freelancers – how long to get paid???...
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- j1983m
in the past within a week or so of doing freelance work i have received payment (from both private clients and freelance for design studios). this one studio i did work for about 6 weeks ago now and still haven't got payment.
i asked them how long it would take for payment right after doing the work and was said they have standard payment terms of 30 days. so i sat back and even did more work for them, still not seen anything. when would it be fair enough to ask again?
i received purchase orders for both jobs and invoiced for both of them. what can i do if i don't see the payment? anyone any experience of this???
- Doorman0
Oh dear.....same old battle to get the cash.
Drop a gentle e-mail in order to remind them that no money was received as yet and wish to get this financial matter resolved as soon as possible.
It is a general struggle and hassle when they dont pay in front.
Good luck and remember that being rude and abrupt to them wont help. Diplomatie and communication is the key.
- Not_Just_Another0
My better half is a freelance illustrator. Often in the contracts she has to sign the terms are often in multiples of 30days. I think she's waiting on one job that she did almost 90 days ago.
I've had experience of freelancers working in a studio environment where they would get paid just as regularly as full-time staff.
I think it really does depend on who you're doing work for, but 30 days is the usual terms I've come across.
- i do have a written contract too in order to protect myself and my clients for any work = stress freeDoorman
- it's probably the most important thing you need when freelancing. What are the terms?Not_Just_Another
- j1983m0
thanks for the reply's guys.
should i contact the creative director who i had the dealings with or try to contact someone in the accounts dept???
- I vote accounts. That way it's less personal than going through someone who you're likely to work with again
Not_Just_Another
- I vote accounts. That way it's less personal than going through someone who you're likely to work with again
- dMullins0
Contact whoever your primary contact is currently, and find out from them how to proceed. Stepping over your boundaries can piss people off, and quickly.
- dMullins0
Aside from legal avenues, there's not a lot you can do other than politely talk it out. I recently went through this with a company. After 90 days of being past-due, I finally told them it was either pay me, or I'd have to do all the typical BS ... lawyer-up, report to BBB, diss them on QBN, etc etc.
They finally gave me a promissory note, and have been on-time with their payments since.
- doesnotexist0
just write a polite email to whomever cuts the checks. keep in mind they have a legal right to take 30 days since the time you invoice.
often times it only takes a tiny reminder.
- Don't give "legal advice" on the internet. There are so many different country's laws involved, it's meaningless.boobs
- regardless, it still applies.doesnotexist
- ideaist0
Make a visit...
- monospaced0
Here's the template for this situation:
http://www.qbn.com/topics/592864…
- boobs0
1) Conduct hassles about payment with the accounting department. You don't want to pollute your relationship with your creative contact hassling about money. Try to keep dealing with money separate from your dealing with creative staff.
2) Get a cash in hand deposit up front before you start work. If they balk at this, just point out that you cannot be expected to finance their (or their client's) projects.
3) The terms for payment should not be dictated by the client. Your terms should be stated on your contract.
4) If they balk, and say, "We're not like your bad old clients who stiffed you!" you say, "Prove it."- +100000 on point#1. Def take money probs to the money peeps, not with the person who hired you.fyoucher1
- Meeklo0
I agree with some of the points boobs made there ^
Your terms should be on your invoice always, specially the part where it says that there will be a X% fee for late payments, this way when you are reaching day 20 you send an email saying something like "this is a reminder to let you know, a late fee will be charged if payment is not received by day X"
Yes, dictate your terms with direct clients.
On my experience, with agencies you need to be more flexible and agree on a set of terms for payment. Most big agencies have their own terms, and if you make it hard for them when it comes to payment, they might stop sending you work.Always get a deposit on all work done for personal clients. Always.
Every time you fail to achieve this, you are in major trouble, if you don't do it by now, you are either new, or extremely lucky.
- vaxorcist0
As long as they know they need you more than you need them, you get paid in a reasonable time. So, for a freelancer, this can be a game of perceptions as well as actual contractual arrangements, especially in this economy....
BUT sometimes they people who control the money view freelancers as interchangeable, whereas the creative directors don't. The challenge is making sure the account people know you're more necessary to pay now than somebody else....
Big agencies often have their own rules, but they often also have more ability to float cash and pay when they decide it's necessary... So if they say 90 days, it will actually be 90 days.
Read the news about the company if you can find any... if they're in the process of being bought by annother company, or their CEO just changed, be prepared for a payment run-around until the "new rules" and "new people" have understood that yes, you're important enough to pay now, before they pay somebody else...
I'm most concerned about payment terms with smaller companies that don't have enough cash flow to absorb their clients paying them slowly....
- marky_brown0
I've always found that if the company has an accounts department then its going to take longer. Their job is bascially to delay giving you your money.
- bklyndroobeki0
Sorry to bump a 6/yo thread.
QBN Freelancers;
Is 30 net standard?
I'm wondering if I should give my contracts more wiggle room, I keep bumping into the same fucking headache over and over again.
I usually agree to 7 – 10 days from the date of the invoice generally for small projects (1–2K)
- l've seen agreements say something like "50% up front and additional invoiced after each project milestone". However, yeah, net 30 days is standard.studderine
- Yup, usually 50% sometimes there's a middle. But net 30, I'll start that.bklyndroobeki
- studderine0
I have a situation where the first 3 invoices were paid net 30 days but the last few invoices have dragged on a bit. I recently sent an email to the client (don't know how to contact their accountant) and he said he would look into it. I have faith that it was just a little mixup considering he paid on time before...
- omahadesigns0
What do you do if you sent client an invoice 32 days ago and today they email with more work?
Do you remind them and continue with the work? Remind them and do new work when paid? Do the work and wait a week to remind them b/c it's only 2 days over? Other?
- Shit, that's hard. You want the work but you are unsure if they will even pay you on time. Can you come up with a different agreement for this work? 50% down?studderine
- When was your last reminder?bklyndroobeki
- Do you send a reminder at 30 days?omahadesigns
- I'd wait a few days after 30 and then send a reminder. Sounds like you are in that window...studderine
- Reminder at 30 days. Tell them there's an accounting hold on their file as their last invoice is past-due. Ask them to clear that up now so you can get started.monNom
- Errrr, yeah 33 days now. I'd say you're in that window.bklyndroobeki
- Yeah, send a statement. I usually send one a week after the 30 days. Although my consistent/ongoing clients usually pay at 45-60Josev
- bklyndroobeki0
rush job should mean rush payment.
- mantrakid0
If it's a new client I would ALWAYS get as much up front as I could on a quoted job. Especially for bigger shit thats going to take a while to do, bigger final invoice, longer wait for them to come up with the cash, higher chance of them saying 'actually we cant pay this'.
Been burned a few times, even with a contract in place, some clients are just deadbeat assholes that either take forever to pay (so you never do more work for them) or they skip the bill altogether and the only recourse you have is to send to collections and hope they pull something out of them.
If you are unsure of a routine with a client or how they are going to pay you, how often, how quickly, etc. I think its perfectly reasonable to get half up front.
If a client is 30 days late on an invoice, I almost always say no additional work until that last bill is paid, unless the client is awesome and you know they're good for it anyway.
Freelance shit is tricky as fuck. Cant remember the amount of times my bills 'should have' been paid, but im waiting on a few grand from various peeps at once.
