Payment arrangements for jobs posted on ProZ.com
Thread poster: bedina
bedina
bedina
English to Spanish
Mar 31, 2008

I am new to this community and I need the advice of those that have taken jobs posted here. I would like to reply to some post and submitt my quotes, but most of them offer payments seven days after the jobs have been completed and that makes me a little nervous. Any suggestions? How reliable are the people that post job offers?

[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2008-03-31 18:38]


 
SandraV
SandraV  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 01:56
Member (2004)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Check the BB Mar 31, 2008

Hi Bedina,

I always first check the Blueboard postings, that helps a lot to give you an idea if the client or agency is reliable or not.

Regards,

Sandra


 
The Misha
The Misha
Local time: 03:56
Russian to English
+ ...
7 days? Apr 1, 2008

How about 45 or 60 days? It's a risk you ALWAYS take in this business, even with existing, tried and true clients.

 
Ralf Lemster
Ralf Lemster  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 08:56
English to German
+ ...
Be aware of your risks Apr 1, 2008

Hi Bedina,
The fact that you're concerned about credit risk is a good sign.


I am new to this community and I need the advice of those that have taken jobs posted here. I would like to reply to some post and submitt my quotes, but most of them offer payments seven days after the jobs have been completed and that makes me a little nervous.

Well, seven days is pretty good - I only work with direct clients, and even though my invoices are payable upon receipt, the practicalities of getting invoices approved, initiating payment, etc. means that payments come in around 20 days after the invoice date.

The very nature of this business means that you have to take some risk. The key to making this work is

- being aware of the risks you're taking
You may want to accept a job worth EUR 50 for an unknown customer - things look different if we're talking about EUR 5,000.

- actively deciding which risks to take
Giving an unknown customer the benefit of doubt could be the start of a good business relationship, provided you're happy about taking the risk involved.

How reliable are the people that post job offers?

The reliability of job posters reflects the real world: most job posters are reliable, but there are those who manage their business in a sloppy way, and some who have the intention to defraud. There's a team of a dozen volunteers working 'behind the lines' to weed out any black sheep in the Jobs area, but we cannot catch everything, of course.

The Blue Board can give you a pretty good indication; to get a more complete picture, you may want to get in touch with a couple of people who posted an entry for a given outsourcer. Also, make sure you get full business contact details before accepting an assignment, so you can run some checks yourself (e.g. checking the telephone directory, calling the outsourcer to see who's answering the phone, checking for online references and other 'traces', etc.).

HTH - best regards,
Ralf


 


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Payment arrangements for jobs posted on ProZ.com







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