Prepared by Sydney Collect
Updated September 2026 · Pricing verified against each provider's own site, week of 29 September 2026
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Key stat: a formal letter of demand gets 55 to 70% of unpaid debts paid after reminders have failed, usually within 7 to 21 days. (Sydney Collect 2026 Debt Collection Report, §8)

Which one should you actually use?

If you have one overdue invoice and want it chased today, send a flat fee letter of demand, ours or someone else's. If you have many overdue invoices and no time to follow any of them up yourself, a commission agency does that ongoing chasing for you, for a cut of what it recovers. If your business runs collections across thousands of customer accounts, a platform like InDebted is built for that scale, not a solicitor's letterhead or one collector's phone calls.

Agency, solicitor and platform are three different business models, not three price points on the same product. Confusing them is the easiest way to overpay, or to pick an option built for a scale you're nowhere near.

How did we compare these three?

We looked at four things for each option:

  • Price. Taken from each provider's own website, checked the week of 29 September 2026.
  • Business model. A cut of what's recovered, a membership fee, or a subscription or enterprise contract.
  • Who does the work. You, a collector, a lawyer, or software.
  • What happens if the debtor doesn't pay.

What does each option actually cost?

OptionWhat it isPriceIf there's no reply
SydneyCollect One-off letter of demandLetter, sent for you today$29 flatWe follow it up. Still unpaid after 14 days, it goes to a partner law firm
eCollect Debt collection agency"No recovery, no commission" agency serviceCommission undisclosed (15–25% typical)Ongoing calls and letters until paid or written off
LegalVision Solicitor, commercial law firmUnlimited-access legal membership$119–$149/wk + GST 12 month minimumOne-off letter also available, quote-based, not published
InDebted Tech-first platformEnterprise collections infrastructureNot published contact salesOngoing automated collections program, not a single letter

Source: each provider's own website, checked the week of 29 September 2026. eCollect's exact commission is not published; 15 to 25% is the typical range quoted across Australian commission agencies. Links are in the sources list below.

One overdue invoice, want it actioned today? Send a lawyer-backed letter, no membership and no commission. Send a letter for $29

When does a debt collection agency make sense?

eCollect is a licensed Australian agency (ACL 430899, AFCA member 31289) that says it has recovered more than $120 million for over 10,000 businesses across 20-plus years. Its model is "no recovery, no commission": you pay nothing unless it collects, and it then keeps a percentage of what comes in. That percentage isn't published on eCollect's own site, but the typical range quoted across Australian commission agencies sits at 15 to 25% of whatever they recover.

This suits someone with several or many overdue debts and no time or inclination to chase any of them individually. You hand it over and the agency does the ongoing follow-up, calls included. The trade-off is that a chunk of your own money goes to the agency instead of staying with you, and you usually can't put a number on that upfront.

When does a solicitor make sense?

LegalVision doesn't primarily sell single letters. Its core product is an unlimited-access membership: LV Essentials, for businesses with fewer than two employees outside regulated sectors, runs $119 to $149 a week plus GST; LV Pro, for larger or more complex businesses, runs $219 to $1,350-plus a week plus GST. Both carry a 12-month minimum commitment, billed monthly. A member can request unlimited legal documents, letters of demand included, plus ongoing advice.

Outside the membership, LegalVision can draft a one-off letter on a fixed fee, but that price isn't published; you call for a quote. Do the arithmetic first: LV Essentials' lower band alone works out to roughly $6,200 a year in committed spend. If a single overdue invoice is genuinely all you need right now, that's a lot of ongoing cost to solve a one-off problem.

A solicitor earns its cost once the matter stops being a straightforward unpaid invoice: a genuine dispute, a defence being raised, or the step after a letter has already failed and court is next.

When does a tech platform make sense?

InDebted sells collections infrastructure, not documents. Its site names client brands including Klarna, Zip and OneMain Financial, almost entirely fintech and buy-now-pay-later companies running collections decisioning across 5 million-plus customers. There's no price on the site and no self-serve signup; every product path ends at "contact sales."

CreditorWatch Collect sits closer to the middle: a self-serve subscription (a 14-day free trial, then contact for pricing) that automates ongoing accounts-receivable follow-up by email, SMS and call, rather than a one-off letter or an enterprise sales process.

Both fit a business running collections across a growing, recurring volume of customer accounts, not a business chasing one or two overdue invoices from other businesses. If you can count your overdue invoices on two hands, you're not this bucket's customer yet.

So which one should you actually send?

  • One overdue invoice, want it actioned today: send a $29 letter of demand.
  • Several overdue invoices and no time to chase any of them yourself: a commission agency like eCollect, for a cut of what it recovers.
  • Ongoing legal needs across your business beyond this one debt: a solicitor membership like LegalVision's.
  • The debtor disputes the debt, is in liquidation, or a judgment is already involved on either side: a solicitor for that specific matter, not another letter.
  • Running collections across thousands of customer accounts as part of your business model: a platform like InDebted or CreditorWatch Collect.
  • Debtor is in WA, SA, Tasmania or the NT: SydneyCollect isn't licensed to act there. A free template, an agency or a solicitor licensed in that state may still help.

Most businesses only ever need the first option. A single overdue invoice is the most common situation by far, and a $29 letter solves it without a 12-month membership, a percentage cut, or a sales call.

If you're carrying 10 or more unpaid invoices rather than one, sending letters individually eats up your week, and a commission agency takes a cut of every dollar that comes in. Bulk Debt Recovery sends them all at once for one flat price. See how Bulk Debt Recovery works.

SydneyCollect is one of the options on this page. Every pricing and feature claim about eCollect, LegalVision and InDebted was verified against their own published websites, checked the week of 29 September 2026. Where a provider doesn't publish a number, this page says so rather than estimating one. If something is wrong, email [email protected] and we'll fix it within 24 hours.

Frequently asked questions

An agency chases your specific debt and takes a cut of whatever it recovers, usually 15 to 25%. A solicitor sells legal work, often as an ongoing membership, and can draft a letter of demand as one part of that. A platform like InDebted or CreditorWatch Collect sells software and infrastructure for running collections across many customer accounts, not a single letter or phone call for one invoice.
Usually the agency, because you pay nothing unless it collects. But that nothing-upfront model costs you 15 to 25% of whatever comes in. A solicitor membership like LegalVision's starts at $119 to $149 a week with a 12-month minimum, which only pays off if you need ongoing legal work beyond this one debt. For a single invoice, a flat fee letter of demand is cheaper than either.
Once you're running collections across thousands or millions of customer accounts as part of your business, not chasing a handful of overdue invoices from other businesses. InDebted and CreditorWatch Collect are built for that scale and sold through a sales process or subscription, not a signup form for one debt.
No. Anyone in Australia can write to someone who owes them money. You're chasing your own debt, so you don't need a licence. Whose name is on the letter can still affect whether you get paid.
No. We send letters to debtors in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT. We aren't licensed to collect debts in WA, SA, Tasmania or the NT. If your debtor is there, an agency, a solicitor or a free template may still be able to help, or you can send the letter yourself.

Sources