Pages in topic:   < [1 2]
Payment: transaction fees from the agency
Thread poster: Mathilda Haraldsson
Mirko Mainardi
Mirko Mainardi  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 02:38
Member
English to Italian
Unfair Jun 27, 2017

Samuel Murray wrote:

mathildaeleonor wrote:
I think this is insane. How can they expect that I will agree to get 20 dollars less on my job just because I want a bank transfer?


The agency wants to use the cheapest and most convenient money transfer method. You can't blame them for that. The cheapest and most convenient method for them is cheque. If you're happy to receive cheques, then there is no problem (...but if you're in Sweden, then I don't think you want to receive cheques). If you do not want them to use the cheapest and most convenient money transfer method, but instead you personally prefer them to use a more expensive, less convenient method (e.g. bank transfer or PayPal), then don't you agree that you should be willing to help pay for your preference?


Not "insane", just unfair. As others have said, by receiving a payment through PayPal or wire transfer, you're already "paying for your preference" in the form of bank/PayPal and conversion fees. The point is the client doesn't want to even pay their part of such expenses and instead wants the vendor to bear all of them, or accept a(n obsolete) form of payment that is not really used anymore outside of the US. That's unfair and unreasonable. Besides, we're talking about a BIG multinational company with offices (and vendors) all over the world (EU included), so in addition to the above, their lack of helpfulness also extends to the fact they insist on paying in $ and from US banks, while they would definitely have the means to arrange payments in other currencies and/or from overseas branches.


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 02:38
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Yasutomo Jun 27, 2017

Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote:
I too know this mega-agency. ... I automatically add an extra 10 USD to my invoice. ...


If this is the agency that I think it is, then adding USD 10 to an invoice won't work because all PO amounts are registered on their invoice submission system, and attempting to submit an invoice with an amount higher than the registered amount will cause the invoice to be rejected by the system. The agency that I think of deducts money only per transfer, and not per invoice, and I can't combine multiple POs on a single invoice. So if they pay 100 invoices all at once, then the PayPal charge happens only once for all 100 invoices combined.

Do the mega agency that you have in mind allow you to put multiple POs on a single invoice, and do you add USD 10 to every invoice that you send them?


 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 01:38
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Not necessarily true Jun 27, 2017

Philippe Etienne wrote:
bank transfers US>Europe are also notoriously expensive on both sides.

From 2012 to 2014 I worked regularly on projects for the largest CAT/MT developer and was paid by their US office. They had (probably still have) a brilliantly simple interface where everything ran like clockwork. They paid by bank transfer, for any USD amount, and just days after the end of the month in which the jobs were performed. They didn't charge me anything and nor did my EU bank, although I think that might charge EUR 12 per transaction nowadays. That agency said they were using a really efficient batch processing system provided by their US bank.

So while clients dealing with small and/or irregular payments abroad may find bank transfers too costly, the big agencies don't. What do you bet that that enormous one just has to press one button to kick off the bank transfer, and pay a few cents, and yet charges their suppliers ridiculous amounts for the pleasure?


 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Check lol Jun 27, 2017

What century are they in?

America is a funny old place.

Samuel Murray wrote:
If you do not want them to use the cheapest and most convenient money transfer method, but instead you personally prefer them to use a more expensive, less convenient method (e.g. bank transfer or PayPal), then don't you agree that you should be willing to help pay for your preference?


Absolutely not. The cost of paying you is their problem. Always.

PS OMFG I wrote "check".

[Edited at 2017-06-27 09:42 GMT]


 
Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 02:38
Member
English to French
Yes they can Jun 27, 2017

Sheila Wilson wrote:
...They paid by bank transfer, for any USD amount, and just days after the end of the month in which the jobs were performed. They didn't charge me anything and nor did my EU bank, although I think that might charge EUR 12 per transaction nowadays. That agency said they were using a really efficient batch processing system provided by their US bank.

So while clients dealing with small and/or irregular payments abroad may find bank transfers too costly, the big agencies don't. What do you bet that that enormous one just has to press one button to kick off the bank transfer, and pay a few cents, and yet charges their suppliers ridiculous amounts for the pleasure?

Thank you Sheila, that's good to know. I don't think I've ever experienced payment-friendly agencies in North America, large or small, so my base rate there is higher and matched to the current EUR/USD exchange rate.

Agencies that have efficient payment processes should advertise it as an incentive for translators to work with them. But as long as people accept to have their invoice amount cut by up to 10% without frowning, there is no financial gain in trying to make the process less expensive.
And maybe they even earn on that indeed, so why kill the hen.

Philippe


 
Mathilda Haraldsson
Mathilda Haraldsson
Sweden
Local time: 02:38
French to Swedish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you Jun 27, 2017

Thank you everyone for very helpful input in this subject!
In the future I will remember to ask for a higher rate for North American companies from the start. I guess I did a rookie mistake.

But what do you all think of adding a charge to your own invoice? For example:

"xx hours : xx USD
invoice charge/fee : 10 USD"

Then they would have to pay that, right? As I've understood, we have the right, as any company, to have an invoice fee. (Me mysel
... See more
Thank you everyone for very helpful input in this subject!
In the future I will remember to ask for a higher rate for North American companies from the start. I guess I did a rookie mistake.

But what do you all think of adding a charge to your own invoice? For example:

"xx hours : xx USD
invoice charge/fee : 10 USD"

Then they would have to pay that, right? As I've understood, we have the right, as any company, to have an invoice fee. (Me myself I always hate it when I get one, but why not use it in situations just like this?)

Thanks again for all your help! I am very glad this forum exists.

/M
Collapse


 
Dylan J Hartmann
Dylan J Hartmann  Identity Verified
Australia
Member (2014)
Thai to English
+ ...

MODERATOR
Nice to meet my fellow "linguist" comrades Jun 27, 2017

What I find most interesting about this thread is seeing the number of fellow linguists working for this agency. Great to meet you all! Hope your experiences have been as fulfilling as mine!

lol to the OP - it's worth it, believe us!


 
Yasutomo Kanazawa
Yasutomo Kanazawa  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 10:38
Member (2005)
English to Japanese
+ ...
@Samuel Jun 27, 2017

Samuel Murray wrote:

Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote:
I too know this mega-agency. ... I automatically add an extra 10 USD to my invoice. ...


If this is the agency that I think it is, then adding USD 10 to an invoice won't work because all PO amounts are registered on their invoice submission system, and attempting to submit an invoice with an amount higher than the registered amount will cause the invoice to be rejected by the system. The agency that I think of deducts money only per transfer, and not per invoice, and I can't combine multiple POs on a single invoice. So if they pay 100 invoices all at once, then the PayPal charge happens only once for all 100 invoices combined.

Do the mega agency that you have in mind allow you to put multiple POs on a single invoice, and do you add USD 10 to every invoice that you send them?


I think we are talking about the same agency having their head office in the US (as others have implied).

To make myself clear, I ask the PM BEFORE s/he creates the PO.
So, for example, if I do a 100 USD worth of job, and if I have Paypal in mind for payment, I tell the PM that your company automatically deducts 10 USD from the payment, so I would like to add an extra 10 USD so that I can receive 100 USD (not to be exact since Paypal deducts transactions fee but that is not the point here). So far, they have all agreed to my request.

Like I wrote earlier, all of the PMs I dealt with were understanding, and they issued a PO with 110 USD as the total amount. The agency I have in mind does not allow multiple POs on a single invoice, so I submit and upload say, 2 invoices separately to their system. But everytime I do a job for them, I ask beforehand if I can add the extra 10 USD before the PM in charge creates a PO, since sometimes, they do not add up the payment but pay separately for the submitted invoices, resulting in multiple times of Paypal transactions.

Oh, one more thing just to check if we are talking about the same agency: They always pay me in e-checks, which takes a few days to clear and gets credited to my Paypal account.


 
S_G_C
S_G_C
Romania
Local time: 03:38
English to Romanian
Talk to them and your bank Jun 27, 2017

I know the agency.

I agreed to checks based on incomplete information provided by my bank. It's not unusual for banks in Romania to "forget" to give their clients all the details needed. It turned out that my bank's policies applying to USD checks from the US were so client-unfriendly, that I couldn't cash those checks.

For one of the checks, the agency misspelled my name and they had to re-issue the check. It was sent by regular mail, not secure mail (registered letter
... See more
I know the agency.

I agreed to checks based on incomplete information provided by my bank. It's not unusual for banks in Romania to "forget" to give their clients all the details needed. It turned out that my bank's policies applying to USD checks from the US were so client-unfriendly, that I couldn't cash those checks.

For one of the checks, the agency misspelled my name and they had to re-issue the check. It was sent by regular mail, not secure mail (registered letter, acknowledgement of receipt), so anyone could have taken possession of it.

[Edited at 2017-06-27 17:41 GMT]
Collapse


 
S_G_C
S_G_C
Romania
Local time: 03:38
English to Romanian
PayPal Jun 27, 2017

I live in Romania and I use PayPal.

Here are the fees that PayPal imposes on me when I receive money for goods and services and withdraw it to my linked card:

0.35 EUR + a percentage of the amount received - it depends on the amount + 2 EUR/each withdrawal.


 
Joana Polonia
Joana Polonia  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 01:38
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I know Jun 28, 2017

I know the agency you're talking about. Their bank will also charge you $45 for international wire transfer, so in $100 you lose $65.
You can set a minimum value for the wire, that will save you some money.
Is it worth working for this agency? Maybe, they usually have a lot of work. But prepare yourself for fast turnarounds and delays in payment, mostly if they owe you a lot of money.
They still owe me $4.000...


 
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 »

Payment: transaction fees from the agency







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 »
Anycount & Translation Office 3000
Translation Office 3000

Translation Office 3000 is an advanced accounting tool for freelance translators and small agencies. TO3000 easily and seamlessly integrates with the business life of professional freelance translators.

More info »