| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] | Growing control of translation agencies Thread poster: Odile Breuvart
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I try to keep things simple.
Invoices send as PDF and kept in client folder on PC.
1 Hard copy folder for paper invoices, at the front with sheets to record running invoice numbers, date, reminder etc.
1 Excel spreadsheet to record income/expenses.
That seems to be all I need.
[Edited at 2016-03-11 17:39 GMT]
| | | | Jeff Whittaker 
United States
Local time: 00:31
Spanish to English
+ ...
| | I do wonder ... | Mar 16, 2016 |
whether this is a business strategy for some agencies, e.g. if they expect their own clients to pay within 30 days then they pay their translators within 60 or longer and do not need the capital bridge that. This seems very risky, but sometimes I do get that impression.
Yesterday I read on an agency's website: prompt payment within 30 to 45 days after invoicing, and a client told me recently that they paid one of my invoices 'early', meaning 3 days before it was going to be overdue ... See more whether this is a business strategy for some agencies, e.g. if they expect their own clients to pay within 30 days then they pay their translators within 60 or longer and do not need the capital bridge that. This seems very risky, but sometimes I do get that impression.
Yesterday I read on an agency's website: prompt payment within 30 to 45 days after invoicing, and a client told me recently that they paid one of my invoices 'early', meaning 3 days before it was going to be overdue - that makes me wonder ...
[Edited at 2016-03-16 16:20 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 00:31
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Most agencies I know of... | Mar 16, 2016 |
collect a minimum of 50% of the translation fee up front or in other words, at least enough to pay the translator in full if the client does not pay.
Gabriele Demuth wrote:
whether this is a business strategy for some agencies, e.g. if they expect their own clients to pay within 30 days then they pay their translators within 60 or longer and do not need the capital bridge that. This seems very risky, but sometimes I do get that impression.
Yesterday I read on an agency's website: prompt payment within 30 to 45 days after invoicing, and a client told me recently that they paid one of my invoices 'early', meaning 3 days before it was going to be overdue - that makes me wonder ...
[Edited at 2016-03-16 16:20 GMT]
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Inga Petkelyte
Portugal
Local time: 05:31
Lithuanian to Portuguese
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| I do mind, so does our Tax Authority | Mar 16, 2016 |
Odile Stuart wrote:
Hello to all readers,
I am getting increasingly irritated by translation agencies needing to control every stage of the translating relationship in terms of finance.
I don't mind using their website to manage jobs, but I find it really insulting when I prepare a perfectly correct invoice, send it to them, only to have it ignored and being asked coldly to use their own process. The translator is made to feel subservient to their need.
I have always thought that as a translator, it is to me to prepare and forward an invoice for a production order I have accepted.
At least, translation agencies should have the decency to use my data on the invoice I forward and input the data themselves!
Any thought or similar experience on this?
Thank you.
Well, I do mind using someone's automated systems and select very carefully with whom to work.
First, I mind because of hell of unnecessary additional time consumption: first, you have enter their site, then to log in, then to navigate to "your" area", then to navigate to the project area, then to the pending projects and only then you can downoald your file. Done this, you still have to log off. close the site (here I am describing only one of variants).
Translation done - and the journey starts from the beginning. And so it is each time whenever you need anything about your file.
Second, some countries, including ours, do not recognize invoices as valid if they are issued otherwise but not through the electronic system of the Tax Authority. Thus, any amateur system invoicing is automatically not validated.
| | | | | Bigger fish to fry | Mar 16, 2016 |
I actually rather like having clients issue invoices automatically. So far, the automatic invoicing systems I've seen seem to be rather well constructed, with the only drawback being that it is easy to forget what is owed (but that's a fairly simple problem to take care of using EXCEL or another program).
On the other hand, I've yet to see a good online agency translation system. I work with several agencies who have obviously spent a good deal of money developing online portals (ma... See more I actually rather like having clients issue invoices automatically. So far, the automatic invoicing systems I've seen seem to be rather well constructed, with the only drawback being that it is easy to forget what is owed (but that's a fairly simple problem to take care of using EXCEL or another program).
On the other hand, I've yet to see a good online agency translation system. I work with several agencies who have obviously spent a good deal of money developing online portals (many with CAT systems) for translators to conduct their translations in. The best of the lot are just mediocre, and the worst much worse than that. At least one agency has since abandoned it's (probably) expensive system.
I generally feel the same way (poorly)about online project delivery systems, with one singular exception, an agency that has designed an extremely simple drag and drop folder-based system for delivering emails, with uploading speeds that actually seem faster than my email.
Worst of all are the vacation/time-off scheduling systems. I'm sure these sound great when proposed to PMs by IT personnel, but I work with five or ten different agencies operating these systems, and I would spend hours a month if I wanted to keep all of them up to date. Emails from agencies requesting scheduling updates in their system are met with stoic silence. ▲ Collapse
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