| Vom Thema belegte Seiten: [1 2] > | Payment Terms Initiator des Themas: Willy Nørgaard Olesen
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Th standard payment terms are getting longer and longer and the salary per word is getting lower and lower for freelance translation work. My advice is quite simply to refuse to work with longer payment terms that the standard payment terms in your specific country and refuse to work for lower than the standard rate in your country.
Willy Nørgaard Olesen, BSc & MA
| | | | Fabio Descalzi 
Uruguay
Local time: 07:12
Mitglied (2004)
Deutsch > Spanisch
+ ...
You are 100% right. And there is yet another aspect to consider: whatever the conditions you negotiate and agree upon, be sure that they are fully met. I know cases of agencies that agree to work for "higher" rates and... fail to pay in time as agreed.
| | | | | Missing PO orders | Aug 5, 2018 |
Another trick is to require a purchase order in order to process the invoice, just a shame that some companies "forget" to send the PO after they have received the translation. I have 13 unpaid invoices from 2017 on that account.
Willy Nørgaard Olesen
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Daniel Frisano
Italien
Local time: 11:12
Mitglied (2008)
Englisch > Italienisch
+ ...
| A few questions | Aug 6, 2018 |
DanLinguistic wrote:
Th standard payment terms are getting longer and longer and the salary per word is getting lower and lower for freelance translation work. My advice is quite simply to refuse to work with longer payment terms that the standard payment terms in your specific country and refuse to work for lower than the standard rate in your country.
Willy Nørgaard Olesen, BSc & MA
1) Where can we find the reference tables for "standard" rates for each country?
2) With rates, do we use values (e.g., 0,07 €) or ranges (e.g., 0,06-0,08 €)?
3) With payment terms, do we use values (e.g., 30 days end month) or ranges (e.g., 30 days from delivery - 60 days end month)?
4) What about countries where usual rates and/or terms vary with latitude (e.g., Italy, Spain)?
5) Are we allowed to apply volume discounts if the resulting rate falls below the standard?
6) Are we allowed to apply discounts for documents that are full of repetitions and/or numbers (long tables)? A few days ago I completed a 9,200-word job with 41% repetitions and 16% fuzzies - how much do I charge?
7) Do we have standards for minimum charge? If a regular client needs a 30-word translation, should I charge them 20 €? 50 €?
8) Are standards independent from experience and skill? Is a newbie allowed to accept a rate that is below average? If yes, at what point does one cease to be a newbie? Is it a single transition at some point in one's career, or stepwise, or linear, or asymptotic?
9) Are standards independent from the client's location? Should I expect an agency from a country that has half the GDP per capita of Switzerland to pay the same rates a Swiss agency pays?
10) Are standards dependent from the type of client? Should I treat a law firm as an end client and charge them higher rates? If yes, how much higher?
11) Are standards gross, net, independent from taxation? Does a Dutch (high-taxation) expat in Hungary (15% flat income tax) apply the same standard they would apply if they lived in the Netherlands?
12) The "ethics" web page you mentioned has a @gmail.com contact address, which is often seen as a red flag for untrustworthiness. Should we make an exception and trust this source?
13) The page was last updated in January 2015. No bad payers since then?
14) Say someone is having a slow spell. Should they adhere to the standards anyway?
And the most important questions:
15) If I receive an offer that is below average for whatever my reference standards are for a job that would be enjoyable, should I reject it as a matter of principle? If I decide to accept it, will I jeopardize my fellow translators, who undoubtedly all follow strictly the agreed guidelines? Will I be ostracized from the guild?
| | | | Michael Newton
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 05:12
Japanisch > Englisch
+ ...
| Payment terms | Aug 6, 2018 |
1) Unfortunately there are many translators who will agree to the lower rate with the longer payment terms. You are expendable.
2) Never start a translation without a PO.
| | | | | | | I guees the possive feedback are written by their personal friends | Aug 6, 2018 |
Br,
Willy
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Does anyone have a list of Debt Recover Agencies in London that we can sell the outstanding invoices to?
Br,
Willy
| | | | | A VERY important point | Aug 6, 2018 |
DanLinguistic wrote:
Th standard payment terms are getting longer and longer and the salary per word is getting lower and lower for freelance translation work. My advice is quite simply to refuse to work with longer payment terms that the standard payment terms in your specific country and refuse to work for lower than the standard rate in your country.
Willy Nørgaard Olesen, BSc & MA
Extended payment terms are equivalent to the seller/translator granting the buyer/client a loan for that payment term. Those selling merchandise equally bought on extended term credit can pass-through that loan, embedding its interest in the price. Those providing personal services can't, as the translation chain of supply starts with them.
Interest rates vary from one country to another. While MONTHLY interest rates in North America and the Euro Zone are a fraction of 1%, they reach two-digit integers in countries like Brazil and Argentina, for example.
Assuming that most of the bills to pay/things to buy a translator has will be paid in his/her country, and in his/her country's currency, it is obvious that the loan they'll be granting costs them the interest rate prevailing in their country, and not their client's.
Too many translation clients pretend to ignore it, just as they ignore the fact that, though translation - on account of a significantly lower cost of living - is much cheaper in India and China, it is quite difficult to find reliable and competent translators into Western languages there. So they tend to "project" things.
They project translation rates... they assume EN > DE translation - if done in India or China - should cost between 1/5 and 1/10 of what it costs if done in Western Europe. How many good, reliable professional translators in this - or any other typically 'Western' - language pair can be found there?
Next, they project payment terms too. Two European peninsulæ (Iberia and Italia) are known for their overly extended payment terms. So many Brazilian and Argentinean agencies try to project these terms on their own policies for local vendors.
This is one part of globalization that hasn't been properly balanced yet. Investment adventurers want to receive high interest rates on their capital overseas, however very few translation agencies operating across borders are willing to pay such high interest rates on extended payment terms, or to avoid them altogether by getting a much cheaper loan at home, if needed, and paying COD.
| | | | | www. freelancer.com | Aug 6, 2018 |
On sites like www.frreelancer.com, you are able to hire a content writer for 100 USD to write 50 positive customer feedbacks with slightly different contents and with different names and then publish them on sites like www.proz.com. So be careful and skeptical!
Two years ago I came across a guy from Palestine who hir... See more On sites like www.frreelancer.com, you are able to hire a content writer for 100 USD to write 50 positive customer feedbacks with slightly different contents and with different names and then publish them on sites like www.proz.com. So be careful and skeptical!
Two years ago I came across a guy from Palestine who hired freelance translators claiming he was working for a larger well-known serious translation company by copying the names of their employees, He never paid for any of the translation he got done and the companies whose name he was using have never heard of him, although some of them had come across him and told me that it was fraud.
He still owes me around 1800 USD. I will never get them!
Br,
Willy ▲ Collapse
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| | Thayenga
Deutschland
Local time: 11:12
Mitglied (2009)
Englisch > Deutsch
+ ...
DanLinguistic wrote:
Another trick is to require a purchase order in order to process the invoice, just a shame that some companies "forget" to send the PO after they have received the translation. I have 13 unpaid invoices from 2017 on that account.
Willy Nørgaard Olesen
Yes, these things do "happen". So the rule of thumb is, no PO, no work start. If they need the translation asap, then they should send the PO asap+.
DanLinguistic wrote:
...and the companies whose name he was using have never heard of him...
I once came across something this fishy too and sent an email to the company/agency asking for their confirmation that said individual was really working with them or on their behalf. Needless to say, they've never heard of him.
[Edited at 2018-08-06 13:07 GMT]
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Daniel Frisano wrote:
9) Are standards independent from the client's location? Should I expect an agency from a country that has half the GDP per capita of Switzerland to pay the same rates a Swiss agency pays?
The location of the agency is irrelevant because LSP work for end clients which are mostly
based in Europe or the US. In fact, you should charge at least the same rate if the LSP you're
working for is based in low cost country. Don't forget that the main cost they have is what they must
pay for your translation. The cost of the PM is only a fraction of it.
What matters is the location of the end client, not the location of the LSP
[Modifié le 2018-08-06 13:24 GMT]
[Modifié le 2018-08-06 13:31 GMT]
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