Please pay your writers! =(

What we have learned in the past few years is that some services who claim to pay for freelance work done by you, well, simply won't pay you for the work. I can't tell you how many times we have been bitten by people who have taken hours of our research and writing expertise, and then we never hear from them again.

This is why we have made it abundantly clear, our payment is upfront, unless the expenses are over $1,000, (for example, business plans, grant proposals, RFPs,) then we would offer a 50% split of payments, half upfront, and the other half upon completion and delivery.

In a few instances, through freelance farms like Freelanced.com or First Class Writers, we have met with individuals simply looking for a handout. =( These people wanted our services, but then completely "forgot" they owed us money. One instance, we discovered that First Class Writers had gotten an assignment from ANOTHER freelance board, which in turn had been posted by the author's agent, because HE could not do the work he was paid to do. The job went from $5,000, to $2,000 and to us, a measly $250.

Our worst experience yet was when USA Funding contracted with us to write grant proposals for approximately 20 clients, nearly $11,000. We were paid about $900 for the first week, and we were happy, so we did the work assigned to us, turned it in and never heard from them again. =( (a $10,100 loss)

Freelance writers do a tremendous amount of work, and while we may be being decimated by the hundreds, thousands of freelance farms that can simply take jobs overseas for pennies on the dollar these days, there has to be a line drawn somewhere. We do a lot of work, a lot of research and study, and our time and effort is valuable to us. Please remember to pay your writers promptly. If the work isn't to your liking, look at it this way. You just don't go to them again. Simple as that.

For us, the writers, however? We can be scammed again, and again...=( Think about it.

I'm glad to have found this website that isn't afraid to discuss the real problems affecting freelance writers and editors like us.

Only the stupid ones.

Probably not a good idea to insult.

If you think you can't be scammed, you are very, very wrong.

You are right, it is easy to get scammed. My point was that only stupid writers (or any other professionals for that matter) get scammed "again and again." How is that possible?

It is VERY possible.

Let's say you do work, 50% upfront for example, and 50% on delivery. If you fail to get the other half of your assignment payment, to me, that seems like a scam. Look, a scam doesn't always mean you get no money at all. A scam, to me anyway, is any act that involves an attempt to refuse, neglect or willfully avoid paying an amount of money for services rendered. That's what I mean. =)

This should become abundantly apparent after a single incident. Perhaps "stupid" was not the right word (although it is). Maybe a better word is "insanity":

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein

How is that even remotely insane or stupid?

I say again, anyone can be scammed in this fashion. That doesn't mean you get scammed by the same people again, but there is nothing to really prevent against working with another individual with the same intentions.

Please read for content. Thank you.

I didn't mean to be abstruse. I meant specifically that writers who get scammed "over and over again" because they provide work product to clients without being paid for it in advance are stupid, at least in my opinion. I can't think of any other profession (except maybe emergency medicine where it is required by law) where practitioners provide their services without payment in advance. Your lawyer isn't going to wait for you to die to get paid for the will he wrote for you, and writers shouldn't have to wait for hell to freeze over to get paid for their work either. As I say, Einstein characterized such behavior as insanity, but what did he know? I think it's just stupid. As the adage states, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

Exactly. We cannot be fooled twice by the same people who scam us, but we CAN be fooled again by a different individual or organization who means the same unlawful intent towards us. That's what I mean. =) So...in that instance, yes...you can be scammed several times unless, as you point out, you get the money upfront, no questions asked.

Good luck!

if you do get scammed, what possible actions can you take? Anyone with experience?

Lots of options:

-Cry
-Make a frowny face, with no actual tears
-Smile on the outside but cry on the inside
-Take a frown and turn it upside down
-Report the student to the university, which might serve the gods of justice but does nothing for your PayPal account, which leads us back to the crying

-Cry (did I already mention that one?)
-Adopt payment policies that prevent scamming

Anyone can be scammed, and it doesn't matter if you're smart or stupid because a lot of the times you get scammed from a firm that seems extremely trustworthy. Always be sure to double and triple check whether or not the work you're doing is for a reputable firm or client, and don't be afraid to ask for some money upfront because in most cases employers should have no problem giving you that 50% upfront if YOU are a reputable writer.

You could use payment processors that make all charges final where there is no chargeback option, but that would create an issue with freelancers scamming clients. I personally believe that there is no middle ground and like in every business venture you win some and you lose some. Take your losses with a grain of sand and keep moving forward.

I'm really trying to make a point here. You can't get scammed if you get paid in advance.

You're right but then the customer feels like he is going to get scammed. Personally I think the best thing you can do as a writer, or employer, is to ask/offer 50% upfront. This gives security to both the writer and the customer.

I'll do this too if pushed, but I still have to write the whole paper first and then divide it in half since I don't write the first half and then the second half but rather the whole kit and kaboodle at the same time.

Great thread. Especially 99Essays response, lol!

How is that any security for the writer on the 2nd half? I've been doing this for a living for a long time and I don't even schedule something on my calendar, let alone actually write anything, until it's paid in full. No matter how you slice it, either the customer or the writer has to take a risk, but the customer can mitigate that risk by just ordering a couple of pages (or even 1 page) to see whether a writer is legit and good before ordering the rest of a project. Once a customer receives a high-quality small order, there's no longer very much risk trusting that writer. That's not necessarily equally true the other way around: The only time I ever got stiffed by a client was someone who'd used me dozens and dozens of times over 3 years. In her last term, she started asking to pay late sometimes, and then never paid me for the last 2 assignments I'd written before payment. Never again. She even had the nerve to ask me for more work about a year later, promising to pay in advance...for a law enforcement employment application essay about personal integrity and responsibility (not kidding).

You're far more decent than I am, FreelanceWriter. I would have accepted money for her work and then never delivered. Turnabout's fair play, in my book.

Nah, that was my first instinct too; but her stuff was really easy and figured it was worth forgetting about if she needed a lot more work. If I'd have known that's all she needed, that's probably exactly what I'd have done too.

do you know of any online employer who can pay a 50% of the payment before work and complete the payment without delay after completion. i would like to work for them pease. kindly redirect me.

If you are referring to writing companies, I sincerely doubt there are such. But working for a (reputable!!!) company pretty much means you are safe and sound money-wise.

Aside from that, this is a board that aims to reveal scams in the industry, so I doubt anyone will openly direct you. Try searching the Web, and then compare with known scam companies (most of which can be found here, if you dig enough).

i agree

You own the copyright to anything that is not paid for. **** anyone who says otherwise.

By the way, you hold 'em, I'll kick 'em. I'm mad now.

I don't agree with you.

Who in their right mind would even consider providing over $10K worth of work for on a $900 deposit? Not me! You pay $900, you get $900 worth of work. The OP's post is the craziest and, frankly, most irresponsible, thing I've heard. And, in this forum, we'll all heard some doozies!

perhaps you are faced with this because your work was substandard

What is this? Payment after delivery of work :(

As far as I know writing companies hold a writer's salary for 2 weeks before paying out. They claim that this is to protect the company and the writer from possible chargeback claims. I never understood that concept and neither did my friends since the client already got the completed paper, regardless of the charge claims. I told them that the company most likely did this to allow themselves time to find some flaw in their work that they could be dinged for.

Find a big enough problem and the company won't have to pay you. They'll just turn around and claim the student filed a dispute and it is under "investigation" by their QAD. By the end of the week, the poor writer will have lost the pay for the paper he worked on.

There is absolutely no way a writing company can be convinced to treat their writers fairly and pay them what is due because that is not what they are in the business for. They are in it to make money and if it means conning the slave writers as well then so be it.

For a contract as large as the OP mentioned, I always ask for 75% upfront payment. That is usually a large enough amount to send any dishonest client running to another company or writer. I ask for that large an amount upfront because of the value of the contract and number of pages involved. If I or my writers were to get conned, let it be for the least amount. Luckily, I have had contracts worth upwards of $15,000.00 and have not been cheated by the client yet. They normally ask for a 50/50 split but I insist on the 75% upfront payment and assure them instead that they will get $75 percent of the completed paper for that amount. Additionally, I do not accept large orders from unknown or non-referred clients. For me to trust a new client that wants to place such and order, he needs to have a co-signatory on the e-contract. Hey, someone has to pay the balance. I refuse to take a hit on that for anybody.

It will do the writers good to find writing companies that pay out on a weekly basis. The academic writing companies that still thrive today have changed their pay outs from bi monthly to weekly. It appears to be more beneficial on both ends. The company always has updated accounts and the writers have spending money every week in a world economy that sees inflation rising on a daily basis.