Get paid faster: pay link vs bank transfer

The invoice isn't the problem. The paying is. Every step between "I should pay this" and money in your account adds a day, and typed-in bank details are about six steps.

Why bank transfer is slow

Think about what you're asking. The customer has to open their banking app, add you as a payee, copy a BSB and account number without fat-fingering a digit, type the amount, type a reference, and confirm. Nobody does that standing at the front door. They do it "tonight". Tonight becomes the weekend, the weekend becomes you chasing.

None of that is malice. It's friction. Remove the friction and most people pay on the spot.

A pay link removes the steps

A pay link turns all of that into one tap. They open the invoice, hit Pay Now, and their card or phone wallet does the rest. The whole thing takes less time than finding their banking password. That's the entire trick: make paying you the easiest thing they'll do that day.

The three ways money reaches you

• Card via a pay link. Fastest to get paid, because it happens while you're still in the driveway. There's a small card processing fee, and the money typically lands in a day or two. The fee is the cost of not chasing.
• PayID. The transfer itself is instant and free, and an email or phone number beats a BSB. But the customer still has to open their banking app and do the work, so it's still "tonight" territory.
• Bank transfer. Free, and fine for regulars who pay like clockwork. For everyone else it's the slow lane, and a typo'd reference gives you a mystery payment to untangle.

You don't have to pick one. Put the pay link front and centre and leave bank details on the invoice for the people who prefer them.

Send it before you leave the job

Speed isn't just how they pay, it's when you ask. An invoice sent from the ute while the job's still warm gets paid days faster than one sent Sunday night. Send it on the spot and say "I've just flicked the invoice through, there's a pay button on it if you want to knock it over now." Half of them will. And make sure the invoice itself is valid and complete, because a missing detail is an excuse to sit on it.