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Vent: A client said my invoice was 'confusing' because I didn't list my hours
I sent a flat rate invoice for a website update, just the total and the service. They emailed back asking for a breakdown, saying they needed it for their records. I've done this for years and never had an issue, but this is the third time this year. I think some clients just expect an itemized list no matter what. How do you handle flat fee billing to avoid this back and forth?
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dylanwells4mo ago
That "mini description" trick works because it gives the accounting software folks their checkbox without making it look like you're hiding something. I do the same thing now and it saves about half the follow-up emails.
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dylanwells6mo ago
Yeah, that's a classic. I've started putting a single line on my flat rate invoices that just says "Flat project fee for [service name]" right above the total. It acts like a mini description without doing a fake hourly breakdown. For the really picky ones, I'll add a short list of what the project included in the initial email, like "this covers the three page updates and the form fix we talked about". It cuts down on the questions a lot. Some people just have a box to check in their accounting software and that one line gives them what they need.
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michael_williams6mo ago
It's like when you get a receipt that just says "goods" and your brain wants to know if it was the milk or the bread. People are trained for itemized lists now. My gym bill is just "membership" but my power company breaks it down to the penny. That mixed message makes everyone expect a breakdown for everything, even a simple flat fee.
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abby_murphy6mo ago
Totally feel this. I once spent ten minutes staring at a receipt that just said "services" trying to remember if I got a haircut or just bought a really expensive comb. My brain short circuits without a little detail. It's like we're all trained to need that tiny bit of story behind the charge now, even when it doesn't really matter.
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