Payment terms in times of coronavirus
Thread poster: Inez Ulrich
Inez Ulrich
Inez Ulrich  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:27
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
Mar 28, 2020

Hi all,

so far I haven't been affected a lot by coronavirus, but I wonder if I should insist on shorter payment terms from now on? We don't know how things will develop - what can we do if an agency or client loses clients/jobs/money and isn't able to pay us anymore? Who guarantees we will get paid (I know, nobody, but you get the point)?
What is your opinion on this, please?


 
Thomas T. Frost
Thomas T. Frost  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:27
Danish to English
+ ...
I won't Mar 28, 2020

While it's true that the risk of late or no payment is higher due to the crisis, it would only increase the risk to insist on shorter payment terms, as it would increase the pressure on the agencies' cash flow. The agencies may also very well get someone else to do your job.

It's much the same as when panicking shoppers emptied the shelves for toilet paper when they had been repeatedly told there was no shortage. Their behaviour created a shortage. If they had just shopped normally,
... See more
While it's true that the risk of late or no payment is higher due to the crisis, it would only increase the risk to insist on shorter payment terms, as it would increase the pressure on the agencies' cash flow. The agencies may also very well get someone else to do your job.

It's much the same as when panicking shoppers emptied the shelves for toilet paper when they had been repeatedly told there was no shortage. Their behaviour created a shortage. If they had just shopped normally, there wouldn't have been any problem.

Furthermore, as you live in Germany, as I do, you are likely to be compensated to a certain extent for any such losses via the government's rescue package for freelancers, although we don't know the details yet. So the government has taken on at least some of the risk. I wouldn't want to make it more difficult for my clients than it is already.
Collapse


Dan Lucas
Christopher Schröder
Sebastian Witte
Sabrina Bruna
Josephine Cassar
Fatine Echenique
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Inez Ulrich
Inez Ulrich  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:27
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Good point Mar 28, 2020

A really good point - I didn't see that similarity to the panic shopping! (I still don't get that toilet paper craze.)

So far, I have no reason to assume I will lose money, but you never know. As for the government, I'm not sure if that won't be more hassle than anything else to get the money, and I hope I'll never have to deal with that.

Anyway, most important is to stay healthy right now, right?
<
... See more
A really good point - I didn't see that similarity to the panic shopping! (I still don't get that toilet paper craze.)

So far, I have no reason to assume I will lose money, but you never know. As for the government, I'm not sure if that won't be more hassle than anything else to get the money, and I hope I'll never have to deal with that.

Anyway, most important is to stay healthy right now, right?

So, stay healthy everyone!
Collapse


 
Thomas T. Frost
Thomas T. Frost  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:27
Danish to English
+ ...
Right Mar 28, 2020

I don't get the panic shopping either. I think people have watched too many panic films.

It's good to know that we have the government backstop in case we need it, either because of reduced turnover or unpaid invoices. I also prefer not to have to use it, but it's difficult to predict if it will be necessary.

Instead of demanding shorter payment terms, I've told my regular clients that they should feel free to request weekend, bank-holiday or rush jobs at no additional
... See more
I don't get the panic shopping either. I think people have watched too many panic films.

It's good to know that we have the government backstop in case we need it, either because of reduced turnover or unpaid invoices. I also prefer not to have to use it, but it's difficult to predict if it will be necessary.

Instead of demanding shorter payment terms, I've told my regular clients that they should feel free to request weekend, bank-holiday or rush jobs at no additional charge for the time being (I can always take a weekday off instead), the idea being to avoid that such jobs end up with someone else. Before I ask for government grants, I'll do what I can to avoid them.

And first of all we need to stay healthy, as you say. We have 16 recorded cases here in the Mansfeld-Südharz Landkreis in Saxony-Anhalt, so the risk here is still relatively low.
Collapse


Fatine Echenique
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Oriana Bonan
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 15:27
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Inez Mar 28, 2020

Inez Ulrich wrote:
I wonder if I should insist on shorter payment terms from now on? Who guarantees we will get paid?


I've had two of my better agency cilents let me know that they'll be extending their payment terms from 30 days to 45 for the duration of the crisis, and it doesn't really bother me because the bulk of my agency clients pay between 45 and 90 days anyway.

I don't see any reason to insist on quicker payment, though. Most of my agencies are business whose end-clients are also businesses who either pay in advance or who probably would not order translations that they did not intend to use them. While it's true that many people are still unaware of just how bad the crisis is (and that there is a 2-3 week delay in the effects of any measures and in the numbers catching up to the real situation), I'm confident that most, if not all, of my agencies' end clients will make good on their payment.

Also, in business to business translation, there is often a bit of a delay between when a translation is ordered and when it is actually used -- anywhere between 2 and 6 months -- so hopefully clients will remain optimistic and keep on ordering translations for when they expect the crisis to be over.


Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Inez Ulrich
Inez Ulrich  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:27
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
... Mar 28, 2020

Thomas T. Frost wrote:

I don't get the panic shopping either. I think people have watched too many panic films.

It's good to know that we have the government backstop in case ....


I actually work quite a lot over the weekend, also rush jobs (not declared as such, but they are rush anyway), mostly without an extra fee. Maybe I should change that.. Like you, I simply take one or two days off during the week if possible.

Right now, things have slowed down a little bit, but I don't care too much, because I worked so much the last few months I consider this some kind of holidays. I can finally get my garden done, and also a lot of stuff in and around the house. All in all I find it quite relaxing so far. Could be that this will change.

We here in the area of Passau also have only a very small number of confirmed cases so far.

Take care!


 
Inez Ulrich
Inez Ulrich  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:27
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
... Mar 28, 2020

Samuel Murray wrote:

I've had two of my better agency cilents let me know that they'll be extending their payment...


Thanks, Samuel, for you opinion. Certainly, you are right, too, but I have to say I would never accept payment terms of 90 days. My max. is 30 days, and many clients pay upon invoice or 8-15 days after.

I hope for us all that things will go as smooth as possible and - again - that we and our loved ones stay healthy.:)


DZiW (X)
Laura Kingdon
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:27
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I won’t Mar 29, 2020

None of my regulars has ever changed the payment terms during the period covered by the contract (I’m bound by a contract with most of them). Even a Greek agency I have been working with since 2011 kept paying like clockwork during the Greek financial crisis. Three of my regular customers pay the day after receiving my invoice, most pay at 30 days, two pay at 45 days and one at 60 days, so I can manage. Covid-19 is spreading fast across the globe and it seems no one is exempted from the corona... See more
None of my regulars has ever changed the payment terms during the period covered by the contract (I’m bound by a contract with most of them). Even a Greek agency I have been working with since 2011 kept paying like clockwork during the Greek financial crisis. Three of my regular customers pay the day after receiving my invoice, most pay at 30 days, two pay at 45 days and one at 60 days, so I can manage. Covid-19 is spreading fast across the globe and it seems no one is exempted from the coronavirus – either clients or translators. Be safe!Collapse


Inez Ulrich
 
Inez Ulrich
Inez Ulrich  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:27
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
... Mar 30, 2020

Teresa Borges wrote:

None of my regulars has ever changed ....


Thank you, Teresa! Yes, I agree, but I think we all will be experiencing an impact from this, work-wise. I already notice way lower job postings since a few days, or none at all for the last 2 or 3 days. Still I have enough work, but we'll se how that progresses. Wishing us all health and good work!


 
Thomas T. Frost
Thomas T. Frost  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:27
Danish to English
+ ...
German freelancer help an empty shell Mar 31, 2020

Thomas T. Frost wrote:

Furthermore, as you live in Germany, as I do, you are likely to be compensated to a certain extent for any such losses via the government's rescue package for freelancers, although we don't know the details yet. So the government has taken on at least some of the risk. I wouldn't want to make it more difficult for my clients than it is already.


I'll have to eat my words, as the details of the rescue package for small businesses in Germany are now known.

It's a dud. You can only claim for running costs such as

• Rent (offices and production sites)
• Lease (property, machinery, cars and similar)
• Business insurances
• Energy costs
• Maintenance costs.

Loss of revenue, living costs and salary costs are not covered.

(https://www.halle.ihk.de/mini-startseiten/informationen-zum-coronavirus/hilfe-fuer-unternehmen/antraege-zur-corona-soforthilfe-sind-online-4748784)

They cover expenses that a widget-producing factory, not freelancers, would incur. As so often, governments appear clueless about how business works, and Germany in particular seems to have a major problem understanding that all businesses are not simply manufacturing goods. Germany is still a major economy, but it is outdated in so many ways. Six years after it became mandatory to accept EU IBANs for direct debit, it's still a fight every time one wants to use a non-German IBAN for direct debit here – in itself insignificant in the big picture, but it’s somehow symbolic for how Germany is an economy stalled in the past in some ways.

Not much rescue to see here. We're on our own. I should be able to get through it but may have to postpone some important repairs of my house until I can overview how much of my savings will be left when this is over, not least since I lost four months’ work over the course of the last 12 months due to two separate eye operations after retinal detachments (both eyes).

If this pretend-to-rescue package stands, I fear we may see a massacre of small German businesses in the coming months.


 
Inez Ulrich
Inez Ulrich  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:27
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
... Mar 31, 2020


I'll have to eat my words, as the details of the rescue package for small businesses in Germany are now known.

It's a dud. ..


Yes, I read about it in our newspaper. A watchmaker who also sells watches which he isn't allowed to anymore now, only do watch repairs, said the same.

I don't think I will need it anyway, and I certainly won't apply for a credit with the KfW (a bank is a bank, with all the nuisance that comes with it regarding credits). If there is no more work, I will sell chickens' egg and herbs and tinctures and produce from the garden and the soaps I made a few years ago (still very good, as I found out lately ) or whatever. No seriously, we also have a house that needs a lot of repairing, but we have been through much harder times and will survive this, too.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and us all that this is over soon (not to speak of the disproportion of the measures they imposed on us. There could have been other solutions, too, if they hadn't listened only to that darn Drosten you is certainly laughing his ass off looking at the sales numbers of his testing kit and maybe looked over to Japan or Korea and how they dealt with it all. But all around us the avalanche was set off and then there was no turning back.)


 
Paul Dixon
Paul Dixon  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 11:27
Portuguese to English
+ ...
Very bad in Brazil Apr 1, 2020

In Brazil the situation is very bad, no work and no money.

I have one job to finish who usually pays reasonably quickly, then things look very bad. Normal payment terms here are 30 days but as there is no work at all here it is difficult to gauge if this will change in these days of coronavirus.

The Government has announced a kind of rescue package for 'informal workers' (people working without a formal contract of employment, such as street vendors) but translators wil
... See more
In Brazil the situation is very bad, no work and no money.

I have one job to finish who usually pays reasonably quickly, then things look very bad. Normal payment terms here are 30 days but as there is no work at all here it is difficult to gauge if this will change in these days of coronavirus.

The Government has announced a kind of rescue package for 'informal workers' (people working without a formal contract of employment, such as street vendors) but translators will probably not benefit as the income threshold is extremely low. In any case, the value is insignificant, won't even pay accountant fees.
Collapse


 
Stepan Konev
Stepan Konev  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 17:27
English to Russian
A different approach Apr 1, 2020

As COVID-19 continues to impact our daily lives, XXX understands the strain this tumult can present to our valued partners across the globe. The impact of COVID-19 has already been palpable for so many of us and with this new reality, we want to extend to our vendors the ability to request expedited payment on any due invoices as needed. To make this request, please contact XXX. Upon receipt, we will make every effort to expedite payment. Thank you for your work with XXX and please stay safe ... See more
As COVID-19 continues to impact our daily lives, XXX understands the strain this tumult can present to our valued partners across the globe. The impact of COVID-19 has already been palpable for so many of us and with this new reality, we want to extend to our vendors the ability to request expedited payment on any due invoices as needed. To make this request, please contact XXX. Upon receipt, we will make every effort to expedite payment. Thank you for your work with XXX and please stay safe during this difficult time.

I have nothing to comment.


[Edited at 2020-04-01 14:52 GMT] ▲ Collapse


 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:


You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Payment terms in times of coronavirus







Trados Studio 2022 Freelance
The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.

Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

More info »
Protemos translation business management system
Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!

The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.

More info »