Sooo the guy whose webshop I’ve been translating for just informed me they’ll be closing the shop, and thus won’t be able to use the file I literally spent a sleepless weekend stressing over.
He’s asking for a 50% discount as a favor. The total would have been 665$.
Which means 50% is an over 300$ loss for me.
I’m honestly not ok with that, but I fear he’ll refuse to pay completely if I don’t comply.
I just can’t help feel like regardless of whether he got to use the translation or not, I did hold up my end of the bargain and gave him a product he requested.
Are the labor organizations strong in the country you’re in? I forgot which country it was. But I’m sure you know that in Scandinavia, the labor organizations could help you. And if you’re not a member you could maybe join them now and they’d still help you.
id tell him about your predicament, how youre sick and need the money or it will be a great stress to you. Let them know the whole impact of what theyre suggesting… its not fair
I freelance as a computer technician. Negotiation is part of the game. It’s one persons job to get the highest price and the other persons job to get the lowest price. You go back and forth until you make an agreement, if you make an agreement. No deal is better than a bad deal. That’s how capitalism and the free market work.
But once the agreement is made both parties should stick to it unless there are extenuating circumstances. This sounds like an extenuated circumstance, so negotiate a better deal, maybe try and meet in the middle at 75%.
You want to be fair to yourself, but you also want him to remember that you did him a favour, it can come back and net you a lot more money in future because he’ll remember you let him off the hook a little bit and perhaps recommend you to other people, or he may be willing to be used as a reference for future employers/jobs. That means more work and more money in the future.
I suppose if you wanted to take things to the extreme you could force him to pay the full amount or even take him to court. But if you do that you just made an enemy who may talk poorly about you to others. Word spreads you were unreasonable and business goes down the tubes. You want to avoid that when you are in business for yourself. People trust what their friends say more than they trust any advertising campaign. Word of mouth is the best advertising in my experience, so I do my best to make my clients happy even if I have to take a small hit on occasion.
The website had an escrow function where when a fixed amount is agreed upon, the client pre-pays, but the freelancer only gets the money if the works is approved.
Support told me the money is in escrow, and that if he refuses to pay, I will have to approve a refund before he gets his money out of escrow
They also told me I could post a dispute if we can’t agree.
I’m sure he’ll give me a bad rating if we do end up disputing over it, but I still need my money, so I will fight him on it.
Support has access to all the messages, so I gotta find a respectful way to decline.
"Hi.
I’m sorry to hear about your business, that must be very stressful for you and everyone involved.
However, I am unable to provide a discount for the translation. Regardless of whether you got to use it or not, I did provide it, and spent quite a lot of hours outside my dayjob schedule to finish it on time.
When I get a contract and the price is approved, I write those funds into my budget for the following month. I hope you understand.
I appreciate the work we’ve done together and the patience you’ve shown.
I hope you’ll think of me in the future if you need Danish or Norwegian translations for other projects."