Hello, I was wondering what do you all (freelancers) think about an Idea I was thinking about? Everyone who has been doing freelance work knows that there is abusive people outside who asks for an urgent work to be done, you the freelancer put your best effort to acomplish that work and then pufff! you are barely paid for your work in behalf for other person or company, or even worst the person or company you were working on just never pays you. The problem is that due the small fee of your work it doesn't worth the effort to hire a law firm to claim the money leagaly you've earned specially if you are foreingner (non USA's Citizen), this happened to me and got an Idea, why not make a database for freelancers who has been ripedoff by abusive persons of companies and make a web page to let the artists to check that records? You can't stop this kind of dishonest behave, but at least the freelancer will going to know if she/he acccepts to jeopardize their time and work. If only one freelancer doing a check of abusive persons voids to be rippedoff the work will worth it. I would like to hear more ideas about how to acomplish this task, about how can the freelancer's work could be really protected from people without ethics? Any Ideas or suggestions will be very welcomed. To Have an acurated and uptodate database whit people who uses the Internet to screw freelancers will worth the effort. Best Regardings And HAPPY NEW YEAR for ALL Benigno "Virus" Fernandez

SAL9000 - Hello Dr. Chandra, Will I've dream?

Can't you send them a version that is crippled until you are paid? Like your name all over it or somehow make it unusable until you get your money? I always get at least half up front. If they aren't willing to do that then that tells me they may not intend to pay. Just a thought. I do think your idea is a good one though. Marque

I am not a freelancer, but your idea has merit... i would like to see a page for the customers that rate service and product reviews. I have been ripped 4 times by 3d model companies that offer "memebership" ... after a few months they go belly-up, only to start a new site, and all you get out of it is a "discount" to join the new site.

Never send the final product until the check clears on a new customer. Never work without a contract. Always check the client to make sure they're reputable. I've been burned a few times myself. Now I play hardball. My work is worth what I charge, and if someone wants something done by me, they will pay. Period. Just because an organization is large, sometimes it can be a complete pain getting paid. A major west coast university system held me and my partner up for almost a year after delivery of a product. They used it, they loved it, but there was always something holding up the check. I finally contacted the University Burser's office and filed a complaint. I was paid in 2 days. The database is a good idea, but the logistics and legal ramifications will increase the cost to the point where it probably won't be worthwhile. What if there's a dispute between a member and a client. The member can turn them in for non-payment, you give a bad review so someone else refuses a contract siting the review, and suddenly you're libel.

This sounds like a great idea. Kinda like a Consumer Reports for the artisitic community. I wouldn't worry about a liability issue. Any liability would be entirely on the part of the person submitting a report.

heyas; also send them an actual bill. i did some work for a nice magazine, but the payment was not forthcoming... for no specific reason. so after being patient, i sent them a bill. sometimes it just takes some paperwork to get the money machine going. if the payroll department doesn't know they owe you money.... i got that advice from... the graphic artists guild, i think. after some bills and late-bill notices, then you worry about suing them. a database would be cool... if any of the companies stay in business long enough to ever try to hire more artists.

The problem is. If the company is of any size. They hire their own people, or farm it out to a small graphics company. Almost everyone else is a "wanna-be" type business. So you need to be aware that the odds of not getting paid are very, very high. You're database will contain every Joe Blow around the world. It's better to focus on preventing it from happening in the first place like other people have said. This is a big problem with all businesses. It's standard operating procedure. Collecting on money owed is an epidemic. I've never worked for any company that paid it's bills on time. I've always thought that you people need to find a good business manager who knows how to handle this issue. Or form a company run by Non-Artists to handle the finances. ScottA

Good idea Virus but the worlds a big place and we probley have no one in common . I like ScottA Idea that we would form a group. There is power in numbers and people who know how to get us our darn money we worked so hard on. They can advise you on better ways to set up contracts that give us a better chance to recieve payment in the end. Things to do, things not to do. I also like the idea of watermarking / crippled versions . Never thought of that and easy enough to do.

Yeah, I've had that happen all too often when I freelanced, Benigo. I'll add a couple of points to what pdjixms, Scott and Bloodsong offered: 1) Always ask for an advance fee (in addition to having a written contract). That way at the very worst, you're at least not completely uncompensated. And a company that won't agree to an advance fee for work, probably won't pay the final fee. 2) If you do a lot of freelancing, a reputable agent is a good expense. Keyword being "reputable" - research a prospective agent as thoroughly as you would a company you're thinking of submitting work to. If you can, try and find other clients they represent you can ask for a reffernce, and companies they've done business with. If you don't get paid, the agent doesn't collect their fee, so they'll try to steer you to reputable contracts. [In theory anyway ;)] The Graphic's Artists Guild used to maintain and publish a list like you're talking about. I'm not sure if they still do. You might contact them to see... www.gag.org Another avenue to approach would be the ACAP, and see if they'd be interested in starting a database service like you're suggesting. They already do maintain a small [but growing] DB of web related piracy, and companies that do web artists rip offs. I think they'd be amenable to the idea of expanding their services. The ACAP - Artists Coalition Against Piracy: http://www.theacap.com/ Those are just a few suggestions that may help. As long as you have a contract, at least in the US, you have an avenue to pursue via small claims court. Not certain how that works on an international basis, sorry.

"I am a good person now and it feels... well, pretty much the same as I felt before (except that the headaches have gone away now that I'm not wearing control top pantyhose on my head anymore)"

• Monkeysmell

I'm not a Freelancer for 3D but have created some Webpages for Companys. What i've done all the times was: 1. I made a offer on Paper which contains: Price, Delivery-Time and Payment-conditions 2. Then the Company had to send me a Purchase-Paper 3. I sent them a Confimation what they ordered 4. Handed over the work/data 5. Sent em a Bill This is the normal Business-way and if you do it this way the company knows that if they doesn't pay they loose at any court in the whole world. It's a little bit more work but this is standard in most real business. The idea of a Database looks like could work but doesn't protect at all. What i would do

I had a teacher when in art school who said he billed in increments. He'd charge so much for preliminary work/roughs, then based on the amount of work he broke the work down in stages and required payment for each stage before moving on to the next. If the client liked the work they paid. If they chose to back out he was paid to the point they backed out. All this was agreed upon in a written contract he'd present at the beginning of the job. He said that if the company was sincere they had a happy marriage. The shysters weeded themselves out when they complained that the arrangement wasn't fair and wanted to pay when the job was completely delivered. He found that this worked for him.

Good idea Virus. I agree an "accepted" proposal or other form of written agreement is a must. There are times when the profit on a job is small and one has to ponder how much to spend collecting an account. You could (and should) place the following clause in your proposal/agreement. "Terms are: net upon receipt of invoice. Invoices past due are subject to 2% monthly interest and service charge. Invoices past due 30 days are subject to collection and customer agrees to pay costs of collection including reasonable attorneys fees."