Deposit request: how to ask for a deposit politely

How do you say a deposit is required?

State it as part of the terms, not as a favour: “A deposit of 50% ([amount]) is due on acceptance of this quote, and work starts when it's received.” Put it in the quote itself, so it's agreed before they say yes.

Same sentence, every client. The less it sounds like a negotiation, the less it becomes one.

How to politely ask for a deposit?

Lead with what the deposit does for them: it books the team and holds their start date. Then give the amount, the due date and what happens next. “To lock in the 12th, I take a 50% deposit before work begins. Invoice attached, due Friday.”

Don't apologise for it and don't hedge. Polite is clear and warm, not sorry.

Retainer vs deposit: what's the difference?

A deposit is a part payment of a project's price, taken before the work starts, and it comes off the final invoice. A retainer is a recurring payment that reserves your time or covers an ongoing block of work, month after month.

Some people also call money held against future work a retainer, so name it in the quote: “deposit, deducted from the final invoice” or “monthly retainer, [x] hours”. If you're setting up the second kind, use the retainer template.

The retainer agreement template

How do I word a request for payment?

Four things, in this order: what it's for, how much, when it's due and how to pay. “The deposit for [project] is [amount], due [date]. Here's the link to pay it.” Everything else is padding.

Say what happens once it's in (the kickoff details, the start date). It turns the payment into the first step of the job.

What do 50% upfront payment terms look like?

“50% on acceptance, 50% on delivery, payable within 14 days.” For anything longer than a month, tie the second half to dates or milestones instead of a single payment at the end, and put each date in the quote.

Billing on dates, not on delivery, keeps you from waiting on a client who sits on a logo file for four months. The SOW template has a milestone payment schedule built in.

The SOW template, with milestone payments

How to request a deposit on an invoice in QuickBooks Online?

QuickBooks Online doesn't have a deposit invoice as such. The usual routes are to raise an invoice for the deposit amount as its own line, or, on the plans that have progress invoicing, to create an estimate and invoice a percentage of it. Then you raise the next invoice yourself when the next payment is due.

The Handl way: add the deposit to the project's billing plan as the first milestone, with its amount and date. Handl drafts each invoice on its date for you to send, and syncs it to QuickBooks or Xero.

How milestone billing works in Handl