This is for other content providers. How do you know when someone is not going to pay you? I have written 2 articles over 2400 words each for someone here on dp and have not heard from him since last thursday. I emailed and pm'd him about it on thursday, saturday and monday.....still no response, but he signed in here on saturday so he must have gotten his pm. I just want to warn you other content writers to be sure you check out the buyer, check their i trader remarks and ask for upfront payments or a deposit at least for your own protection.
Thanks for the warning. I think it is always best to ask for upfront payment, but then the person you are working for may be worried you are a scammer. It is a hard one. I suppose we could provide a couple of review articles for good feedback and then ask for upfront payment.
I hear that dp has this interesting policy of not interfering in these kind of issues and you might actually get an infraction for highlighting such a member. I understand they do not wish to be involved in all member disputes but it is sad but true that dp is slowly getting a reputation for cheap gigs as well as for increased number of scammers. I would not touch anyone who does not give me a down payment on this forum. It is easy for him to scam me. However, it is harder for me to scam him if I did not perform first. Or simply look for an escrow service. I promise you that even those with high itrader will scam you. Tread very carefully.
There is not a lot of ways to know if someone will pay you, but using the itrader feature helps, whilst utilising Escrow almost certainly ensures payment.
Thanks tonyrich, I edited my original post. I wasn't aware of the dp rules on that. This is a very disheartening situation to me. It's the second time I have had trouble with something like this here on dp and I am reading bad things on other sites more and more about this place getting a bad reputation for things like that.
Here's an advice I got from another DP when I was about to be scammed. Once you have proven that the articles were used or published, warn your client that any use of your materials without payment will revoke any right to use the articles and will be subject for proper action. You can send him/her a deadline for the payment, and if still there is no payment made, then gather every detail of the transaction and send a notice to the hosting company that the articles published on the website are in violation of their copyrights. It worked for me, hope it will do the same for you.
I usually ask for 50% upfront unless I've worked with the client previously..For large article orders.
Yeah you are right..........always take payment in advance......i am working here in good deal with upfront payments......if your client disagree,then take atleast 50% payment before handover articles
Even those whom you've worked before will scam you. This happened to me twice and both were regular clients.
You can complain on the original post then you can lead us in this topic to the link. That is what I meant. Don't call him a scam on another topic, but I think you can on his as you leave a link to his main topic. It's a stupid rule but that's dp for you. Don't accept to work on something you cannot afford to lose. I remember when I began, 1 article was too much to lose. so as luck would have it, I was scammed by everyone until I just said it would be better to work on my own blogs than be scammed. Once everyone working here takes the stand of cash first, you will see the scammers run. If you check the design section, they all require payment first. why not writers? If you get someone complaining about something as simple as upfront payment, you will have issues with them for a long time.
I totally agree... I have once had a client who I had to chase for days and threaten with a negative iTrade before he gave me the small payment of $4!!! And yeah! He has a pretty good iTrade count too!!!
I see it from both sides - I prepaid for a service never received, and that sucks: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1175021 and I have also taken money upfront and then been a little later than the timeframe quoted - there is a very fine line that you have to define by checking itraders, getting a feel for the client, maybe getting upfront or partial payment and through strong communication, establishing reasonable expectations. It is a hard call that has always been tough for businesses since the beginning of time. The copyright notice and notifying the hosting companies is ingenious though - definitely a good card for writers to hold ...
nothing is certain in the internet.. for the honest buyers, they also dont want to be scammed. same goes for the honest sellers.. you cant really do something about it.. but giving out reviews and getting good feedback from it is a good start for sellers.. so they can ask for payment upfront.. but again, this is the internet, you cant be sure in anything..
DP is full of scammers. And many amateurs just looking to make a buck. I've seen a few people offer services they just can't fullfil - getting swamped with work, accepting too much work and then just giving up. I'm not condoning or defending, I'm just saying it happens. That said, yes, you can try to only do work for or with DPers with decent iTrader. 10 or more is usually a good indication, if they have been a member for a while. And even some of us which are new to the forums but are professionals looking to network and buy work (like me!). My opinion on DP is this, yeah there are scammers, but it's worth being here for the few good gems you find. As for selling articles you don't post on your own blog (which you have more control of, you just remove the person's links), you can claim copyright of the article before hand at a place like copyrightdeposit.com (I've used them for years). That way, if there are issues later on, you send your copyright deposit ID to the offender and that usually makes them pay up or face consequences. Granted, the consequences only happen if you sue - and as you know the average DPer certainly won't have the kind of budget needed to fund a lawsuit. But sometimes a simple link to your copyright claim at a place like copyright deposit will light a fire under the butt of the person not paying for the work. It is also fodder for threats to have the person's site host shut them down. Note that by law, as soon as you save an original work to your hard drive it is legally copywritten. The onus is on you to prove that copyright however. So if you submit your work in bulk (even an entire copy of a website) to a place like copyrightdeposit.com, it becomes recorded with them. They keep a copy of it. IF you should ever have to threaten a lawsuit, there's a legally notarized copy of your work registered with copyrightdeposit.com. That's powerful. But it isn't free either.
That's why most of the time i take full payment before writing. and if the client is regular then i agree in 50% for big projects like more than 20 articles.
Sometimes you will get scammed, it happens. That is why I am careful about who I work with, and how I take payment. If it is someone new, with limited iTrader, I take more precautions. Once a trust is established, I am more lenient, but sometimes people will still try to pull one over on you. That's just the nature of a business, even the big guys get ripped off by their customers, in any branch of company. Next time, don't send the work until they pay, and instead send a sample of what was written, like a paragraph, until payment is given. Leave the guy negative iTrader, and comment in one of his threads where he requests services. Sorry to hear you got screwed, but on DP, it seems to be a right of passage.
I know this might not be the best thing to do, but if you have given them plenty of warning, you should just post the articles on blogger blogs so that the buyer incurs a duplicate content penalty, making the articles effectively worthless. Also, 50% upfront is good, as is sending a full letter to their hosting company (make sure you get the web address they intend to publish them on before you write the articles).
I would have to disagree with you here. Becoming unprofessional, and taking out a personal vendetta, will only effect his ability to find clients in the future, and build a bad reputation. Especially as a new writer.