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Shall we cover the costs of translation agencies?
Thread poster: MariusV
MariusV
MariusV  Identity Verified
Lithuania
Local time: 21:00
English to Lithuanian
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TOPIC STARTER
OK, but what about the very principle? Jun 18, 2015

I agree that there can be many ways to react to such unilateral changes of the agreement with the agency. Moreover, such changes in conditions do not add much to the general impression and the reliability of the agency (what if they again change something unilaterally - one day they decide to lower the agreed rates, etc.). Let alone it took time to register at their online database, fill in all their idiotic forms...And if I sum up the time I need to spend on them (from their first formalities a... See more
I agree that there can be many ways to react to such unilateral changes of the agreement with the agency. Moreover, such changes in conditions do not add much to the general impression and the reliability of the agency (what if they again change something unilaterally - one day they decide to lower the agreed rates, etc.). Let alone it took time to register at their online database, fill in all their idiotic forms...And if I sum up the time I need to spend on them (from their first formalities and correspondence to the work done), and divide the earned sum from the hours spent on all that - it is already more like a loss than some earning.

But again, I'd like to speak about the very principle - they want their banking charges covered. OK, these charges may be a rip-off, but, however, these are their expenses/costs. And they really do make profit - we make profit for them, and they include all this into the final sum in the invoice to their end client. So, asking, let alone unilaterally demanding to cover THEIR EXPENSES is the same nonsense like to demand them to cover my expenses (e.g. electricity used by my PC to do the job, the money I spend on coffee or tea, even on meals and tobacco)...It would sound idiotic, or, at least funny/grotesque, if I send them a notification that "from now on, I will add electricity, coffee and lunch costs to my invoices"... ▲ Collapse
 
Erik Freitag
Erik Freitag  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 20:00
Member (2006)
Dutch to German
+ ...
Lump sum Jun 18, 2015

What I usually do in cases like this one is this:

I quote a lump sum per project, which includes the exact amount they've decided to withhold for their banking fees.

On the invoice, I split this lump sum up into my translation fee and the banking surcharge, so they can see that they pay for it.

Has been working fine in a couple of cases, if only for my own peace of mind.



[Bearbeitet am 2015-06-18 14:46 GMT]
 
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Shall we cover the costs of translation agencies?







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