| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: Do most of your clients pay on time? 投稿者: ProZ.com Staff
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| Laissez faire payment policy? | Apr 27, 2012 |
David Wright wrote:
I don't set a deadline, I know my clients will pay (never - touch wood - had a non-payer yet), and cash flow is good enough to allow the odd (very) late payer. Doesn't worry me.
I'm sure your clients appreciate your policy, and I am glad this has worked for you. I myself would never consider doing this, for I have had too many experiences of not being paid on time when the terms of payment were crystal clear. I also don't understand the "cash flow" argument, the logic of which implies that a very healthy translation agency would wait six months or more to collect their fees from the end client, since they "don't really need the money right now." This is not a business practice that would work for most agencies or freelancers, I'm afraid.
I would say that, in the last two years, about 20% of my clients have not paid on time, a rate that I find unacceptable. For me, what is most outrageous is that I have never been advised by a client in advance that payment would be late. Instead, they have waited until I have contacted them before responding that "payment will be submitted soon."
| | | | | It depends on what is meant by "on time" | Apr 27, 2012 |
I was spoiled... My #1 (local) client for 20+ years in a row always paid me within 48 hours from delivery and was never late, not even once.
Unfortunately, not so many clients nowadays pay me on the date we mutually agreed. Most of those who do, use PayPal, which costs me 10%, and - since it set up their its operation in Brazil - delays the process in 3-5 banking days. If the payment was made with an eCheck, this causes an additional delay of 3-5 banking days.
My standa... See more I was spoiled... My #1 (local) client for 20+ years in a row always paid me within 48 hours from delivery and was never late, not even once.
Unfortunately, not so many clients nowadays pay me on the date we mutually agreed. Most of those who do, use PayPal, which costs me 10%, and - since it set up their its operation in Brazil - delays the process in 3-5 banking days. If the payment was made with an eCheck, this causes an additional delay of 3-5 banking days.
My standard payment term is two weeks from delivery, as I focus on professional translation, and don't offer financial services (i.e. money lending). I do accept payments in 30 days from delivery, however these clients are duly forewarned that they shouldn't count on priority from me. Surprisingly, most - though not all - of the 30-day paying clients always have some last-minute problem in processing the payment, so it is delayed, by 2-7 days. It always beats me why 30 days is seldom enough for them to get their paying act together.
I consider COD as within two business days. Surprisingly, all COD-paying clients are faster than that, most of them pay a few hours after I have delivered.
On the other end, the only time in my life I accepted a job with a 60-day payment term was also the only case I had a client default on payment and vanish from our planet, e-world included.
For clarification, as monthly interest rates in Brazil are close to 10%, I offer quite generous (in other countries' standards) discounts for faster payment, and some of my clients thrive on them (as well as from avoiding PayPal's hefty fees, which I transfer them if they use any other method).
So numerous past experiences have taught me that the longer the payment term a client tries to impose, the higher the likelihood of them paying late, and the longer should be their expected delay. Of course, as always, your mileage may vary.
I think these abusively long payment terms in the translation market, especially in Europe, stem from amateur and professional translators having been pooled together into a nondescript "crowd". The concept in itself is unclear, as it is an almost completely deregulated market.
Leaving out the low quality providers, an amateur translator could be a competent linguist who chose another profession, and is temporarily unemployed, fully retired, or does it in their spare time as a hobby. If and when they eventually get paid for their translation work, they'll buy something, take a vacation, whatever. It is not their main source of income anyway.
A professional translator makes a living from that; they'll use that money to pay their bills, buy hardware, software, and services to increase their efficiency on the job. Yet from the translation outsourcer's standpoint, it makes no difference to hire competent amateurs or professional translators, unless the turnaround time is really short. So some of them think it's "nice" to grow their clientele by offering interest-free loans with their professional translators' money.
This is what I gleaned from a phone conversation with the CEO of a large and successful European translation agency. He said their clients demand 60-90 days payment terms, and he is quite happy when they don't extend these to up to six months, under no penalty whatsoever.
So, as it is often said, time is relative. At the end of the day, a two-month delay on an agreed 30-day payment is the same as a 90-day payment term. The difference is only in living up to one's promises... or not. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Yes, in Japan | Apr 27, 2012 |
Japanese law requires payment no later than 60 days from the end of the month the translation (product) was delivered.
I'm very happy dealing with my Japanese customers/clients since I know I'm protected by the law here. 
If they renege on the deal you can use the FTC (Fair Trade Commission) for free or the ultimate weapon - shame.
This is why I answered "Japan" (Asia) in yesterday's poll.
| | | | Thayenga 
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Local time: 06:28
2009に入会
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+ ...
Gudrun Wolfrath wrote:
Otherwise they won't be my clients again.
Usually I do not accept periods of payment longer than 30 days.
[Bearbeitet am 2012-04-27 11:55 GMT]
I only had 2 clients who didn't pay on time. One of them even withheld a small percentage of the payment for no reason other than... "it's my decision when and how much I pay you." Need I say more? Perhaps "Gone with the Wind?"
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I told those who didn't pay on time that I would no longer work for them.
Haven't heard from either in years.
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One of my large clients pay a week late every once in a while (I offer 30 days net, which is considered a long time in Sweden) and for major clients I can accept that.
When clients delay their payments longer than a week more than one time, I discontinue the co-operation however. I do not have time to put too much energy into administration as I reject potential clients every day due to heavy work load so I see no reason to accept late payment when I always deliver in time...
| | | | | Yes - or they are not my clients anymore | Apr 27, 2012 |
There is no need really to keep clients who have a thousand explanations for not paying on time!
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Gone are the days when legitimate organizations and businesses waited as much as a year or two to cough up. I could tell some horror stories, but they are from a long time ago.
I am more than satisfied with my clients' performance in the last few years. My two biggest clients pay within 15 days.
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Andrea Jarmuschewski wrote:
I don't keep them if they pay more than a few days (1 week max) later than agreed upon.
While most of my clients pay at 30 days from invoice date or even before, I have one esteemed client who pays at 60 days but with great punctuality.
I have become very picky with my clients: If they don't pay in time, or they get too bureaucratic or complicated, I just fire them. I don't need more stress than that I already have.
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To quote previous posts: Otherwise they wouldn't be my clients.
I have a regular client who tended to be a little bit on the sloppy side and often paid a couple of days late. This habit stopped right away after I outsourced a very large project to my own client and for the first time I could see how an invoice by a large translation agency to their direct clients looks like, in particular their outrageous interest rates, compounded daily. From this day on I started to apply their own payme... See more To quote previous posts: Otherwise they wouldn't be my clients.
I have a regular client who tended to be a little bit on the sloppy side and often paid a couple of days late. This habit stopped right away after I outsourced a very large project to my own client and for the first time I could see how an invoice by a large translation agency to their direct clients looks like, in particular their outrageous interest rates, compounded daily. From this day on I started to apply their own payment terms to my invoices and since then we have been living happily ever after. ▲ Collapse
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