| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Atrocious Payment Terms - 90 Days? Thread poster: Siddharth Anand
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Hi All
I just wanted to know your views on some really atrocious Payment terms offered by certain agencies. I recently came across an Agency offering the job, but then their PO contained Payment terms of 90 Days.
I was almost baffled for a while thinking that the Project needs to be completed fast within a stringent deadline, but the Payment will be done 3 months later? What is the Agency going to do with our money for 90 days, and yet why?
I received this... See more Hi All
I just wanted to know your views on some really atrocious Payment terms offered by certain agencies. I recently came across an Agency offering the job, but then their PO contained Payment terms of 90 Days.
I was almost baffled for a while thinking that the Project needs to be completed fast within a stringent deadline, but the Payment will be done 3 months later? What is the Agency going to do with our money for 90 days, and yet why?
I received this response from them: "We accepted your Rate, you accept our Payment Term". Wow, so I proposed a reasonable rate for the assignment, and you get to mandate unreasonable payment terms for the agreement? What justice and Agreement standards!
Is this commonly observed and what can be done about this (besides of-course rejecting the assignment)? Thoughts welcome!
Best Regards,
Siddharth Anand ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:04
Member (2008)
Italian to English
90 days is considered perfectly normal in Italy.
Alas.
| | | | nrdawe2 (X)
Local time: 15:04
Italian to English
+ ...
| Depends on where the agency is located | May 5, 2011 |
I agree with Tom. In Italy, for example, payment after 90 days is very common for agencies and I believe this is because of the delay in their clients paying them. I have yet to find an agency here in Italy that pays after 30 days date of invoice. I have dealt with a couple that pay after 60 days.
Naomi
| | | | | 90 days is totally unacceptable | May 5, 2011 |
Maybe in Italy or in Southern Europe, this may be the norm, but I wouldn't even think about working with such agencies.
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Jaroslaw Michalak 
Poland
Local time: 15:04
Member (2004)
English to Polish
SITE LOCALIZER | Revise the rates | May 5, 2011 |
Siddharth Anand wrote:
Wow, so I proposed a reasonable rate for the assignment, and you get to mandate unreasonable payment terms for the agreement? What justice and Agreement standards!
It's just a business proposition. If you find the terms unreasonable, just move on...
On the other hand, you might want to revise your rates, stating that for the initial rates you have assumed shorter payment period. Then you might be compensated for the wait or they might propose better terms if they see it is going to cost them more.
| | | | | They can't have it all! | May 5, 2011 |
So they want to pay reasonable rates and in three months? I agree with Jabberwock. Increase your rate and then maybe they will think about it twice. It's like urgent jobs on a Friday afternoon, if you add a surcharge then noone seems to be in a hurry anymore!!In my experience, most of my European clients are between 30 and 60 days, but 90 days should not be accepted, unless at a very satisfying rate!
| | | | Sara Colombo
Italy
Local time: 15:04
English to Italian
+ ...
Well, actually, in Italy that is the norm, like Tom said.
But unfortunately, there are some Italian agencies that take even longer to pay the translator! And they say it's because they have to wait for the Client to pay them, so that they can pay you.
(To believe it or not, it's up to you!)
Sara
| | | | Altrum
Italy
Italian to English
+ ...
Not forgetting that the invoice date is usually expected to be the last day of the month (still Italy). So if you only did one job for them on the 1st of the month, you'd actually be waiting 120 days to receive payment!
I had one agency client which made their payments after 90 days but found the cheeky ruse of setting the value date on the bank draft as the 25th of the month! So payment for a job done on 1st January would be received 25 April!
Luckily, although it is "... See more Not forgetting that the invoice date is usually expected to be the last day of the month (still Italy). So if you only did one job for them on the 1st of the month, you'd actually be waiting 120 days to receive payment!
I had one agency client which made their payments after 90 days but found the cheeky ruse of setting the value date on the bank draft as the 25th of the month! So payment for a job done on 1st January would be received 25 April!
Luckily, although it is "normal" in Italy (and certainly not only in the translation business), not all agencies deal in such outlandish behaviour and, as always, its up to the supplier to say yay or nay to it. ▲ Collapse
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Mark Hamlen
France
Local time: 15:04
French to English
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| I find 60 days is already too much | May 5, 2011 |
I am against long payment terms for us. I find 60 days is already unacceptable. French agencies nearly all specify 60 days (because French law allows 60 as the maximum). And I don't agree that payment to us should be dependent on whether the agency receives payment from their client. My landlord is not interested if my clients have paid me or not when the rent is due.
I am removing French agencies from my list of clients for this reason and I wish them luck. I suspect if we re... See more I am against long payment terms for us. I find 60 days is already unacceptable. French agencies nearly all specify 60 days (because French law allows 60 as the maximum). And I don't agree that payment to us should be dependent on whether the agency receives payment from their client. My landlord is not interested if my clients have paid me or not when the rent is due.
I am removing French agencies from my list of clients for this reason and I wish them luck. I suspect if we refuse to work with Italian agencies with their 90 days, they might clean up their act.
We meet extremely short deadlines and produce the best quality work we can in this rush, a leisurely attitude to paying us is just not acceptable. ▲ Collapse
| | | | John Fossey
Canada
Local time: 09:04
Member (2008)
French to English
+ ...
Tom in London wrote:
90 days is considered perfectly normal in Italy.
Alas.
Its only "normal" to the extent that translators let it be "normal". If no one did, it wouldn't be "normal".
| | | | | I agree perfectly | May 5, 2011 |
Siddharth Anand wrote:
I was almost baffled for a while thinking that the Project needs to be completed fast within a stringent deadline, but the Payment will be done 3 months later? What is the Agency going to do with our money for 90 days, and yet why?
If an agency is not willing/able to pay within a reasonable time (say 30 days or even less) there is something wrong. This means they need our money to go ahead. They use what they own to us as a loan free of interest which otherwise they ought to ask to their bank or elsewhere.
[Bearbeitet am 2011-05-05 21:02 GMT]
| | | | | Well not for me | May 5, 2011 |
Tom in London wrote:
90 days is considered perfectly normal in Italy.
Alas
It is up to us not to accept 90 days payments, I am Italian, live in Italy, have some Italian client but I do not accept 90 days. It is common and will continue to be common as long as translators accept such "atrocious" payment terms.
Just for the record, please note that also Spain is used to offer 90 days payments.
[Edited at 2011-05-05 21:18 GMT]
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Naomi Dawe wrote:
I agree with Tom. In Italy, for example, payment after 90 days is very common for agencies and I believe this is because of the delay in their clients paying them. I have yet to find an agency here in Italy that pays after 30 days date of invoice. I have dealt with a couple that pay after 60 days.
Naomi
I could easily give you some name of Italian agencies paying at 30 days or 30 end of month.
| | | | | It fails to make sense to me | May 5, 2011 |
Why do end clients take so long to pay agencies in Italy? Is it because of tradition, the Mafia collectors having such a long backlist that 90 days is the time it takes for them to reach a client who enters the list today?
"We accepted your Rate, you accept our Payment Term" is a totally unacceptable statement. For a business to happen:
"We accepted your Rate, you accept our Payment Term" is a totally unacceptable statement. For a business to happen:
- The translator must accept the client's requirements in terms of the work to be done, quality standards, and delivery time;
- The client must accept the translator's price and payment terms.
... otherwise nothing will happen, and each party will go elsewhere.
The moment a translator delivers a finished job, and fails to be paid forthwith, they will be actually lending money to the client... at zero interest! If s/he is a professionally focused translator, it should be obvious that s/he is an amateur money lender. Banks are professional money lenders, so they charge interest rates; they compete among their peer organizations on who is lending money at the lowest rates. A professional translator, ergo amateur money lender, should logically charge much higher interest rates than any bank available to that client. This is where translators go wrong, upon trying to compete outside their trade, in the money lending business. To make it very clear, it's tantamount to banks offering top quality translations for 1¢/word.
Just as I need time to translate anything, it is fair that both agencies and end-clients have time to inspect what I've delivered them. Due to different time zones, payment systems may need some time for the payment to reach me. Anyway, two weeks should be ample time for that. If they want more time, they should pay for it.
Banks in Brazil are charging about 10% monthly interest on overdraft or credit card revolving credit, therefore, as long as banks don't offer translation services, I should surcharge my rates by twice as much interest, say, 60% for a 3-month payment term. Why not?
It's not a matter of who shot first. So the "We accepted your rate... statement fails to consider that the stated rate was for COD payment. If they want the translator to "accept our payment term", the rate should be much, much higher: they'll be borrowing money from an amateur lender. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 15:04
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Unacceptable. | May 5, 2011 |
I would not work under such payment terms. I even avoid agencies that pay after 60 days. 30 days is too much already.
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