I've only had three experiences with content buyers here on DP, so the following experiences may not be very representative of content buyers on the forum. The first buyer paid immediately. The second buyer has used all of the content that I've sent him so far. However, I didn't sent him enough content to reach the minimum amount of content that, according to him, writers have to send to him before he will pay. I have however asked him to pay me for this content, to prove that he is honest. I didn't put it that way but that was my reasoning. This was 48 hours ago. He hasn't paid me or even responded to my PM. It's a similar situation with the third buyer. I sent him some content and he used some of this content. Again, I didn't send him enough content to reach the minimum amount of content that, according to him, writers have to send to him before he will pay. Again, I asked him to pay for the content that I've sent to him, to prove that he is honest, but this time I did put it this way. This was 12 hours ago. Again, there has been no response to my PM. I haven't made any accusations of dishonesty so far. This is because I don't want to accuse someone of dishonesty before they have had a chance to respond. What I will say is, if these content buyers imagine that all writers are dispensable - that they can pick up writers, use their content and avoid paying them, they are mistaken. I'm not dispensable, nor are quite a few other writers on the forum. One last point, and these content buyers can take this any way they want to take it; it's in the interests of every writer on this forum that they are made aware of which content buyers are honest and which are dishonest.
If the terms in their ad, PMs to you, etc. specified that you only get paid when you supply X number of articles, then you only get paid when you supply X number of articles, and by writing for them you accepted those terms. If, however, that wasn't specified up front then you have every right to invoice them and get paid regardless of whether or not you write any further content to reach their limits. In the future, you need to stipulate that until it's paid for they can't use it. It's common sense - they don't own any rights to the content until it's been paid for or unless you have a contract stating otherwise, but it's amazing how few people exercise common sense. Sounds like it has less to do with honesty and more to do with you not making sure everything was clear up front - doing that is just a part of the job. Also keep in mind that not all people pay immediately, and that doesn't make them dishonest in any way. Some companies pay weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc. or have to have things processed through their accounting departments. That's why your payment terms should always be laid out on your professional site, ads, etc. Then if they can't abide by them, it's their responsibility to say so up front and negotiate other terms. In the future, lay out terms up front and send formal invoices with a reminder of the terms agreed upon if you continue to have problems.
I've been working on and off for clients at DP for a while now, and the vast majority of them are honest. For each 15 clients that are honest, I maybe come by 1 who doesn't pay me. Since many of my honest clients are return customers, I say it's worth the risk. Also, keep in mind time zones and work schedules. I don't start getting worried about a payment until it's over 72 hours past due. Best of luck, hope things turn out better for you.
Content buyers may well experience as much dishonesty from writers as writers do from buyers. I suppose that my own pet peeve is when a writer misrepresents themselves as being a "native English speaker" when they clearly are not. It's very frustrating as well as being a waste of time. Another is when I make the effort to specify approximate word count, article length minimums and maximums, suggest article titles and points to cover, clearly set out my requirements re: narrative style, POV, voice, etc .. then get a PM that basically reads: "I am a very good writer and can do this project very quickly. What is your budget?"
I've dealt with some VERY honest buyers at DP. I've had buyers pay me BEFORE I've even started their project. I've even had a buyer remind me that they owe me for a project (before I've had the chance to send them an email or an IM). I had ONE experience with a problem with payment - and the buyer sure tried very hard to pay me before going out of town on a business trip and just couldn't - it seemed very genuine. I'm sure there are a couple of bad apples in the bunch - but I've dealt with nice people at DP.
I've had a couple of problems, but a lot more good experiences. I've had buyers give me raises and bonuses, and even pay me more than the agreed price. As was pointed out above, they are taking a chance, too, when they hire someone. If the work isn't done on time, or isn't usable, they've wasted time, and in some cases, money. Based on the number of posts I see in the Content Creation forum that are on the level of 'Why no person hire me, I good," the buyers have a much bigger problem than the writers.
Well, they'd also have far fewer problems if they had enough business sense to understand that they have to pay reasonably for what they're demanding (which many here looking for cheap content do not). So I have very little sympathy for the vast majority of buyers here who complain about poor English and related issues.
Personally I haven't had one problem yet with people on this forum in regards with getting payment from them. I had problems with 3 people I hired that tried their luck with me and after they accepted the job, basically said they wanted money upfront. I am a fair enough person. If I pay money up front, they should have reasonably good iTrader and 100% feedback. I understand 100% isn't always possible so if someone leaves negative feedback, I make my own judgement call by going through the thread and seeing what the fuss was all about. In most cases it could be similar situations where people try and scam people and when they are caught they leave a nasty negative iTrader which can't be removed as far as I can see. That is life I guess. In all three cases where people were itching to receive payment upfront, I basically stated that I am more than willing to pay for an article or so to see the quality and then carry on from there, but if they kept on persisting or in my case...two of them made lame excuses on why they couldn't get my content done in the specified timeframe, I just politely turned around and said they could leave it since I will find someone else to do what I want. Problem is I am very upfront with what I expect of people and the nature of articles they write about... which is anime related. People happily accept till they research it and see it's not that easy and then they dally and try offer excuses at every turn why it is taking so long and in the meantime try to get money off me. Everyone else I hired were fantastic. In the beginning I was unsure how to get the best writers to do the job for me, and then decided to revert to my old logic of "research till you find what you are looking for." So it takes hours or over the course of a few days, but I scour the services->Content Creation section and whenever I see a potential writer offering their services I read through their thread. Some people that had several pages worth of responses, I would read completely through. Why..because.. a) It gives me a good indication on whether the article writer can speak english in a reasonable good manner b) I can see what feedback is left by others. This is usually a good indication of a good writer if it is positive. c) I weigh the responses against the person's iTrader. If someone had 30 people taking his service and the article writer only has 5-8 iTrader, then obviously something is wrong. Even more so if there are hardly any reviews in his/her thread. It could mean that either 1) He doesn't leave iTrader and they don't do the same or 2) He isn't as good as he is made out to be and therefore people are less likely to leave a positive response. d) I see how often the article writer responds. If he responds every few days then I can deduct his/her turn-around time will be less than desirable. If the person is on atleast once a day to check his/her thread then it's a good indication that they are active and will be responsive. e)I also look at the amount of posts done. I remember somewhere seeing a female writer who joined in 2006 and yet only had 36 posts. That in itself is a bit too suspicious. A good indication that person isn't likely to stick around or to be active when needed. By doing your research you will minimize the possibility of doing something you don't want to or find yourself in a position where you cannot deliver. I see people offer article writing services for $1-$2 per article and yet they hardly respond to people. That in itself is a bad sign. Even if people respond to your through PM it is always advisable to post in your thread if you accept people's jobs etc. Shows people you are upfront. Anyway, in this case it depends on what the agreement was. But if you know someone is using your content on their blog then ultimate revenge is to start a thread, politely state that you did a job for (name of person) and that this is the article you wrote for them. Then paste your article into the thread here on DP. What are they going to do? Claim that you as the writer somehow stole their article and posted it illegally on DP. I don't think so. And how is that possible...by making sure that every article you complete is sent to the person via PM on this forum and make sure the little block is ticked so it keeps a copy in your Sent Folder. That way if the person wants to dispute you can easily go to your Sent Folder, drag your PM out and paste it into your thread. Moderators can verify if it is legit too. So in essence you score 1 and the person that used your stuff scores 0! By posting your article on the forum, it will make that article not so unique anymore and you can point it out to the person. They will quickly see that it got them nowehere to try and obtain content via illegal means. You can also state in your services thread when accepting a job what the job is about in bried description. Makes it hard for someone to claim something is their own after that. Have fun!
No, it's not advisable. If they do, they'll be banned for 7 days. Posting to say you've accepted a job makes you immediately eligible for a ban - make sure you know all of the forum rules before making assumptions about those posting. As it turns out, you'd be wrong in this case. Those posting those things demonstrate one thing - they don't care about following instructions and rules (not the type of people most want to hire). Moderators will absolutely not do that. We do not get involved in the private business disputes of members.
From all of the articles that you wrote for buyers, what percent of them use your name as the author when they submit the article? And how many of them use their name as the author?
I have been stung twice this week, not on DP I might add, but that is the first time in a couple of years. People pay if you do the work, but if you did not complete the job it is hard to argue that you should be paid something for doing part of the brief.
I have been stung on work I did at scriptlance. Since my time is valuable I only accept buyers who have been positively reviewed. Its scary but I've even seen methods posted online that teaches buyers how to rip off sellers through ODesk.
I wonder how many of them figure it out after a while, and how many keep offering the same pay and wondering why they get such poor writers.
I'm a content buyer, so I don't know much about other buyers. I'd like to say a word - what you give is what you get. Some of the content providers are complete cheats, which leads to half the problems. But I've had a few great content providers! Keep up the good work guys!
Basically its like a Trade Center wher you get both honest and dis honest people. Ex: When you go buying a Car or Selling you get different kind of people offering you to buy the car they will say all the good things of it and hide the bad things (if the radiator is leaking, the enigine is damaged) so you have to descide it your self by seeing and observing the person talking to you. So you have to descide it if the person you are dealing wiht is honest or not. you can even do some research before the purchase to get confirmed.
If i ask someone to write 10 articles, and that was the treat, and the writer never told me that he was asking me for partial payments. I will only pay when he finish the work. What i dont understand from you message is if you was asking them partial payments, because you had not finished the job yet. If you have not finished to job and are asking partial payments before finishing the job, i think you are wrong. But if you have finished and completed the articles you promise to finish, they have to pay you, no matter what.
The buyer has to pay the writer to use any of the articles created - they have no legal right to the work until that transaction is complete unless otherwise stipulated in the deal / contract. So even if the parties choose to part ways before the full order is finished, payment would still have to be made for work completed up until that point if the client wants to use what they've received. If payment terms weren't laid out up front, don't assume you can simply do what you want. If they request payment for work done through that point, and you refuse, they may very well decide to discontinue the work on the remaining pieces, and that doesn't mean you're necessarily off the hook for any of the payment for work already done. It's in both parties' benefit to get things in writing before starting.
For all this small, lower-level stuff, follow this: Writers: 1. Get paid. 2. Do work. Buyers: 1. Pay writer. 2. Get work. It's pretty simple.
You are right about that the buyer can't use any material they have not payed for. I did not remember that the buyer was using it when i write my comment. About asking partial payments, if the terms where that the buyer should pay when receiving the finished work, them the writer have to finish and then ask payment. Is not that "you assume you can simply do what you want". Is doing what they talk before starting the job. The important thing, and it was not clear for me, is if the writer is doing what they talk or is asking something that was not part of the terms. That info will tell us who is wrong. The part of the buyer using material before paying, makes me think that then maybe the buter is the one is acting wrong.
The whole honesty problem is largely circumvented if you take payment upfront. There's a culture on DP of not taking payment upfront, but I think that's crazy. You wouldn't give a loan to a stranger on the street, so why give credit to a faceless content buyer from the other side of the world, relying only on his or her decency to pay for your work? Ask for payment before you start writing. Good clients (and even many not-so-good clients) are willing to pay before you start work - the problem is that most writers don't ask.