Net 60 is a payment term meaning the invoice is due 60 calendar days from the invoice date. It's common with large enterprise clients — and it can seriously strain a freelancer's cash flow if you're not prepared for it.
Net 60 means the full invoice amount is due within 60 calendar days of the invoice date. Example: invoice dated May 1 → payment due June 30.
Net 60 is almost exclusively used by mid-to-large enterprises, government agencies, and companies with formal accounts payable departments. These organizations run payment cycles on monthly or bi-monthly schedules and batch-process invoices rather than paying them as they arrive.
For a Fortune 500 company, paying every invoice within 15 days would require a massive AP operation. Net 60 gives them time to route invoices through approval chains, match them to purchase orders, and process them in payment runs.
Small businesses and individual clients almost never ask for Net 60. If a small business requests Net 60 terms, it may be a sign of cash flow problems — something to factor into your decision about whether to accept.
Net 60 means you complete work in month 1, wait through month 2, and get paid at the start of month 3. If you're working on multiple projects simultaneously, you can have $20,000 in accounts receivable while your bank account is nearly empty.
Net 60 essentially means you're providing your client a 60-day interest-free loan. Know this going in and price accordingly.
This is manageable if you have cash reserves. It's a serious problem if you're running month-to-month on your finances.
Ask yourself three questions before agreeing to Net 60:
For any project with Net 60 terms, require a 25–50% deposit before starting. This reduces your maximum exposure and confirms the client is committed. The deposit is typically due immediately, not on Net 60 terms.
Structure your project to bill at milestones — 25% at kickoff, 50% at mid-project, 25% at completion. Each milestone invoice starts its own 60-day clock. Instead of waiting 60 days for one payment, you're receiving payments throughout the project.
Net 60 is often the client's default, not a hard requirement. It's worth asking: "Our standard terms are Net 30 — is there flexibility there?" Many enterprise clients can accommodate Net 30 for smaller invoices or for vendors they want to retain. You won't always succeed, but asking never hurts.
If you work regularly with Net 60 clients, maintain 2–3 months of operating expenses as a cash buffer. Treat Net 60 income as not available until it arrives — never count it for the current month's expenses.
Some businesses offer early payment discounts to incentivize faster payment on Net 60 invoices. "2/10 Net 60" means the client gets a 2% discount if they pay within 10 days, otherwise the full amount is due in 60 days. If cash flow is your priority, this can be worth offering — you give up 2% to cut your wait time from 60 days to 10.
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