Vendor payment terms request prompt: free ChatGPT template
Updated · By Robert Breen
Use this when you want a supplier to change your payment terms, such as net 30 to net 45 for a busy season. The request works best when it's short, specific and honest about why. AI drafts often oversell: inflated order volumes, hints that you'll switch suppliers, or vague promises of "significant future business." This prompt keeps it to your real history, makes the ask exact, and gives the supplier room to counter.
The prompt
Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every [BLANK] with your own details. It uses the four parts from Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task and Format.
Role: You are the owner of [BUSINESS], writing to a supplier you want to keep working with. Context: Supplier and contact: [SUPPLIER]. Our history with them, facts only: [HISTORY]. What we're asking for: [REQUEST]. Why, in one or two honest sentences: [REASON]. Don't overstate our order volume or payment record, don't hint that we might move to a competitor, and don't promise future orders or amounts I haven't listed. Task: Write an email that asks for the change clearly, gives the reason briefly, and makes it easy to say yes, no, or "here's what we can do instead." Format: Subject line first. Under 150 words. Polite and direct, no flattery. End with one specific question they can answer in a line. Sign with my name and business.
Fill in the blanks
[BUSINESS]- Your business name and what it does.
[SUPPLIER]- The supplier's name and your contact there.
[HISTORY]- How long you've bought from them, roughly how much, and your payment record. Only what's true and checkable.
[REQUEST]- The exact change and how long it lasts, such as "net 45 on invoices dated October 1 to December 31."
[REASON]- The real reason, briefly. Suppliers respond better to a clear reason than to a sales pitch.
Example, filled in
A made-up example from the free lesson Build an AI Vendor Follow-Up Agent in n8n. Ridgeline Supply Co., the made-up distributor in the vendor follow-up lesson, buys boxes from Corrugo Box Supply. Its biggest customers pay slower in the holiday season, so it wants longer terms on its own box orders.
Role: You are the owner of Ridgeline Supply Co., a small warehouse and distribution business, writing to a supplier you want to keep working with. Context: Supplier and contact: Corrugo Box Supply, our rep Dana Kessler. Our history with them, facts only: customer for four years, about $8,000 in orders a month, and every invoice paid on time in 2026. What we're asking for: net 45 instead of net 30 on invoices dated October 1 to December 31, back to net 30 in January. Why, in one or two honest sentences: three of our largest customers pay us on net 45 during the holiday rush, and our biggest box orders land in the same months. Don't overstate our order volume or payment record, don't hint that we might move to a competitor, and don't promise future orders or amounts I haven't listed. Task: Write an email that asks for the change clearly, gives the reason briefly, and makes it easy to say yes, no, or "here's what we can do instead." Format: Subject line first. Under 150 words. Polite and direct, no flattery. End with one specific question they can answer in a line. Sign with my name and business: Mike Hale, Ridgeline Supply Co.
What a good answer looks like
- A subject line that states the ask, such as "Request: net 45 terms for Q4."
- The four years, the $8,000 a month and the on-time record, exactly as given.
- A clear end date, so the change reads as temporary and specific.
- A closing question like "Can you approve net 45 for Q4 invoices, or is there a version of this that works for you?"
How to check it before you use it
An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the Reply Faster lesson: check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out.
- Check the history line against your records. A supplier can look up your payment history in seconds.
- Delete any hint of leaving, "valued partnership" padding, or promise of more orders.
- Make sure the dates in the request match what you can actually manage.
- If they say yes, get the new terms confirmed in writing before you rely on them.
Why this prompt works
The Context carries the facts and the guardrails, so the draft can be persuasive without being misleading. Ending on one answerable question makes a reply more likely. For chasing a late purchase order with the same supplier, see the vendor late order follow-up prompt.
Practice it in the free lesson
Build an AI Vendor Follow-Up Agent in n8n: Build an AI agent for Ridgeline Supply Co. that writes follow-up messages for late or pending purchase orders and saves them to Google Sheets — chat trigger, AI Agent, system prompt, model, memory, and the Sheets tool. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of n8n, and nothing touches your real accounts.
Also useful: Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task, Format
Terms used here
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