| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Which payment terms do you most commonly accept? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Which payment terms do you most commonly accept?".
This poll was originally submitted by tilakahuja. View the poll results »
| | | | Grace Horsley 
Spain
Local time: 06:34
Member (2008)
Spanish to English
Unfortunately, here in Spain most large agencies pay translators 2 to 3 months after the date of the invoice and if you do a job for an official local or state organisation you often have to wait many months to get paid.
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I don't accept payment terms, I issue payment terms
30 days from invoice, monthly invoicing, so 30-60 days from delivery
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 06:34
Spanish to English
+ ...
In Spain, I discovered many years ago that in most cases it's "whenever they can get it together". And if the funds are from the EU, it may be a case of "whenever they work out what's left after they've siphoned off all the graft".
Frankly, I find the anxiousness of people who start to fret when a bill isn't paid at 30 days laughable after my experiences over the years. One friend of mine is still owed payment for a TEFL course she did for an employers' organisation in 2012...
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 06:34
Spanish to English
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Grace Horsley wrote:
Unfortunately, here in Spain most large agencies pay translators 2 to 3 months after the date of the invoice and if you do a job for an official local or state organisation you often have to wait many months to get paid.
Yep, it's all par for the course. I only work with 3 agencies in Spain - two of them pay at 30-60 days and the other pays at 90, but sometimes sooner. As you say, "official" payments may take months or even years...
| | | | Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 06:34
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Chris S wrote:
I don't accept payment terms, I issue payment terms
30 days from invoice, monthly invoicing, so 30-60 days from delivery
Rarely ever do I accept payment terms. The maximum is 30+5 days.
| | | | Tim Drayton
Cyprus
Local time: 07:34
Turkish to English
+ ...
| Longer payment terms | Mar 7, 2014 |
I do not see the problem with longer payment terms, as long as the fee is a little higher to compensate (interest for delayed payment).
I sometimes work for an agency in Greece that pays around 2-3 months after delivery. I always quote a high price to them, and they often accept, which suits me.
| | | | inkweaver
Germany
Local time: 06:34
French to German
+ ...
30 days EOM are my standard terms of payment.
I expect my invoices to be paid on time. Even if some may find that "laughable", to me it is simply a matter of courtesy or mutual respect or whatever you may want to call it. I deliver on time (or even before the deadline), so I expect the other party to do their part and pay on time.
I also think that if a translation agency can't pay within 30 days EOM there must be something wrong with their business model.
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| I accept conditions as a whole | Mar 7, 2014 |
I accept a job, which includes amount to be translated, type of document, subject, format, deadline, rate and time between delivery and payment. The latter is almost the least of all significant
[Edited at 2014-03-07 10:36 GMT]
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inkweaver wrote:
30 days EOM are my standard terms of payment.
I expect my invoices to be paid on time. Even if some may find that "laughable", to me it is simply a matter of courtesy or mutual respect or whatever you may want to call it. I deliver on time (or even before the deadline), so I expect the other party to do their part and pay on time.
I also think that if a translation agency can't pay within 30 days EOM there must be something wrong with their business model.
Those are also my standard terms of payment, though I might occasionally agree on different conditions (that's the exception, not the rule).
| | | | | 30 days, my payment terms | Mar 7, 2014 |
I live in Spain and right now I mostly work for direct clients, so they usually pay within 30 days from invoice. I occasionally collaborate with agencies and true, they usually pay at 45-60 days, which is not the ideal situation for me.
| | | | Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 05:34
Member (2010)
French to English
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| 30 days from invoice date | Mar 7, 2014 |
is my usual and several Belgian and French agencies are very good at paying this. I'd like everyone to pay like this but unfortunately the reality is that I have to accept other terms or I would not have enough work. It's all very well for some people to sit on a high horse when it's possible to do so!
30 days from end-of-month invoicing is quite common in UK so it could mean 30-60 days. The maximum I personally have accepted is 60 days, usually from Spanish agencies.
... See more is my usual and several Belgian and French agencies are very good at paying this. I'd like everyone to pay like this but unfortunately the reality is that I have to accept other terms or I would not have enough work. It's all very well for some people to sit on a high horse when it's possible to do so!
30 days from end-of-month invoicing is quite common in UK so it could mean 30-60 days. The maximum I personally have accepted is 60 days, usually from Spanish agencies.
Just last week I had a Swiss agency want me to accept 90 days with end-of-month invoicing so it would mean translations done at the start of the month would not be paid for 4 months. I honestly think that this is outrageous and turned them down. Obviously someone else accepted these conditions or perhaps didn't notice them? (The same agency has several people complaining on BB about not being paid when the 90 days + term is not even up!). I know several colleagues have told me that Italian agencies also want to pay at 90 days from end-of-month invoice. This really means that the agency is putting all risk of non payment from the client onto the translator.
The EU brought in a Directive about payments within 60 days and I was under the impression this had been enacted in Spain but obviously not!
In an ideal world we would all be paid within a month of delivery but the reality for many translators is different. ▲ Collapse
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| Not really a laughing matter | Mar 7, 2014 |
neilmac wrote:
Frankly, I find the anxiousness of people who start to fret when a bill isn't paid at 30 days laughable after my experiences over the years. One friend of mine is still owed payment for a TEFL course she did for an employers' organisation in 2012...
The longer the credit period, the more likely the customer will go under, leaving you out of pocket.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 05:34
Member (2007)
English
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| 30 days EOM, too | Mar 7, 2014 |
inkweaver wrote:
30 days EOM are my standard terms of payment.
I expect my invoices to be paid on time. Even if some may find that "laughable", to me it is simply a matter of courtesy or mutual respect or whatever you may want to call it. I deliver on time (or even before the deadline), so I expect the other party to do their part and pay on time.
I also think that if a translation agency can't pay within 30 days EOM there must be something wrong with their business model.
Absolutely true! If a good client tells me they have temporary problems, then I can maybe be flexible for once, but I'd expect it to be a rare occurrence. And payment deadlines that pass without comment get treated by me the way they would treat a delivery deadline that passed without comment from me: a polite reminder very soon after the deadline, followed by increasingly irate communication until it turned up (through the courts if need be), and very likely no further dealings with this particular business partner. Of course, one has to be flexible, as I was with the two clients who completely ignored my 31st December invoice:)!
| | | | Kate Deimling
United States
Local time: 00:34
French to English
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| Yes, in reality I find I need to be flexible | Mar 7, 2014 |
Gallagy wrote:
In an ideal world we would all be paid within a month of delivery but the reality for many translators is different.
This is my experience, too. I have one French agency I work with a lot and really like, and their payment period is 45 days after receipt of invoice. I wish it were 30, but they are pleasant to work with and I get a lot of work from them, so I accept it. Unlike some commenters here, I don't find that I'm in a position to issue payment terms.
One small American agency I work with is terrific about payments -- I get paid in 1 or 2 days after invoicing. Since they are so prompt, I will almost always say yes when they ask me for a translation, even if I'm busy or it's the weekend, because this creates a lot of good will.
I have worked with one British agency that pays me at end of month after 60 days. I liked the regular work and the subject matter, so I agreed to it, but I really think this is stretching it. I'm not sure I would do it again.
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