I have just been burned by Elee, who I found in the content creation forum. He was extremely difficult to work for and after meeting all of his specs and going back and forth for four days on eleven articles, he did not pay. To be fair, he paid $35 up front but the job totaled $82 and I never received the balance. Now I am not here just to gripe but I would like to sell his articles to someone else. What do I do if he has already put them up on his website? Then anyone who copyscapes will see MY work and think the articles I sold them were copied. Any suggestions?
I would have thought that you should contact him and ask him again for the balance, reminding him that the upfront payment only covered so many of the articles - if he doesn't pay then I would have thought that you could resell the unpaid for articles as you still hold the copyright legally speaking.
Yes, I did remind him several times and he ignored my emails as well as my IM's on MSN (he showed that he was online of course.) I just don't want him posting content to a website that he does not have rights for.
If he does, then you still hold the copyright. File a report with google and get him delisted if he ever uses it. Then just sell the articles for the remainder. Maybe you could even make a PLR pack and sell 5 for $20 a piece. That would nail him too. Bye bye unique content.
Thank you for the advice, it sure is appreciated. Can I ask a couple of more questions? What is a PLR pack and how do I make one? And how do I file a report with Google? That is really awesome though! Thanks so much!
Not so fast. First of all copyright is not all-inclusive. It's a bundle of rights. What's the contract say? Don't have one? He could have legal right to use the content, in whole or part. Make sure your contract locks up all rights until full payment is made. Then if the client bails, they have no right to use the content, period. Also, if you use the content, you could be liable to some extent as well (you accepted some compensation). I'm not an IP lawyer, I just play one on TV. Seriously though, do your homework before acting, especially if there's no contract.
Sounds like a hairy situation to be in. He probably already posted them on his website -- but if he didn't, yours still have a chance to be indexed first. It looks like it is generally agreed that writers should have a contract for each project they undertake.
Contracts are rare at the price point most people (including myself) have on DP. I think you should just move on from this experience, having learned some valuable lessons. Personally, I insist on a few things before agreeing to undertake any work from DP. Instant Messenger discussion with the client so their needs can be discussed in full prior to commencing the work. Clients pay when they are satisfied with the work, however both parties have the right to withdraw from the deal at any time with no hard feelings. The client can not use any of the work until payment has been received in full. While the list is short and simple is has served me well so far. In life there will always be individuals who are out to get what they can at the expense of others. Not knowing the exact details of your situation it would not be fair to label your client. If you have difficulty with a client in the early stages, then my advice is to inform them that you can not work to their requirements and move on. Many people seem afraid to turn work away which is silly. While you are providing a service which revolves around the needs of your client, you are not there to endure difficult situations - especially for ~$0.01 a word. Selling them may be difficult, especially if they have already been included in a website, more so if they have already been indexed by Google. Assuming that copy writing / content creation is something that you are doing long term - reputation is important to you. Don't get into a war over $50 - the fall out is not worth it, and sadly this is what many 'scammers' rely on. Stick to the master plan. Find more clients, build a wider reputation, increase prices, work less, be happy.
What is the world are you doing??? I have been out of town all weekend with my gravely ill 89 year old MOTHER, and I get back and read all this!! Frankly, I expected much more professionalism from you. Your actions and words are very immature, irresponsible and most of all, unprofessional. When the partial payment was due for the first series of articles, did you have to ask or remind me to send it? NO! When the balance of the first payment was due, did you have to ask me or remind me to pay it? NO! When the partial payment was due on the second series of articles, did you have to ask or remind me to send it? NO! But, now, 28 hours AFTER you delivered the last articles you start your barrage of negative emails and postings. WHY?? Based on my previous payment history, AND it being late Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning AND a weekend, you would think I would be entitled to a little consideration! After all, it is a WEEKEND and a HOLIDAY where I live. Our computer stays on so my wife can use it. Your balance will be sent, but you can be assure I will not use a person who acts so unprofessionally and irrational. I pity those poor fools who do use your services in the future. Certainly, I will not be one of those. And, by the way, my MOTHER is still not doing very well. But, thanks for asking.
Sharqi, I believe you give good advice. It's just so infuriating especially when Elee goes wherever he can to post this same message. It's very upsetting to me when certain policies that were outlined before the project was started are not followed through on and Elee was difficult to deal with from the very beginning. I did try to get out but he kept making excuses for his behaviour and I just got sucked in. I haven't gotten burned a lot while I've been a member of DP. I've been very lucky with some very good clients. But here I am, shaking myself off from this one and moving on.
not 100% sure Elee, as I am only getting the info in this thread, but I had a funny feeling kate was not intending on writing for you again in the first place. And I will guess that decision was made right around the time you ignored her on MSN. So, I really don't think YOU had anything to do with that decision. Sorry that your mom is sick, by the way. (and, we don't know her, so why would we ask about her) But it's good you were able to break away from that and get some MSN chatting in with people other than your outstanding accounts. I don't believe kate acted unprofessionally, she came to Copywriting to get advice from writers and authors who have experience with these sort of mishaps. I really liked sharqi's bulletted list of 'contract' info. Great job! THe only thing I would add is, though I personally don't pay TOO much attention to iTRader, if someone has ZERO I demand payment in full upfront. If you bill by the word, get a flat rate for the articles and tell the client you will invoice for the remainder of the word count following the project completion. We don't like to see other writers getting burned, hopefully this is a lesson to all of us.
I suppose not seeing as how I just contacted him on IM to ask if he was staying true to his word and he called me an idiot. Why do people feel the need to get personal? I understand that I was upset when I left the original post but I still never used personal attacks.
Expectations should be set. Bills should be paid. There's probably a lot of miscommunications between the two but I would agreed that one should not expect someone to be working over weekend. Also if you're going away regardless of the nature, you may want to set an auto response to your email of where you are and when you will be back.
Kate has always done good work for me, top notch, very accommodating. Pulling your sick mother into this, be it true or not is very unprofessional and throws up a red flag for me.