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Dispute of Overseas Customer
Thread poster: Yi Cao
Yi Cao
Yi Cao  Identity Verified
New Zealand
Local time: 19:55
Chinese to English
+ ...
Jan 3

Dear:

Should I successfully have obtained a customer through PROZ.com, the customer is overseas. Should it have been unwilling to pay me, will PROZ do something helping me??

I am just asking a hypothetical questions.

Is it true that Proz would not do anything for htat? We just have to protect ourselves by asking the other Party to pay in advance. But they usually are not willing to pay in advance.

Thanks
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:55
Member (2008)
Italian to English
what you should do Jan 3

Yi Cao wrote:

Dear:

Should I successfully have obtained a customer through PROZ.com, the customer is overseas. Should it have been unwilling to pay me, will PROZ do something helping me??

I am just asking a hypothetical questions.

Is it true that Proz would not do anything for htat? We just have to protect ourselves by asking the other Party to pay in advance. But they usually are not willing to pay in advance.

Thanks


First: carefully check who the client (customer) is. If you find their postal address you may even be able to use Google Earth to pinpoint where they are. This can sometimes lead you to strange places.

The BlueBoard is a useful resource, but it should be used with caution because it can be manipulated.

Last: always get clear written agreement, from your client, before you begin work, about what the job is, how much they will pay you, when they will pay you, and the postal address to which you should send your invoice (although you will probably send the invoice by email). Then when you deliver the translation, make sure the client has not queried anything about its quality.

If you do all of the above, and the client doesn't pay, then Proz can support you. Proz has supported me a couple of times, and I got paid as a result of their intervention.

P.S. it doesn't matter what country the client is in. Proz has a global reach.

[Edited at 2024-01-03 10:01 GMT]

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 09:55
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Cao Jan 3

Yi Cao wrote:
Should [an overseas customer] have been unwilling to pay me, will ProZ.com do something helping me?

No. ProZ.com's role is to put the potential translator and the potential client into contact with each other. The translator and the client should, each, take their own steps to ensure that the translator is good and reliable and/or that the client is honest and solvent.

We just have to protect ourselves by asking the other party to pay in advance. But they usually are not willing to pay in advance.

There are always risks in doing business, and the risks are sometimes greater if you're doing business overseas. Asking for payment in advance is one of the things you can do to reduce the risk, but as you have said, not many clients are willing to do it.

Other ways of reducing risk include making sure that the client actually exists and has a good reputation. If you are unable to determine the client's reputation, you may consider reducing the risk by only doing smaller jobs for the client initially, until they have proven that they are capable and willing to pay on time.

Tom in London
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei
 


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Dispute of Overseas Customer







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