If you’re a freelancer, blogger, or anyone who makes money in the online world, you’re probably familiar with PayPal. Namely, the fees you’ve grown accustomed to paying every time you make any money. PayPal charges 2.9% + $0.30 for every transaction you invoice. Sound small? Last year I paid over $1,000 in fees to PayPal. Holy Moly! It was one of my largest business expenses. Can you think of any other service you used last year that cost you that much money?! Luckily, I figured out a way to bypass these fees and I’m kicking myself that I didn’t discover this sooner. Freelancers, you need this.
The “secret” is that I started using an invoicing software called Freshbooks. I’d known about Freshbooks, but never signed up because there’s a monthly fee you have to pay (it starts at $19.95/month) and I figured I could just continue using PayPal fo’ “free.” Anyways, Freshbooks has a feature where instead of collecting standard PayPal payments, you can collect them as PayPal Business Payments.
The difference?
Instead of being charged that 2.9% + $0.30 fee, you’re charged only 50 cents. 50 cents. Every.single.time. The monthly fee I pay for Freshbooks more than pays for itself in the money I save from this option. Take a look at how setting up an invoice looks below:
That little checkbox is all you need! Woop woop!
Now, this doesn’t mean that none of your invoices go fee-free. If your client pays with a credit card, you’ll still be subjected to the usual expenses. But if anyone pays through this special PayPal feature (there’s always some who do!), then you’ll be saving a whole lot of moo-lah in the long run. Alternatively, if you want to be extra frugal, you could turn credit card payments off altogether and only use PayPal Business Payments, allowing clients to pay with their checking account and giving you more money in your pocket. #winning.
Interested? You can check out Freshbooks right here.
Do you use an invoicing software to bill clients? Which one?
*Note: This isn’t sponsored, I just happen to think this feature is the bomb diggity. š
p.s. How I Went From My Day Job to Full-Time Freelancer in Three Months + Home Office Inspiration
