ProZ.com Blog

Are you new to the translation industry? Would you like to work as a translator, but you are unsure about how to get started? Do you have questions about ProZ.com, the platform, the community, the tools available? Then this post is for you. Just keep the following in mind, and you'll find your way in the ProZ.com translation workplace in no time:

« ProZ.com is different than what you may be expecting »

The following questions and answers will show you why.

Your business opportunities require the services of language professionals across many languages from many different countries. Features exist at ProZ.com and other freelancer platforms for you and your vendor managers to quickly recruit many freelancers for your job in translation, interpreting, subtitling, transcription and more. Your project managers may deploy these tools to recruit talent to complete the work.

How will you pay this crowd of freelancers? 

The overpayment scam may be the most active scam affecting online freelancers. This scheme is very simple, and many are entrapped with it.

You are offered a job with part of the payment coming in advance, but the scammer sends you a larger than agreed upon payment and asks for a partial refund. Or, a payment is made in advance and then the project is unexpectedly canceled.

As a freelancer, one of the most joyous parts of the month is getting paid. However, when you work for yourself, it can get a little more complicated than just cashing a monthly check. Here are our strategies for how and when to get paid as a freelancer as well as how to set payment terms.

Are you a freelancer constantly on the move? In a world where living as a digital nomad is becoming more and more common, it leaves us wondering how to transition from a traditional lifestyle to one unencumbered by physical boundaries. 

One of the largest concerns is financing; how do freelancers bank without a home? Let's discuss how freelancers can bank while on the move.

Using freelancers for language jobs can help save time and make LSPs more efficient. Paying freelancers from around the world is not efficient. Imagine if the time to onboard and pay those same freelancers were eliminated.

Just like Business Pages, the ProZ.com Blue Board works as a business card. Not only are Blue Board records an important risk management tool for language service providers since 2001, but they also show a company's reliability in terms of payment and commitment.

This post is Part 2 of a two-part guide on how to deal with non-payment issues.
If you haven't read it yet, find Part 1 here.

Have you recently completed a job? Do you need to send your client an invoice? At ProZ.com, it is easy to create, send and track your invoices online through the invoicing tool. 

Membership allows you to create as many invoices as needed. Non-members are afforded five invoices to try out the platform.

You already know how to assess a new client and decide if you're comfortable starting a professional relation with them. Unfortunately, clients new and old may sometimes get behind with payments for a number of reasons. From a change of personnel in the finance department, through an inefficient new management software, all the way to cashflow issues; there are a myriad factors that may cause a client who has long been reliable and trustworthy to leave your invoice unpaid.

Do you find that when you try to pay a freelancer with PayPal, they can't accept it? ProZ*Pay offers you the option to fund your payment with PayPal while the recipient receives payment in the way they prefer.

Funding an individual payment with PayPal can be completed immediately through ProZ*Pay.

The ProZ.com invoicing tool helps translators manage their invoicing and payments.

A number of small improvements have been made to the invoicing tool, based on requests from ProZ.com members.

When an outsourcer and freelancer meet via ProZ.com and agree to do business, neither side is charged any commissions or fees.

Outsourcers may want to make sure the payment process can be completed and the freelancer is payable. Adding PayPal or Skrill payment information to a profile is one way a translator may show payability.