When is it all going to end?

[IKraus]

First, in regard to deposits, I always ask for 50% of whatever I'm going to charge up front for any large ticket job. On average, that's almost every job. Only for established clients, or for those very few jobs that I take on that are going to end up being less than $100 (or thereabouts) would I waive that requirement. Just way too easy for someone to get you into a situation where your working and working and working and never getting paid anything otherwise.

On copyrights - the exclusive rights to those (in most cases) is what the customer wants, so I charge 'em accordingly. In so far as protection of those rights, if they've got a Digimarc ID, I can encode for them. (I have my own after all!) Beyond that point, I can assist them with doing forms & registration with government if that's what they want to do. Will charge 'em for doing it, of course.

There's only so much you can do to protect stuff put on the web. It's like anything else, if the thief is smart & determined enough, you can't stop them. Talking about strategies for that should probably be a topic all on it's own!

Another thread I'd suggest (in this area) is what do you do to force that last payment out of clients for web work. Do you not post it on their server until final payment is received, or do you let them hold back some small portion of your fee until that's done? Once it's on their site, and everything's working, there's not a whole lot of incentive for them to pay up!

BTW, I wouldn't go inserting nasty messages into a client's site who doesn't pay up, or remove whatever work you've done for them. Tempting as those actions are! Then, you've got nothing to prove that you did the work you were hired to do, or may open yourself up for some other sort of suit. What do the rest of you think about that?

Push yourself to notice the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Irene M. Kraus
www.design-comp.com

[Erik Heyninck]

Here in Belgium you send the client an official bill with Value Added Tax mentionned separately, and included in the final sum.
The client has the right to pay thirty days after the end of the month, but in reality this can easily be six months later.
By the end of the year you have always bills that the client can deduct from his tax income, but that you have to add to your income, while he hasn't paid you yet.
So the best thing to do, although you certainly lose clients this way, is to include the way and dates of payment in the contract, the extra percentage that has to be paid if payment due is not on time, and specify that you choose the court of law where you go to in case of trouble.