VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[cyclometh]

I can see where Philip is coming from, but I stand by my statements regardless. It's not "low-rent", it's prudence. Let's review what information we had:

The client:

* Is new to the talent, no history together.
* Is in another country.
* Wants fast turnaround.
* Cannot or will not use PayPal.
* Will use wire transfer, but wants the product before the transfer could be completed.

All of these factors, taken together would make me cautious and frankly should make any one with a modicum of common sense at least pause.

While there may be more talent than clients, simple common sense dictates further research before taking unwarranted risks. Which in this case it sounds like was done and in the end, a satsifactory answer was delivered as to the client's trustworthiness.

Due diligence completed, well-done all around, and as far as I'm concerned, caution was totally warranted.
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Corey "Vox Man" Snow
http://voxman.net

[whalewtchr]

Major companies usually do not have credit cards, nor do they want to create PayPal accounts. Our company pays by check after we receive an invoice. We have voice over talent, equipment providers, I.T. clients who provide services to us etc...The risk any of us take in this business or really any business is that a client will not pay. Most of the better known and bigger clients as Philip pointed out will always pay. It is wise to get references when doing business with anyone IMHO, prevents AG later. I think in the radio business any more it is a widespread practice that certain advertisers pay in advance (bars come to mind, or folks we have not done business with before). It boggles the mind to know how much revenue is written off every year in radio due to non-payment.
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jonahcummings

[Mike]

Another consideration is that sometimes local financial regulations may place restrictions that limit or prevent Paypal being used. As an example, here in Japan I'm now unable to remit money through Paypal unless it is in payment for goods or services.

Cheers.

Maiku
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www.michaelrhys.com

"If grass could run, cows would look like tigers."
Murray Wiggle

[Lee Gordon]

[bobsouer]

On the matter of major corporations and credit cards, I had more than one accounting department say the prefer to pay via a credit card ... one in fact that wouldn't pay any other way. It's the whole reason I created my PayPal account in the first place, so I could take the credit card payment from that company.
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Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

[Bruce]

Yes you don't have to belong to PayPal to pay one someone's PayPal invoice, but they do ask you many times to sign up...you have to wend your way around that. And yes, many companies use credit cards, plus a number of governmental agencies. It bypasses the multi-layered approval process to get a check written.

B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[Mike Harrison]

Here's an update on this particular job:

I've delivered the file and accepted the client's promise to pay via wire transfer. And here's a whole new jungle. It's just little ol' me doing the work, and I only recently got a tax ID number, but I'm not incorporated or an LLC or any of that (yet). Add to this the fact that my little ol' local bank is not part of the international banking community and, thus, does not have a SWIFT code or any of that.

So the wire transfer must first be sent (I'm repeating what I've been told) from my client's bank in their city to a 'correspondent' bank here in the States before it gets to my bank. A process which could take up to three or four days. I also suspect, because of this, that there will be a fee in addition to the currency exchange charge.

I'm hoping that this process gets smoother somehow down the road.
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

[Scott Pollak]

I'll be curious to see how this ends up.

Keep us posted.

I have several oversees clients (India, Holland, Israel) and they either pay via PayPal or wire directly into my bank account.

However, within the last month I had a new, unknown Pakistani client who had me voice something quite small and then began the runaround of payment. He wanted to wire me the money, but I was very wary of giving my account number (and I didn't). He never did pay me and Voice123.com, to their credit, gave me a two-month extension on my membership, which was fine because it was a very small job.

An option to consider is setting up a separate v/o only bank account for cases like this where they want to wire money to you. Have the bare minimum in your account so that in the rare chance the client is scamming you, they can't take much if they try to empty your account.

And, since most clients ARE legit and honest, you'll have that account available for the legit ones to wire money to you when necessary.
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com

[bransom]

Re: corporations paying with credit cards. This has become more common as many big corporations give certain employees "purchasing" cards which are basically credit cards that are limited to certain types of purchases: Office supplies, for instance. This helps to streamline things for accounts payable, gets around sometimes stringent rules for vendors (insurance certificates and the like), and makes the day-to-day accounting easier for the company.

Like Bob, I send invoices using Paypal so that clients can pay by credit card if they choose, even if they don't have a Paypal account.
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Bob Ransom
"I really need a pithy quote here."

[Mike Harrison]

All great feedback. Thanks, folks.

Scott, check with your bank. I was very leery of giving my account and routing numbers out, too, but the bank says clients can only make deposits, not withdrawals.

Bransom, I hope to make more clients comfortable with using PayPal, with a credit card or otherwise. It really does make things a lot easier.
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

[ConnieTerwilliger]

Is there a definitive answer to people without PayPal accounts being able to pay using a credit card through the PayPal system? We've had both yes and no experiences here.

I recently had an old client (new company) tell me that they were NOT able to pay using a credit card. So he sent me a check.
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Playing for a living...
www.voiceover-talent.com
YouTube Channel: http://youtube.com/connieterwilliger

[bransom]

And I'd love to know if anybody has been able to integrate PayPal and Quickbooks so that I don't have to create an invoice twice? Is there a way to embed a PayPal link or button on a Quickbooks F invoice?
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Bob Ransom
"I really need a pithy quote here."

[Melanie Haynes]

As far as I know, many of my clients pay Paypal invoices with a credit card without having a Paypal account. It may be that after a certain number of credit card payments, they will be required to create an account, however. That seems to ring a bell with me. I believe I started using Paypal years ago to pay for my Ebay habit , and I was able to make quite a few payments before I had to create and account. I was happy to have the account when I started working via the internet!

I've also found that many large corporations are preferring to pay via credit card these days. I've thought about accepting credit cards on my own, but so far, I think it works out better for me to just pay the Paypal fees per transaction rather than an additional monthly fee for the privilege.
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SaVoa#08019

www.melaniehaynes.com

832-912-9250

[Mike Harrison]

Another update:

The client says the payment's been processed on their end, but due to the Columbus Day holiday here on Monday, funds won't hit my bank until Tuesday.

I do so love the PayPal 'Instant Payment,' but Tuesday's certainly better than 30... or 60... or 90 days.
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

[whalewtchr]

Every company is different about their policies and practices when paying invoices; here is a funny side story on a credit card. A news Director of a major Television Station was using the station's corporate credit card to "pay" for certain services and equipment from various vendors and was skimming hundreds of thousands of dollars from the company over the course of five years. It was ironic to see him in an orange jump suit and handcuffs in front of the judge with his own news team covering the story.

He is still in prison.

Whenever I have asked for a company credit card to pay an invoice, accounting always looks at me like I have three heads, those silly bean counters.
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jonahcummings