You toiled to finish a translation job for weeks, and then suddenly, your customer ran off with your hard-labored work without paying you a dime. This scenario may only be an offshoot of the imagination but it can happen to if you don’t know how to distinguish trustworthy customers from those who are not. True, by providing an excellent job you have a greater chance of getting repeat customers who pay on time and in a reliable manner; but still, taking extra precautionary measures will help you prevent problems in the future.

Researching a customer is perhaps the most commonly practiced precautionary measure of translators. Check your client’s tax records and reputation through various forums modulated by other translators. Another option is to check if the customer provides a PO (purchase order) or a binding contract that is worded according to the law of the county. A purchase order is often a PDF or Word file, or simply a statement within the body of a regular email. When checking a statement, make sure that it includes payment schedule and penalty policies.

When researching your customer make sure to check their email address. A customer, especially someone representing a large corporation, normally uses a corporate email address and not a Yahoo or Hotmail account. Write to the company to verify if your customer truly works for them and if he has permission to outsource the work.

An effective strategy you can do, in addition to researching, is to demand a partial payment for partial delivery. Don’t be too harsh though in your demands or your customers will be put-off and pass the work to other translators. The best thing you can do is to accept a smaller amount of work and wait until your customer pays. After trust is established, you can accept more work or perhaps bigger projects.