Poll: Do you ever request that clients pay you in advance? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you ever request that clients pay you in advance?".
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| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 08:48
Spanish to English
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Not as standard operating procedure. To my mind, that would be tantamount to saying "I don't trust you", and clients might find that offputting. In fact, asking to pay in advance could be a good strategy to get rid of unwanted clients - you know, the kind that are demanding, always in an unseemly hurry, uncommunicative... and expect you to accept awkward formats, like scanned PDFs, with a smile and a tug of the forelock.
| | | | Erzsébet Czopyk 
Hungary
Local time: 08:48
Member (2006)
Russian to Hungarian
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SITE LOCALIZER
If the client can call on the weekend or can aks for something ASAP why should I give credit or trust a person whom I never met beore? This applies only to strangers/first order.
To pay via PayPal EUR 10 requires few minutes to prove your personality and ability to pay.
#nomercy
| | | | | Yes, occasionally for very large projects... | May 1, 2015 |
As a rule, I don't take on very large jobs from new clients and my experience tells that clients rarely hire translators for important translation projects without having any preliminary experience with those translators... Occasionally, I have required payment in advance from clients just to "take the temperature". Results have been mixed. Anyway, I will require some form of advance payment if the job requires more than one month completing (full-time).
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Rebecca Hendry
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:48
Member (2005)
Spanish to English
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| Usually for private individuals | May 1, 2015 |
I quite often do certified translations of degree certificates and so on, and almost always request payment in advance from the individuals requesting them. They don't bat an eyelid!
I rarely ask for payment in advance from companies, though. For new clients I often ask for immediate payment on delivery for the first job. Most are happy with that.
| | | | Diana Coada (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:48
Portuguese to English
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| Yes, I ask for payment in advance in the following cases: | May 1, 2015 |
1. From private individuals
2. From agencies with a bad (payment) reputation that I've never worked with before
3. For very large projects
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For large jobs, either for one big job or if it is known at the outset that there will be lots of little jobs adding up, then yes. I have set a certain limit above which I will not set to work without having received 30% upfront. Clients who pay on time are not at all bothered by this. They are business professionals too. Some clients have lots of little jobs and always one more on the way which seems to make them think they can put off paying until they have no more work to send for a while. Th... See more For large jobs, either for one big job or if it is known at the outset that there will be lots of little jobs adding up, then yes. I have set a certain limit above which I will not set to work without having received 30% upfront. Clients who pay on time are not at all bothered by this. They are business professionals too. Some clients have lots of little jobs and always one more on the way which seems to make them think they can put off paying until they have no more work to send for a while. They're wrong! At worst, first time round, they'll be invoiced at the end of the month; second time round, it's 30% upfront or no translation gets started. There are a number who quite simply pay as soon as the invoice is received. "Jumblies" : far and few.
[Edited at 2015-05-01 10:18 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Nikki Scott-Despaigne wrote:
There are a number who quite simply pay as soon as the invoice is received. "Jumblies" : far and few.
[Edited at 2015-05-01 10:18 GMT]
For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long!
Unfortunately, I only know two of those...
[Edited at 2015-05-01 10:35 GMT]
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| No. I would never take on the following types of work: | May 1, 2015 |
Diana Coada, PGDip DPSI NRPSI wrote:
1. From private individuals
2. From agencies with a bad (payment) reputation that I've never worked with before
3. For very large projects
| | | | | Yes. in any of three situations | May 1, 2015 |
a) When I'm outsourcing
I am definitely not a translation agency/agent/outsourcer, by my personal option.
So I refer prospects to colleagues, when I think the request involves specialized work that they are better prepared to do, and never charge a finder's or commission.
However there are times when I need to outsource part of a job to colleagues. A typical example is a video in EN, which the client ... See more a) When I'm outsourcing
I am definitely not a translation agency/agent/outsourcer, by my personal option.
So I refer prospects to colleagues, when I think the request involves specialized work that they are better prepared to do, and never charge a finder's or commission.
However there are times when I need to outsource part of a job to colleagues. A typical example is a video in EN, which the client needs translated subtitled into PT (which I can do), and ES and/or FR. I have one such project under way right now.
So I found a few - very few - colleagues who can provide me with reliable service in these translations. Some of them do time-spotting, others don't. Most of them don't burn subtitles on video. Anyway, for consistency, it's better to have identical burning for the same video in different languages.
I offer my client the opportunity to deal directly with these colleagues regarding payment; I'll handle the technical details with them. So far, ALL clients chose to hold me accountable for the entire job.
I don't surcharge my client for outsourced work. Since most of such jobs are from translation agencies, if I applied a markup on this outsourced work, and it were leveraged by their unavoidable markup, we would end up with a final cost that the end-client would not consider viable.
Therefore I don't have accrued any kind of a "fund" to cover mishaps such as the agency - my client - telling me that "the end-client has cancelled the project". While I can take my share of the blow, it wouldn't be fair to pass (part of) it on to my outsourcee, who took the assignment in good faith, and did his/her job as requested.
So I demand at least the outsourced part of my assignment to have been paid in full before I assign it. So far, all clients have agreed to do it immediately and without arguing. After my colleague has delivered their job, if it's okay, I pay them COD, as I think each and every translation job in the world should always be paid. (I am against using translators as financial services providers, as much as I wouldn't advise outsourcing translation work to banks.)
If the end-client cancels the job under way, I won't incur in debt on behalf of someone I don't even know. So far, nobody has cancelled a subtitling job of mine under way, but the first time it occurs, it might be devastating, so I play it safe.
b) 50% up-front on large jobs from unknown individuals
I set up a "risk threshold" around USD 200.00. If the job involves less than that, I'll take the risk. If the total estimate is higher, I explain to them that it's fair to share the risk of their order being cancelled for any reason while work is under way, so they'll have to pay me 50% up front, before I get started.
A few prospects show their hand by merely walking away and never coming back. Most, however, reckon that it's quite fair, and pay 50% up front. After the first job is done, and properly paid as agreed, a funny thing happens when they approach me with a second job. They say, Please inform how much it will cost, so I can pay you the 50%. I tell them that we've been there already, so they can wait to pay the full amount when I deliver it finished.
c) Top urgency
The whole story is much longer, however since Jan. 2013 I have given up on urgency surcharges (except as statutory for sworn translations). They contributed more to havoc on my schedule than to my income.
Ever since, I have been prioritizing work by shortest payment term being served first. The result is that 97% of my clients are paying me COD, so scheduling work is pretty straightforward now.
Any client wanting topmost priority will have to pay me 100% in advance. I'll only take ONE prepaid job at a time, and will only drop it after it has been delivered.
The beauty of it is that nobody will be able to time-travel and prepay me earlier, after another client has done so. No one argues about that.
For the record, my average has been only 2-3 such prepaid jobs per year.
Of course, if one job is ominously long, we'll split it in parts, and treat each part as an individual job. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 08:48
Member (2009)
English to German
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| For the same reasons | May 1, 2015 |
Diana Coada, PGDip DPSI NRPSI wrote:
1. From private individuals
2. From agencies with a bad (payment) reputation that I've never worked with before
3. For very large projects
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 07:48
Member (2007)
English
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| Yes, from some types of client | May 1, 2015 |
Rarely if ever from companies but always (when I remember) from individuals. I don't often do translations for them but I help people with their CVs, profiles etc. It's too big a risk not to get at least something from them. Then again, it's normal practice for individuals to pay up front.
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I had had the past experience of doing a translation for a graduate student only to learn afterwards that he "didn't have the money." Since, then, I've had two students, and I asked them to pay 50% up front. They both paid promptly and have returned for more translations. Of course now that I know them, I don't ask for an advance.
| | | | | Only once, a habitual late-payer of an agency | Jun 9, 2015 |
As per title.
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