ProZ.com Translation Forums

Contacting the vendor himself | Couldn't agree more

Yasutomo Kanazawa — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 07:16:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Yasutomo Kanazawa
Post title: Couldn't agree more

[quote]Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida wrote:

The only way I see possible to contact the end-client is if the agency goes bankrupt... [/quote]

The safest and smartest way without getting into trouble.

Contacting the vendor himself | Not even for info

Peter Motte — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 11:07:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Peter Motte
Post title: Not even for info

It's even not appreciated if you contact the end client to ask something about the translation you're working on. Ask questions via your project manager or client.

Contacting the vendor himself | Because you did it all wrong

kd42 — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 18:11:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: kd42
Post title: Because you did it all wrong

[quote]Lingua 5B wrote:
So I coupled with two other affected translators and we started messaging end client employees on LinkedIn, also sending a bunch of emails to the end client company. Responses? Zero.[/quote] In similar circumstances I always write to Santa or bury a note under an oak at midnight. Works about the same, but is more fun.

Contacting the vendor himself | Not only that

kd42 — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 18:08:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: kd42
Post title: Not only that

[quote]Lingua 5B wrote:
It’s impressive how you believe you’re the only translator in your language pair providing exceptional results for an agency and how you are irreplacable. The amount of self-absorption is impressive. [/quote]
Not only that.
My inbox contains several messages of this sort:
Dear kd42!
The long dispute is over, after you jointed the discussions and offered your patient and clear explanations the client admitted that this is the best option, and they relaunch their XXX and asked us to allocate more resources for future orders.
--
Additionally, I don't make spelling errors in the word "ireplasable".

Contacting the vendor himself | Again, not necessarily true

Rachel Waddington — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 14:55:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Rachel Waddington
Post title: Again, not necessarily true

[quote]Peter Motte wrote:

[quote]Rachel Waddington wrote:

[quote]Peter Motte wrote:
A big client is not interested in the services a single translator can offer, because they usually have lots of language combinations to deal with. It's not translations they want, it's translation management.
Some of my end-clients ask for more than a dozen target languages. Contacting something as big as Coca-Cola is a waste of time. Even if they have different departments. [/quote]

That's not necessarily true. One of my direct clients is a very large and well-known company. They do all the things that agencies normally do themselves and just outsource the translation work. Working for them is rather like working for an agency. [/quote]

... but of course, in that case they won't have hired an agency, which means they won't be the end-client of an agency, which means no translator will try to skip the agency with which they're working.
So, the question whether you're allowed to contact them directly after you have worked for them via an agency, is not an issue.

[Edited at 2026-03-02 14:08 GMT] [/quote]

Also not necessarily true. I know the company I have in mind also outsources to agencies at times. You can't assume that just because a company is dealing with agencies they don't also use freelancers. (Not that I recommend poaching your clients' clients).

Contacting the vendor himself | That's true ...

Peter Motte — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 14:06:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Peter Motte
Post title: That's true ...

[quote]Rachel Waddington wrote:

[quote]Peter Motte wrote:
A big client is not interested in the services a single translator can offer, because they usually have lots of language combinations to deal with. It's not translations they want, it's translation management.
Some of my end-clients ask for more than a dozen target languages. Contacting something as big as Coca-Cola is a waste of time. Even if they have different departments. [/quote]

That's not necessarily true. One of my direct clients is a very large and well-known company. They do all the things that agencies normally do themselves and just outsource the translation work. Working for them is rather like working for an agency. [/quote]

... but of course, in that case they won't have hired an agency, which means they won't be the end-client of an agency, which means no translator will try to skip the agency with which they're working.
So, the question whether you're allowed to contact them directly after you have worked for them via an agency, is not an issue.

[Edited at 2026-03-02 14:08 GMT]

Contacting the vendor himself | Yes but

Lingua 5B — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 13:50:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Lingua 5B
Post title: Yes but

[quote]Rachel Waddington wrote:

[quote]Peter Motte wrote:
A big client is not interested in the services a single translator can offer, because they usually have lots of language combinations to deal with. It's not translations they want, it's translation management.
Some of my end-clients ask for more than a dozen target languages. Contacting something as big as Coca-Cola is a waste of time. Even if they have different departments. [/quote]

That's not necessarily true. One of my direct clients is a very large and well-known company. They do all the things that agencies normally do themselves and just outsource the translation work. Working for them is rather like working for an agency. [/quote]

Yes, but they already have a translation department. If a company is hiring an external translation agency partner then they don’t. I wouldn’t mix the two.

I had a terrible case of non-payment a long time ago and found out too late the agency was banned from Upwork. Their modus operandi was to keep being nice and paying large volumes/chunks to build trust and then suddenly stop it claiming quality issues - they did this with all translators. The end client was a huge multi billion corporation - a well known brand. The agency went silent not reponding to emails or calls. So I coupled with two other affected translators and we started messaging end client employees on LinkedIn, also sending a bunch of emails to the end client company. Responses? Zero.

In big companies any contact is unsolicited unless 1) they met you in person or 2) you were referred to them by a person they trust and know well.

[Edited at 2026-03-02 13:56 GMT]

Contacting the vendor himself | Big companies

Rachel Waddington — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 13:19:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Rachel Waddington
Post title: Big companies

[quote]Peter Motte wrote:
A big client is not interested in the services a single translator can offer, because they usually have lots of language combinations to deal with. It's not translations they want, it's translation management.
Some of my end-clients ask for more than a dozen target languages. Contacting something as big as Coca-Cola is a waste of time. Even if they have different departments. [/quote]

That's not necessarily true. One of my direct clients is a very large and well-known company. They do all the things that agencies normally do themselves and just outsource the translation work. Working for them is rather like working for an agency.

Contacting the vendor himself | Check your contract

Rachel Waddington — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 13:13:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Rachel Waddington
Post title: Check your contract

Well, first of all you need to think about the legal side of this. It's very likely that your contract with the agency will contain a clause forbidding you from contacting or working with their clients for a certain period. See what it says, and be guided by that. You presumably don't want to lose the agency client, trash your reputation or get sued - and the chance of landing work from that particular end client is small in any case. Even if there is no such clause, the agency is likely to take a dim view of this behaviour should they find out.

But, to be more positive, if you have found a type of work you like there is nothing to stop you targeting similar companies working in the same sector. Why not try that?

Contacting the vendor himself | I’ll tell you what’s impressive

Lingua 5B — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 09:43:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Lingua 5B
Post title: I’ll tell you what’s impressive

[quote]kd42 wrote:

[quote]Lingua 5B wrote:
I worked for an agency and know the marketing budget allocated. This was in the pre-AI era though. Maybe you took it too literally, it's not for just one client, but the budget starts at around $5k a month to be competitive, and that one client may be targeted, among many others.
Have you ever worked in marketing? $5k in marketing and advertising is a pocket money. [/quote] In the ex-USSR every former conscript thinks that the whole huge military machine was like his unit.
It was not. All the units are different. All the agencies are different.
Besides, allocated is not spent. There are things like tax evasion, boosting costs.
[/quote]

It’s impressive how you believe you’re the only translator in your language pair providing exceptional results for an agency and how you are irreplacable. The amount of self-absorption is impressive.

Contacting the vendor himself | ?

kd42 — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 21:53:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: kd42
Post title: ?

[quote]Gregor Trebec wrote:
A middle school English in a project doesn't need a professional linguist.[/quote]

Contacting the vendor himself | Impressive

kd42 — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 21:50:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: kd42
Post title: Impressive

[quote]Lingua 5B wrote:
I worked for an agency and know the marketing budget allocated. This was in the pre-AI era though. Maybe you took it too literally, it's not for just one client, but the budget starts at around $5k a month to be competitive, and that one client may be targeted, among many others.
Have you ever worked in marketing? $5k in marketing and advertising is a pocket money. [/quote] In the ex-USSR every former conscript thinks that the whole huge military machine was like his unit.
It was not. All the units are different. All the agencies are different.
Besides, allocated is not spent. There are things like tax evasion, boosting costs.

Contacting the vendor himself | Well...

Gregor Trebec — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 18:06:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Gregor Trebec
Post title: Well...

[quote]kd42 wrote:

The key problem here is that a professional linguist is forced to complete with an amateur.

[/quote]

A middle school English in a project doesn't need a professional linguist. There is a line where it becomes professional and when amateur, or basic for that matter.

Contacting the vendor himself | It's a no, no

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 16:47:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Post title: It's a no, no

The only way I see possible to contact the end-client is if the agency goes bankrupt...

Contacting the vendor himself | Because they do

Lingua 5B — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 11:34:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Lingua 5B
Post title: Because they do

I worked for an agency and know the marketing budget allocated. This was in the pre-AI era though. Maybe you took it too literally, it's not for just one client, but the budget starts at around $5k a month to be competitive, and that one client may be targeted, among many others.

Have you ever worked in marketing? $5k in marketing and advertising is a pocket money.

Contacting the vendor himself | About real things

kd42 — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 10:48:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: kd42
Post title: About real things

[quote]Lingua 5B wrote:
Why didn’t you list that agency spends $10k monthly marketing budget in order to find that client? [/quote]
Because they don't. You don't, lying publicly is bad.
Because I don't believe in Santa and unicorns.
Because I had a client who gave me work for top-tier automotive end clients and when the end clients saw the ideal quality and eased up the QA, the work was channeled to cheaper translators.
Because I lost a very noble client in the USA to a bunch of friendly Ukrainians who get benefits from the state, so they can drop the rates, and they produce horrific translations, I saw them in the TM.
The root cause is that the "industry" is deregulated, and nobody gives a damn.

Contacting the vendor himself | Doctors and lawyers

Lingua 5B — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 09:51:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Lingua 5B
Post title: Doctors and lawyers

Doctors and lawyers don’t have it, because their field is highly regulated. For starters, the education in the field. How many freelance translators have a targeted translation education degree? 2% maybe?

Second, you listed some examples to prove your points. Why didn’t you list that agency spends $10k monthly marketing budget in order to find that client? But it doesn’t matter anyway, the OP can go ahead and email the end client, it will go to the spam or trash bin.

Contacting the vendor himself | Not completely "So"

kd42 — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 08:35:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: kd42
Post title: Not completely "So"

[quote]Gregor Trebec wrote:
So it is a no no. [/quote] It is all in gray clouds.

If an agency works with you for a decade [quote]and then they find a translation student
or a bilingual housewife
who can be paid per word 0.00014 less, [/quote] and ditch you without a notice and a regret, it is "market forces".

When your hard underpaid work helped this agency gain a solid reputation among numerous end clients and ensure a steady flow of orders, [quote]and then they find a translation student
or a bilingual housewife
who can be paid per word 0.00014 less, [/quote] and use these rates and your reputation to get more work, it is "unethical and/or illegal" to go straight to the end clients.

The key problem here is that a professional linguist is forced to complete with an amateur. Doctors and lawyers don't have this.

Contacting the vendor himself | So...

Gregor Trebec — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:51:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Gregor Trebec
Post title: So...

So it is a no no.
Btw, in order to read my English just use ChatGPT. :P

Contacting the vendor himself | Big ones are impossible

Peter Motte — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 13:54:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Peter Motte
Post title: Big ones are impossible

[quote]Samuel Murray wrote:

[quote]Gregor Trebec wrote:
I have done a bit of research on the net and found the vendor himself. Should I contact him and offer my service? [/quote]
On the other hand, if the end-client is quite large, and has multiple departments or divisions, then it may be safe to contact other departments or other divisions to offer your services. As long as you don't let on that you have worked for them (or that other department/division) before, it should be fine. (Different opinions exist about who exactly is the end-client: if you did a Coca-Cola translation, is Coca-Cola your end-client?) [/quote]

A big client is not interested in the services a single translator can offer, because they usually have lots of language combinations to deal with. It's not translations they want, it's translation management.
Some of my end-clients ask for more than a dozen target languages. Contacting something as big as Coca-Cola is a waste of time. Even if they have different departments.

Contacting the vendor himself | Only after a long time

Peter Motte — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 13:50:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Peter Motte
Post title: Only after a long time

[quote]Gregor Trebec wrote:

Oy!
A while ago I had a short project to translate. It was done trough an agency and I really liked the theme. It suited me. Now, I have done a bit of research on the net and found the vendor himself. Should I contact him and offer my service? Some advertisement for myself cannot hurt, if you know what I mean. [/quote]

No. It's the agency's client, not yours.
You can contact them some time after you got a project for that end-client from that agency, but it takes time before you can do that.
I have no idea about the period which should elapse between the moment you contact the end-client and the moment you did the last project for that end-client through that agency.

Contacting the vendor himself | Not only unethical

Lingua 5B — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 12:05:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Lingua 5B
Post title: Not only unethical

It’s a legal breach. And believe me, an agency has corporate lawyers that will press you really easily and gladly if you breach any of their clauses.

And all that aside, that end client wouldn’t even answer your email. If they were interested in working with individuals, they wouldn’t be hiring an agency. Your email will be fully disregarded as an unsolicited offer.

Contacting the vendor himself | @Gregor

Samuel Murray — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 08:56:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Samuel Murray
Post title: @Gregor

[quote]Gregor Trebec wrote:
I have done a bit of research on the net and found the vendor himself. Should I contact him and offer my service? [/quote]
This is considered unethical. You should do this only if you are satisfied that you will never work for the agency again, and if you are satisfied that they might tell other agencies that you have behaved unethically and should therefore be treated with caution. Translators talk to each other about bad agencies... don't think that agencies don't do the same thing.

Even if you do decide to do this, you would have to convince the end-client that you can offer them everything that the agency offered them, and better or cheapter. The agency offered them more than just a translation. They offered him e.g. an independent revision, access to additional experts, prompt and professional communication, knowledge of the client's business, and an existing relationship.

On the other hand, if the end-client is quite large, and has multiple departments or divisions, then it may be safe to contact other departments or other divisions to offer your services. As long as you don't let on that you have worked for them (or that other department/division) before, it should be fine. (Different opinions exist about who exactly is the end-client: if you did a Coca-Cola translation, is Coca-Cola your end-client?)

After all, a freelancer working in a particular industry is actually quite likely to reach out to companies in that industry. When the agency hears of this, and they complain, you could apologize and lie and say that you found the company independently, and that you will honour the NDA or implied NDA with them. As an ethical translator, you should decide if lying is something that you want to do. Myself, I prefer to stay away from slippery slopes.

Contacting the vendor himself | I passed few times work on other translators

Daryo — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 06:56:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Daryo
Post title: I passed few times work on other translators

[quote]Cilian O'Tuama wrote:

What's that in English?

I can only speak for myself.
For 30-odd years, I/we outsourced some translation tasks - others we did inhouse. We were a translation office, not a translation agency. All work delivered to us was checked internally before delivery and we always took full responsibility for it. Had an external translator tried to poach a client, it would have been more than just seriously frowned upon. Hence "unethical".

"Agencies" might operate differently.
[/quote]

Agree with you. I passed few times work on to other translators. Once I made a mistake in choosing who to rely on and got back an unusable translation - a relatively short one. I still paid for it and redone it myself. My point was: how many agencies would do that as Standard Operating Procedure?

Contacting the vendor himself | Read the NDA

Epameinondas Soufleros — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 06:22:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Epameinondas Soufleros
Post title: Read the NDA

Read the Non-Disclosure Agreement. It has a section on this topic with explicit provisions.

Contacting the vendor himself | @Daryo

Cilian O'Tuama — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 05:36:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Cilian O'Tuama
Post title: @Daryo

What's that in English?

I can only speak for myself.
For 30-odd years, I/we outsourced some translation tasks - others we did inhouse. We were a translation office, not a translation agency. All work delivered to us was checked internally before delivery and we always took full responsibility for it. Had an external translator tried to poach a client, it would have been more than just seriously frowned upon. Hence "unethical".

"Agencies" might operate differently.

Contacting the vendor himself | As you said

Daryo — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 03:01:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Daryo
Post title: As you said

'though that might not count for much these days'

I don't know about that specific agency, but too many agencies are 'your client' only when it comes to limiting your own access to the market - and not much for anything else.

'The agency is your client' is a nice mantra, but how many agencies act as such? i.e. check themselves and accept your work and pay for it, no matter what happens after? Or instead act as no more than a pass-through intermediary that won’t take any responsibility for anything and will in a blink offload al the troubles they got from the real client on you?

If I understand well that agency went to great lenght to hide who is the real client, so on which ground they should complain if the translator found that client simply by looking for clients?

Contacting the vendor himself | I would consider that to be unethical...

Cilian O'Tuama — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 02:05:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Cilian O'Tuama
Post title: I would consider that to be unethical...

..., though that might not count for much these days.

The agency (not the "vendor") is your client, even if no NDA has been signed.

And if the agency found out that you had secretly contacted THEIR vendor directly, would they outsource to you again?

I'd suggest you ask your agency if they'd have any objections. But I suppose for you it depends on how much work you get from the agency.

As I said, IMO it'd be unethical.

Oy!

Contacting the vendor himself | You mean the client?

Daryo — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:56:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Daryo
Post title: You mean the client?

i.e. the end-client or more accurately the real client?

Contacting the vendor himself

Gregor Trebec — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 22:03:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Contacting the vendor himself
Poster: Gregor Trebec

Oy!
A while ago I had a short project to translate. It was done trough an agency and I really liked the theme. It suited me. Now, I have done a bit of research on the net and found the vendor himself. Should I contact him and offer my service? Some advertisement for myself cannot hurt, if you know what I mean.