
• Offer bank payment on large invoices, ACH at 1% capped at $10 turns a $9,000 job from a couple of hundred dollars in processing into ten.

Payment links: for the customer who is not in front of you

A payment link is a URL that opens a hosted checkout for a specific amount. Text it, email it, or attach a reusable one to a quote. The customer pays from their own phone, entering their own card.

Links are the right tool whenever the job is done and the customer is absent, the homeowner who was at work, the tenant who let you in, the customer who says just send me something. They are also the safe way to take a payment over the phone: instead of reading digits aloud to someone writing them down, you send a link and the customer types their own card.

Two practical notes. Make links single-use for one-off jobs so nobody pays twice, and reusable only where you intend repeat payment. And send them the same day, conversion on a link sent within an hour of finishing the work is dramatically better than one sent tomorrow.

QR codes: for the counter and the truck

A QR code is a payment link in physical form. Printed on an invoice, stuck to a truck door, propped at a counter, or shown on a phone screen, it removes the step of typing or clicking.

It works well at a counter with no terminal, in a storefront where the customer enters their own amount, and on printed invoices where a paper document needs a digital path to payment. It works poorly as a substitute for taking the card when the card is right there.

What each one costs

All three are card-not-present transactions, so they price identically, 2.90% + 30¢ with Paydigo. The cheaper option is the one people forget: if the customer and their card are physically present, tapping is card-present pricing at 2.60% + 15¢. On a $500 job that is about $1.65 saved, every time, for doing the thing that also gets you paid immediately.

So the cost hierarchy is simple. Tap when you can. Link or QR when the customer is not there. Invoice when the work needs a document, and push large invoices to bank payment where the $10 ACH cap does real work.

A decision rule you can train

Give crews one sentence. If the customer is with you, tap their card. If they are not, text a payment link before you leave the property. If it is commercial, or over a threshold you set, send an invoice with terms and offer bank payment.

That rule, applied consistently, does more for cash flow than any collections process, because it moves the payment to the moment of highest willingness, immediately after the work is done and the customer is satisfied.

Deposits and progress payments

For larger jobs, none of the three is a single decision. Take a deposit by link or tap at scheduling, an interim payment at a defined milestone, and the balance on completion. Splitting the amount reduces your exposure, improves cash flow and, counter-intuitively, raises the chance of full payment, because a customer who has already paid twice is invested in closing the job cleanly.

What to take away

Invoices are documents for commercial and large work; payment links are for the customer who is not in front of you; QR codes are links made physical for counters and printed invoices. All three price the same, and all three cost more than simply tapping a card that is standing in front of you. Train the rule, send links before leaving the property, and put large invoices on bank payment.