They want you to buy it. Here’s the extra.

The vendor invoice is not your hourly floor

In 2026 the ping is still “can you grab the stock,” “we need that font,” “run $400 in ads,” or “hire the motion person, we’ll repay you.” That is not more production. That is cash they asked you to put on a vendor. Hours for the job still live on quote a project — production + meetings × the hourly floor from the hub, plus a buffer you set there. This card does not rebuild that quote. It does not multiply hours. It multiplies a receipt. Income target, billable weeks, and the tax slice you typed sit on the hub. This page does not copy them and is not a 50-state tax engine. Figures here are labeled USD so $400 × 1.15 is easy to read. Switch currency on the hub if you invoice in something else. If the floor itself is still a guess, set it on how to set a freelance rate before you mix a receipt into a job.

Billed extras = pasted cost × (1 + markup share you type). Keep on the receipt = pasted cost × that share. The share starts at 0. Zero means pass-through at cost: they repay what you paid, you keep $0 on that line. Type 0.15 when you want a 15% example sitting next to the receipt. That 0.15 is a number you typed. It is not a law, not a procurement statute, and not “what agencies charge.” This card will not invent a 20% agency markup, a 25% handling fee, or a blog’s “everyone marks up vendors.”

Worked USD: $400 stock at 0.15 → $460 billed, $60 keep

First preset: pasted cost $400. Markup share 0.15. Billed extras: $400 × 1.15 = $460. Keep on the receipt: $400 × 0.15 = $60.

That $60 is not new screens. It is not travel. It is not a wider grant on files you already made. It is keep because they asked you to buy the stock (or the font, the ads, the contractor) and you typed 0.15 on top of the $400. You chose 0.15. This card does not treat that figure as official.

Second preset: pass-through. Same $400, markup share 0. Billed extras $400. Keep $0. They repay the receipt. The extras line is the cost. Do not paste a handling percent onto a pass-through they already agreed to pay at cost.

Third preset: you were going to eat the $400. The vendor still cashes the $400. If that line never hits the invoice, you spent $400 and billed $0 extras. Swallowing a vendor bill they named does not make you flexible. It teaches the next “just expense it.” Say the extras line out loud, or hand them the cash on purpose — do not treat the stock pack as complimentary.

This card is not the other money cards

A whole job — production hours, meetings, a risk buffer, one fixed fee — is quote a project. That math is hours × floor for the job. A stock license is not an hour. Do not bury a $400 foundry invoice inside “admin hours” and call it the same quote. Cut the job there. Put the receipt here.

They did not add screens. Extra NEW hours on a live job belong on the change-order add-on — those hours × the floor, then add that product to the quote already sent. A stock pack is not extra scope. If they want both — new pages and a font they named — price the new hours there and the receipt here. Two lines. Do not smuggle a vendor invoice into “a couple more hours.”

They did not ask you to find a motion person, copywriter, or photographer you are not. Hours you type to hunt them, write the brief, and review their cut live on the specialist card — 3h × $90 = $270. That clock is your coordination, not this receipt. Their invoice still pastes here (share 0 or a share you type). Two lines if they want both: find / brief / review hours there, this vendor bill here. Do not launder a $2,400 motion invoice into “producer hours,” and do not launder outreach into a fake 20% markup on this card.

They did not ask you to plan hours a second shooter is on set after a quote that was you alone. That extra is hours they are on set × a rate you type for them on the second-shooter card — 8h × $60 = $480. Not 50% of the day. Not this receipt. Once they send a PDF, paste it here. Two lines if they want both: plan the $480 there, this vendor bill here. Do not launder an 8-hour B-cam into a fake handling percent.

They did not ask you to search, pick, and clear stock after a quote that assumed they would send the art, or that you would draw it. That hunt — keywords, picks, license checks — is hours you type × floor on the stock-license card. 2h × $90 = $180. Not a Getty take-rate, not a 20% markup, not a per-image mill. This card is still the library invoice. Two lines if they want both: search-and-clear hours there, this stock receipt here. Do not launder a $400 Getty bill into “a couple of image hours,” and do not launder the hunt into a fake markup on this extras line.

They did not ask you to show up. Hours in the room plus travel hours you type, with parking as dollars you already know, live on the on-site day card. A drive across town is not a font license. That garage ticket stays a dollar you paste, with no markup share on that card. If they also want you in the building and they named a contractor you should hire, keep travel on on-site-day and keep this receipt on this card.

They did not ask you to sleep there. A hotel folio they named is a receipt — paste it here, share 0 or a share you type. The extra for staying the night after a same-day quote is nights you type × an amount you type on the overnight card. 1 × $180 = $180 when those are the numbers you typed — not a GSA per diem, not $200 a night, not 50% of the day. This card is the folio. That card is the pillow. Two lines if they want both: the night extra and the room receipt. Do not launder a sleepover into “I’ll just expense the hotel.”

They did not ask you to find and book a third-party studio after a quote that assumed their office or yours. That hunt — availability, a hold, a tech spec — is hours you type × floor on the studio card. 2h × $90 = $180. Not $200/hour. Not a city rate table. This card is still the rental invoice. Two lines if they want both: find-and-book hours there, this bay / stage bill here. Do not launder a $1,200 studio PDF into “a couple of booking hours,” and do not launder the hold into a fake markup on this extras line.

They did not ask to run the same files in paid social. Broader rights on hours already in the quote live on the usage-license card — those hours × floor × a multiplier you choose. Buying ad inventory they asked you to purchase is a receipt. Widening the grant on work you already priced is a license extra. Two products. Two numbers. Do not tuck a media buy inside a usage line, and do not tuck a bigger license inside a stock invoice.

They did not ask you to rebuild the file for press. Hours you type to make a press PDF — bleeds, crop marks, CMYK — live on the print-ready card. 3h × $90 = $270. Not 20% of the project, not a per-page mill. This card is the printer’s shop invoice they forwarded. That card is your hours on the file. Two lines if they want both: the shop bill here, the press hours there. Do not launder a $1,200 printer invoice into “a couple of print hours,” and do not launder bleed setup into a fake markup on this receipt.

They did not ask you to dump, label, and hand off unedited camera cards after a quote that was the edit. That clock is hours you type × floor on the raw-footage card. 2h × $90 = $180. Not 50% of the shoot. Not a per-GB mill. This card is still the Drive plan, WeTransfer invoice, or postage label for the SSD they asked you to buy. Two lines if they want both: dump hours there, this storage / postage receipt here. Do not launder an SSD ship into “a couple of copy hours,” and do not launder dump labor into a fake per-GB markup on this extras line.

You type the share. This page will not invent a 20% agency markup

Procurement posts love a tidy handling percent. This card does not ship one. Stock, a foundry license, ad spend, a subcontractor — those are names on a receipt. The dollars are the cost you paste times one plus a share you enter. This page will not mint a 20% agency markup.

If they want a “standard,” the straight answer is this page does not have one. Show $460 billed / $60 keep, or type 0 and pass the $400 through. The share is yours. Skip speeches. If they will not confirm the extras line, do not put the vendor on your card.

Send the sentence before you pay the vendor

Say the pasted cost. Say the share you typed. Say billed extras. Say keep on the receipt. Copy the sentence so the extras line you send is the extras line on screen.

• 0.15 example. The $400.00 stock/fonts/ads/contractor cost they asked me to buy, at a 0.15 markup share I typed, bills $460.00. $60.00 of that is keep. Please confirm that extras line before I pay the vendor. This is planning math, not a 20% agency markup.
• Pass-through. The $400.00 cost they asked me to buy bills $400.00 at pass-through (markup share 0). Keep on that receipt is $0.00. Please confirm that extras line before I pay the vendor.
• Eat the receipt. If I eat the $400.00 they asked me to buy, I still spend $400.00 and I invoice $0.00 extras. That is not free. Please confirm $400.00 pass-through before I pay the vendor.

If the work itself grew — more pages, more cuts, more deliverables — leave this card. Name extra NEW hours on change-order, or rebuild the job on quote a project. If they only wanted you in the room, that day (commute included) is on-site-day, not this extras line.

Planning numbers, not a reimbursable-expense clause

This card is educational planning. It is not counsel on law, tax, purchasing, or collections, and it is not a 50-state tax engine. No required markup percent, no statutory handling fee, no “20% agency markup” chart. Use the agreement you already have. If you need an enforceable reimbursable-expense line, counsel where you work drafts it before you put a vendor on your card. Filling these boxes does not write that line and does not turn a chat ping into a purchase order.

Inputs: cost you paste, markup share you type (0 = pass-through at cost; 0.15 is a 15% illustration you can change). Outputs: billed extras = cost × (1 + share), keep = cost × share, one pasteable sentence. Dollar labels on this page; live currency and the tax slice stay on the hub.

Rate calculator Hours × floor for the job Extra NEW hours, not a receipt Travel hours, not a vendor invoice Overnight extra (the night, not the folio) Find and book a room, not the rental PDF Find / brief / review, not their invoice Their hours on set, not their PDF Search and clear, not the stock invoice Press hours, not the shop bill Dump hours, not the Drive / postage bill Set the hourly floor

If billable weeks moved, rebuild the hourly floor on the hub first. A receipt they asked you to buy is named here. Hours to find and book a room after a quote that assumed their office or yours belong on studio — 2h × $90 = $180; this card is still the rental invoice. The original job still starts on quote a project. Extra screens belong on change-order. Hours to find, brief, and review a craftsperson you are not belong on specialist — their invoice still pastes here. Hours a second shooter is on set after a solo-day quote belong on second-shooter — 8h × $60 = $480; this card is still their PDF once it exists. Hours to search, pick, and clear stock after a quote that assumed they would send the art, or that you would draw it, belong on stock-license — 2h × $90 = $180; this card is still the library invoice. A day they want you physically there belongs on on-site-day. A sleepover after that same-day quote belongs on overnight — the night itself, not this folio line. Hours rebuilding a screen quote into a press PDF belong on print-ready — your clock on the file, not this shop bill. Hours to dump, label, and hand off unedited cards after a quote that was the edit belong on raw-footage — 2h × $90 = $180; this card is still the Drive / postage receipt.

FAQ