How Do You Charge?half Pay, Deposit?
Decorating By TinaJoy07 Updated 22 Feb 2007 , 1:22pm by SweetConfectionsChef
We only charge them when they pick up their cake. For wedding cakes we charge a non refundable $50.00 fee and that goes aganst the final sale price of the cake. Now if they cnx on you then place them on the watch list and the second time they do it we put them on the do not sale list.
My clients always pay when they pick up their cake. Almost 1900 cakes in about 19 years, and this is how I have always done it, with no problems.
Whatever works for you, and what you feel comfortable with, is what you should do. 
I ask them to deposit 50 percent to my bank account and pay the rest upon pick up.
I used to ask them to pay when they come pick up but I've had a few instances of no-shows.
Especially annoying if its a cake with their picture on top...hard to sell that!!!
Wedding cakes are a 50% deposit at time of order/contract with full payment due 21 days before event and birthday cakes, ect are due in full at time of order. I will let repeat customers pay upon pick-up but there are only a select few. Why wait until you are burned to develop a policy that insures your payment? JMO.
I tell my brides-to-be that if they book w/i 7 days of the consultation I only require a 25% deposit. If they book after 7 days, its a 50% deposit. It kinda acts as an incentive and shows me whose really serious. Final payment is due 2 weeks prior to the wedding.
For birthday and other special occassion cakes, its paymnet upon pick-up. I've only had one no show. Oh yeah, I always request CASH ONLY for a first time customer. Afterwards, I will accept their checks. This way I can protect myself from someone picking up a cake on Friday or Saturday, writing a check, and not having the funds available on Monday.
HTH,
Rhonda
Because a 25 year track record tells me it seems to be working pretty well.
That's why I said it's just my opinion! I think it depends a lot on where you are located. In my small Old Town Spring, we had a lady go around and write thousands of $$ of worthless checks to small business owners one weekend. None could be collected on because individually none of the checks were written for more than $100. My policy protects me from a customer paying with a bad check, stolen credit card or not picking the order up. It works for me as your policy works for you. I wasn't directing my response to you in my first post indydebi, I was directing it to the original poster. And also, when I made my policy my words to myself were "why wait until I'm burned to make people pay up front".
I was wondering the same thing so I am glad this question was posted! Thanks for all the info!
A friendly reminder helps with a warning that if full payment is not recv'd in x amount of time than order is cancelled. Deposits that I collect are not refunded, no exceptions once the 2 weeks has past. in my contracts I state that cancellations must be made by a certain date or no refund.
If someone doesn't make the final payment on time--21 days; two weeks; whatever--what do you do then?
I call them/email them/hound them 
until I get my money. If it's less than a week before the event and I still haven't received payment, then I will cancel the order. That's speaking in generalities, though ... it doesn't happen to me very often (thankfully!), so I handle it on a case by case basis.
To answer the OP's question ...
non-wedding orders under $100: payment upon pickup/delivery
non-wedding orders over $100: payment in full is due 10 days before event
wedding cakes: $50 non-refundable deposit (applied to total balance) to hold the date and guarantee current prices; remaining balance is due 10 days before wedding
If someone doesn't make the final payment on time--21 days; two weeks; whatever--what do you do then?
The order is cancelled and the payments/deposit is not refunded.
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