Agencies deducting money transfer fee from your invoice?
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| Användare | Trådens avsändare: Deborah Hoffman Agencies deducting money transfer fee from your invoice? |
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Deborah Hoffman
USA
Ryska till Engelska
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I just saw a Russian-English job here on ProZ.com where the agency state it deducts what Paypal charges it to send money from the translator's invoice. Is this a common practice? I mean, we have our own costs to do business, including that for drawing money _out_ of Paypal. What are people's thoughts on this?
| | | | Ralf Lemster 
Tyskland
 Medlem (2003)
Engelska till Tyska
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Moderator för detta forum |
Hi Deborah,
| I just saw a Russian-English job here on ProZ.com where the agency state it deducts what Paypal charges it to send money from the translator's invoice. |
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I believe it's better to clarify the terms and conditions in advance, rather than having a dispute later.
| I mean, we have our own costs to do business, including that for drawing money _out_ of Paypal. |
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And a string of other costs - factor them into your price.
Best regards,
Ralf
| | | | M. Anna Kańduła
Hong Kong
 Medlem (2006)
Engelska till Polska
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| | Charges for sending? | Jul 23 |
Deborah Hoffman wrote:
I just saw a Russian-English job here on ProZ.com where the agency state it deducts what Paypal charges it to send money from the translator's invoice. Is this a common practice? I mean, we have our own costs to do business, including that for drawing money _out_ of Paypal. What are people's thoughts on this? |
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I am not sure if I missed something in Paypal, or something is wrong with agency's condition: since when do you pay for sending money in Paypal? For receiving and (if applicable) withdrawal, but sending??
But generally - each has their own costs, I see no reason to accept all (as a translator), and I am sure not many (if any) agencies would agree to take all costs.
I agree with Ralf - such things should be settled before starting any cooperation.
Anni
| | | | alz
Kroatien
Medlem (2007)
Engelska till Kroatiska
+ ...
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Sure it's better and wise to clarify the terms and conditions in advance.
But here are my 2 cents:
When paying my bills for electricity, water, telephone etc. I pay the amount demanded plus the costs of the bank transfer. Do I have any choise? I do not.
Why should it be different with my invoices?
If the outsourcer has chosen certain translator it is for his/her qualification (and often the rates and method of payment). If the outsourcer wish to save money on transfer costs he should think about it before assigning a job.
Deducting the money transfer costs from the total due of the invoice, after the job is done and delivered, is i.m.h.o. unfair and such an agency can not claim to be a serious one.
| | | | Jose Ruivo
Portugal
 Partial member
Engelska till Portugisiska
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Deborah Hoffman wrote:
I just saw a Russian-English job here on ProZ.com where the agency state it deducts what Paypal charges it to send money from the translator's invoice. Is this a common practice? I mean, we have our own costs to do business, including that for drawing money _out_ of Paypal. What are people's thoughts on this? |
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I absolutelly agree with you: I don't charge my clients a price for sending them my translations by e-mail, or a lower cost if I would send them by post 
I assume the costs of running my business, just as much as I expect my clients to do so. If your client wants to charge you 10 or 20 usd for paying you something like 1,000 usd, can you imagine your client's client deducting 100 or 200 usd from a payment of 10,000 they owed your client??
The more translators make a stand on this ridiculous requirement from agencies, the better changes we have they understand how preposterous this is.
Good luck,
Jose
[Edited at 2008-07-23 10:13]
| | | | Yeti_fr
Thailand
Engelska till Franska
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alz wrote:
Deducting the money transfer costs from the total due of the invoice, after the job is done and delivered, is i.m.h.o. unfair and such an agency can not claim to be a serious one. |
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That's a problem I have with a leading agency: my bank account is outside UE so their bank charges special fees, and when they pay me these fees are deducted from the payment.
They claim it's a mistake, and I obtained a refund the first time, but they continue to do so.
Really annoying.
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| Dany Caputo
Italien
Medlem (Jul 2008)
Engelska till Italienska
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I'd suggest to state it clearly before to start working. I generally charge for paypal payments but I never know how much to charge for bank payments from banks outside of Europe. Taking advantage of this, an American company (they didn't even want to pay, ProZ.com had to contact them and in the end they paid) refused to pay for bank expenses, so I had to pay quite a lot of money... money they of course deducted from the final payment. I considered myself lucky enough because at least they paid me (I would never work with them again, it was such a bad experience!), so I didn't sue them, but looking at things now.. well I'd probably do it. It's unfair but unfortunately it looks as if there are quite a lot of unprofessional agencies out there...
| | | | megane_wang
Spanien
Medlem (2007)
Engelska till Spanska
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| | You should discuss it, but probably they cannot avoid this one | Jul 23 |
Yeti_fr wrote:
...
That's a problem I have with a leading agency: my bank account is outside UE so their bank charges special fees, and when they pay me these fees are deducted from the payment.
They claim it's a mistake, and I obtained a refund the first time, but they continue to do so.
Really annoying. |
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Hi Yeti,
For some sorts of bank transfers within the UE and from UE to outside, transfer costs MUST be shared by sender and receiver. In any case it's not the sender's fault, but a bank rule, and if you have a few dozens of invoices to pay, each of them under different conditions I understand that it can be difficult to manage. If it's so annoying and this is a regular customer, why don't you discuss to add a small amount to your invoices to cover that?
Ruth @ MW
[Edited at 2008-07-23 15:42]
| | | | Steven Capsuto
USA
Medlem (2004)
Franska till Engelska
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| | Clarify it up front | Jul 23 |
When I explain my fee structure to a foreign client, I also discuss payment terms.
Among other things, I specify that they are responsible for any fees charged by their financial institution and I am responsible for fees charged by mine.
If someone owes you money, they owe you the WHOLE amount. If their bank charges them a fee, that's like any other business expense they have (rent, office supplies, etc.) and is their responsibility.
As Alz noted, no other type of creditor would tolerate this sort of nonsense and neither should we.
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