How to set up customer payment plans without risking non-payment

What the numbers show

Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count

• This comes up 166.9× more often in r/ecommerce than across the site as a whole.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

1. 1
   Searching for third-party financing partner companies
2. 2
   Requiring 100% upfront payment for the first two orders.
3. 3
   Asking for a 50% deposit if the total order size is large enough to scare off full upfront payment.
4. 4
   Gradually extending terms to net 15, then net 30, only after multiple on-time payments.
5. 5
   Adding a 1.5% monthly late fee for any net 30 terms.

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.