| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Agency contract - ridiculous? Thread poster: Simone Linke
|
|---|
Simone Linke 
Germany
Local time: 21:01
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Charlie Bavington wrote: One point at a time Simone Linke wrote:
The contract states that I will have to include "15% income tax" on my invoices. Huh? Quite. I think this would need to be looked at. Are they using the right term?
Not sure. But according to Wikipedia, the Lithuanian VAT rate is 21%, so it can't be VAT either.. (or Wikipedia is not up-to-date, which might be the case)
Charlie Bavington wrote: They offer Trados discount rates all the way down to 50% matches: for matches of 50-74%, they'd only pay 80% of the regular rate. ...Repetitions get 5% of the regular rate. Paying 80% of the rate for 50% matches sounds OK & yes I do accept them. Conversely just 5% for reps sounds a bit stingy. Swings, roundabouts, blah blah.. What we make per hour/day/week is what counts, not quibbling over fractions of a eurocent for repetitive document headings. In my humble opinion, of course. And naturally, if you look after the pennies...
I see your point. Maybe I should've added that a lot of their jobs are product lists and similar, i.e. very short segments. So, we're not talking about headings here but about reductions for a very large number of segments of the regular text.
And it happens very often (at least for me) that I get 50% matches (or even higher) when some of the tags are identical but the actual words are completely different. Hence, 50% matches are useless. And as I stated, they already refused to pay my standard rate, so, with additional discounts for normal work, I'd never make my required hourly/daily/weekly rate.
Charlie Bavington wrote: Then they want me to deliver the TM with my translations (for those projects with Trados) - free of charge, of course. Another topic that arises frequently. They can, of course, create it themselves anyway, so you're not protecting anything. There seem to be two camps: a) if they want it, they can do the alignment work to create it, or b) it only takes me 2 minutes and it keeps the customer happy. I'm in b)
Yeah, I've followed some discussions on this. I have other clients that respect me (and that often send me a prepared TM for each job) - I have no problem with sending them the updated TM back. But as Sheila already asked in her post: what is actually left for the agency to do here?
I've done two smaller PO-based jobs for them before they approached me with this contract, and they kept asking for a particular TM and file format afterwards, and when I gave them a neutral format for them to import it into their own software, they seemed to be unable to do it and said they could only handle SDL2007 files. So, they don't seem to be able to do it themselves but they want me to do it for free? No, thanks!
Charlie Bavington wrote: I've already dealt with various agency contracts but this one tops them all... right? I've seen worse clauses quoted on this very forum, usually about liability. If I needed/wanted the client, I'd want to clarify that 15% stuff, and negotiate the reductions-for-errors aspect to reduce the timeframe to one month and objective errors only. But the other stuff seems fine.
The contract also has liability clauses, but these seem to be standard in all contracts, so I'm not bothered by them. (And those do at least make sense to me.)
[Edited at 2010-10-05 09:24 GMT]
| | | | | simples, then | Oct 5, 2010 |
Nub, crux, etc.
Simone Linke wrote:
I see your point. Maybe I should've added that a lot of their jobs are product lists and similar, i.e. very short segments. So, we're not talking about headings here but about reductions for a very large number of segments of the regular text.
And it happens very often (at least for me) that I get 50% matches (or even higher) when some of the tags are identical but the actual words are completely different. Hence, 50% matches are useless. And as I stated, they already refused to pay my standard rate, so, with additional discounts for normal work, I'd never make my required hourly/daily/weekly rate.
Under those circumstances, the last point alone would mean I would waste no further time. The last point is what I base my decisions on, not rates per word and disocunts for repetitions per se in isolation. I've accepted 5c/word and made over €200 a day from it. I've charged 18c and struggled to make enough to pay for electricty the laptop used...
Charlie Bavington wrote: Then they want me to deliver the TM with my translations (for those projects with Trados) - free of charge, of course. Another topic that arises frequently. They can, of course, create it themselves anyway, so you're not protecting anything. There seem to be two camps: a) if they want it, they can do the alignment work to create it, or b) it only takes me 2 minutes and it keeps the customer happy. I'm in b)
So, they don't seem to be able to do it themselves but they want me to do it for free? No, thanks!
That does put a different complexion on it. My previous view was, as it said, based on the work taking next to no time for me while being quite involved (but nonetheless possible!) for them.
Sounds like they have to go, one way or the other
| | | | Simone Linke
Germany
Local time: 21:01
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Charlie Bavington wrote:
The last point is what I base my decisions on, not rates per word and disocunts for repetitions per se in isolation. I've accepted 5c/word and made over €200 a day from it. I've charged 18c and struggled to make enough to pay for electricty the laptop used...
Yes, same here. I have one client who only pays $0.05 per word (but no further discounts and no extra services) and I know forum members who'd never even consider working for this rate. But the texts from these clients are so simple that I can do twice or three times as many words compared to an average-difficulty job. So, why not? The hourly rate ends up being the same.
Charlie Bavington wrote:
That does put a different complexion on it. My previous view was, as it said, based on the work taking next to no time for me while being quite involved (but nonetheless possible!) for them.
Yeah, that's not the case here. I have another client whom I asked if they needed me to send the TM (it was a very large file), and they basically said, "oh, no, don't worry, we'll just open your translation and the TM here and update it with one click." That's the kind of cooperation/professionalism I like.
| | | | Mats Wiman
Sweden
Local time: 21:01
Member (2000)
German to Swedish
+ ...
In memoriam
In my 14 years, the good clients never sent a 'contract' or demanded one.
Cooperation is built on mutual confidence and control, which is something you build along the way.
AND
translation should always be a two-way street, which freelancers and especially outsourcers
tend to forget.
Mats
| | |
|
|
|
XX789 (X)
Netherlands
Local time: 21:01
English to Dutch
+ ...
| Quote of the year | Oct 5, 2010 |
Funny, I just showed it to a friend and we wondered if the slave chains came for free with this contract..
ROTFL at that!
| | | | | Pages in topic: < [1 2] | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Agency contract - ridiculous? | Trados Business Manager Lite | Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio
Trados Business Manager Lite helps to simplify and speed up some of the daily tasks, such as invoicing and reporting, associated with running your freelance translation business.
More info » |
| | Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop
and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
