With over two decades of experience selling online, The Whine Seller is about sharing the ins and outs of e-commerce, publishing and more… in a snarky way. Keep reading…
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That is so, so true. I had an incident like that a number of years ago. I was building a demo for a customer, using a software tool they chose, but they suddenly changed their mind and wanted to do something completely different. They then thought this meant that they didn’t have to pay me for any of the work I had done. It was partly my own fault for working without a signed contract. They seemed so “nice” 🙂 Lesson learned.
Of course, some people think we’re all cynical or being demanding if we insist on contracts and proper payment schedule. But it’s the only way to prevent abuses or getting stiffed on your work. I ended up losing about two grand on that job. They actually had the nerve to ask me to do other work for them later on (sans contract). I told them I don’t work for deadbeats.
I require new Trading Assistant clients to give me a deposit because they often don’t give me the items promised and then, when the items don’t sell, stiff me on fees. So the deposit is there to pay for the fees in the event that nothing sells, but is otherwise refunded at the end of the contract.
A recent new client threw the biggest diva fit over the deposit the other day. She ranted for some time about what a favor she was doing me by giving me her business even if I lost money on it and I should be happy to lose a little money on fees for items that don’t sell because it could mean I might get business in the future from someone else… Uh, yeah, lady I don’t like those odds…