Net 30 means payment is due 30 days after the invoice date; net 90 stretches that to three months. In creator contracts the real risk is the trigger: many clauses start the clock at content approval, not delivery. Both the number and the trigger are commonly negotiable.
Here is how the delay compounds in practice. You deliver a video on 1 June 2026. The brand approves it on 20 June 2026, and the contract says you may invoice on approval, at net 90. Payment is now due on 18 September 2026, three and a half months after you did the work. The contract permits every step of that timeline. The delay was built in on the day you signed, which is why the payment clause deserves as much attention as the fee.
The payment clause, decoded
Show: Find the section headed "Payment", "Fees" or "Invoicing". Wording to watch: "Payment shall be made within ninety (90) days of receipt of a valid invoice", "within 60 days of Brand's written approval of all Deliverables", and quieter lines like "subject to Brand's standard payment run" or "invoices received after the 25th are processed the following month".
Decode: The number sets how long the brand can hold your money after the clock starts; the trigger sets when the clock starts at all. An approval trigger with no approval deadline means the brand controls both ends of the timeline. Net 90 from approval can turn one video into a four-month wait.
Fix: Ask to invoice on delivery of the final files, not on approval, and ask for a shorter term. Say: "My terms are net 30 from delivery of final files. If your finance team is set up for net 60, I ask for 50% on signature instead." A deposit converts a long payment term into a cash-flow cushion.
The approval trap
Approval triggers are common and not unreasonable in themselves; brands want to check the content matches the brief before money moves. The problem is open-ended approval. Ask for two things: a cap on revision rounds (two is common), and a deemed-approval line, for example: "Content is deemed approved five working days after delivery unless written changes are requested." That keeps the brand's review rights intact while ending the wait that has no end date.
What UK law says about late payment
For business-to-business work, which typically includes a creator invoicing a brand, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 commonly allows the supplier to claim statutory interest above the Bank of England base rate, plus a fixed recovery sum, once a debt is overdue. Contract terms can modify that position, which is one reason unusually long net terms are worth questioning rather than accepting as standard. In practice, most late invoices are resolved with a polite chaser that references the agreed terms, long before interest enters the conversation.
When payment turns into a dispute
Two other clauses decide what an unpaid invoice would actually cost you to chase. A one-way legal costs clause can leave you covering the brand's legal costs in a dispute, even one about your own unpaid invoice. A mandatory arbitration clause can route the disagreement into a private process with its own fees. Both are worth reading before you sign, not after an invoice goes quiet.
Check the whole payment picture
Net terms rarely travel alone. A kill fee clause decides whether a cancelled campaign pays anything for work already done. Usage and exclusivity clauses decide whether the fee was adequate in the first place. Payment is one of the 16 risk areas Contractiv8 checks, alongside termination mechanics, deliverables and dispute resolution.