[thelist] pricing for web sites?

[Bob Meetin]

Martin Burns wrote:
> Oh it should always be on the clock and communicated as such, but as  
> Joel suggested, you may like to take a considered case-by-case view as  
> to whether you actually bill for it.
>
> That way, the client *knows* when they're getting unpaid work; even if  
> you don't draw the inference directly, they will feel that they owe  
> you a bit.
>
> Cheers
> Martin
It's all case by case. Sometimes when you operate in a vacuum you need 
to step out and entertain how others handle similar situations.

Next chapter in the thread.  Probably many of us manage web hosting and 
perhaps separately, email hosting, for our clients, which of course 
leads to regular charges from the service providers and maybe some 
"administrative" time.  In my case I use different services for 
webhosting and email hosting because email hosting is not a core 
competency of the web hosting provider (diplomatically put).

Unfortunately for me and some of the rest reading this message I do not 
yet have an automated billing system to handle payments efficiently, 
thus am currently invoicing quarterly and regularly see payments one to 
two months later.  That's quite a lot of holding time due to my laziness.

Q1) General feedback please?
Q2) Any suggestions on automated and/or recurring payment solutions?  
Yes I can set up recurring payments through PayPal, but there is a fee 
and it "feels" awkward.
Q3) Payment discounts - any feedback on offering payment discounts such 
as 2%10, net30?

-Bob