Charging a Deposit for Large Orders

It’s always a good practice to collect a 50% deposit when the order is placed or have an authorized credit card on file. Sometimes people will say that they can’t pay you 50% now and can only cut one check when the order is delivered. What you can do is have on file a credit card that is only charged if for some reason the order is canceled before its finished. This protects the shop owner from spending all kinds of money on raw materials and then the day an order is supposed to get delivered, the customer calls and cancels the order.

Having that policy of collecting 50%, the shop owner has the prerogative to enforce it or not. The shop owner has the option to waive the deposit as a gesture of goodwill if they want to get the relationship off on a good foot and don’t want the customer to feel like they have to jump through hoops just to place the order.

-Vince DiCecco, Your Personal Business Trainer

Read more about charging setup fees for large orders.