Percentage late fees on events invoices

> Cost: Paid. Paidnice from $69/month; your own email domain needs Pro (from $99/month).

Honest note: rules automation, not AI. Paidnice's story says on-time payment went from 80% to 100% within one month, and also that late fees collected rose 10%. If everyone paid on time, there'd be no late fees, so at least one figure is loose or covers a different period. Read it as "much better, quickly", not as exact numbers.

Prerequisites

• A Xero organisation with your customer invoices in it (Paidnice also works with QuickBooks Online).
• Admin access to Xero so you can approve the connection.
• Your payment terms, and any late-fee wording, already in your invoices or contracts. Late fees need a legal basis, so check with your accountant.
• Customers' email addresses (and mobile numbers if you want SMS) in Xero.

Step-by-step setup

Step 1. Connect Xero. Sign up at paidnice.com, click Xero and approve.

Step 2. Send from your own address (Pro). Go to Organization Settings → Email Preferences → Custom Domain, enter your domain, add the 3–4 CNAME records Paidnice shows at your DNS host, then click Verify Domain and set the From Name and From Address.

Step 3. Group customers by history. For example "Corporate events" and "Private bookings". Use Move Contacts to Group on the Contacts tab so each gets its own rules.

Step 4. Add the reminder sequence. In each group, click Add New Automation Policy → Email: one before the due date, one on the day, one a few days after. Mention the late fee in the last one.

Step 5. Add a percentage late fee. Choose Add new policy → Invoice Late Charge → percentage, set a grace period and choose one-off or recurring.

Step 6. Test, then activate. Test on your own contact, turn off Xero's own reminders, and set policies to Active.

Easier: let your AI do it

On the Pro plan (from $99/month) Paidnice has an official MCP server. That's a secure plug that lets an AI chat such as Claude or ChatGPT read your Paidnice data.

1. In Paidnice, go to Settings → Advanced → API & MCP → Connect an agent (MCP) and copy the address https://api.paidnice.com/mcp.
2. In Claude, open Customize → Connectors, click +, then Add custom connector. Name it Paidnice, paste the address and click Add (Claude's free plan allows one custom connector). ChatGPT needs a paid plan with developer mode turned on.
3. Sign in to Paidnice when asked, pick your organisation, and choose Read (safest) or Read and Write.

Today it can read customer replies, contacts and invoices, and update contact people. Sending reminders and building policies by chat are still in beta. Try: "Which customers replied to reminders this week, and what did they say?" You can revoke access any time under API & MCP.

What success looks like

Event invoices are paid by the due date and you can plan staff and supplier payments with confidence.

Common issues & fixes

• A regular corporate client got a fee: Completed Actions → Remove late fee, then move them to a gentler group.
• Reminders in spam: finish verifying your domain.

Optional: Maintenance

• Monthly: check on-time rate and fees waived.

Copy-paste prompt

I run an events studio. Invoices are due [NUMBER] days before the event. Write a friendly reminder 5 days before due, a due-date reminder, and an overdue notice 3 days after that says a [X]% late fee applies after [NUMBER] more days. Keep each under 70 words and match a fun, creative brand voice.

Sources

• Case: Paidnice success story (paint-and-wine events studio, New Zealand). Credit: the studio's team (vendor-published).
• Paidnice Help: Custom domain for reminders and statements
• Paidnice Help: Late fees and interest
• Paidnice Help: Sending email reminders (advanced)
• Paidnice: AI agents (MCP)
• Paidnice pricing