In the US: Up-front, monthly or annually (for a discount), ACH. On one of my current projects, we gave a MAJOR discount to our first two customers for 3-year co

In the US: Up-front, monthly or annually (for a discount), ACH. On one of my current projects, we gave a MAJOR discount to our first two customers for 3-year contracts paid up front. The projects were large enough that this almost (for certain definitions of 'almost') funded the product/service development. If the customer wants different terms, we stick GE-Capital between us to deal with the impedance-mismatch. Outside the US, similar structure (not ACH, of course), and usually with either DB or HSBC there to work out any mutual trade-finance/payment-timing issues standing between us. Sticking a bank in-between works well on a number of fronts, and one is that the client doesn't owe you -- they owe the bank. It's not free, but saves a lot of hassle for international deals. Even domestic.