Poll: Do you work with agencies not listed in the Blue Board, or with no feedback entries?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Jun 23, 2018

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you work with agencies not listed in the Blue Board, or with no feedback entries?".

This poll was originally submitted by Isabelita Echevarria Prengel. View the poll results »



hamzakhanhkeo
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 13:04
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
It depends Jun 23, 2018

I always exercise due diligence in researching a new client and looking at their Blue Board record is usually the first step. So working with an agency with no entries will depend on the warning signs I might get from other sources and on my gut feeling (over the years I developed a sixth sense when it comes to bad payers). I must say though that some of my long-standing customers (agencies) are not in Proz.com…

 
Edith van der Have
Edith van der Have
Netherlands
Local time: 14:04
Member (2016)
English to Dutch
+ ...
It depends ... Jun 23, 2018

I have other places to find translators' feedback, e.g. Paymentpractices.net. If the potential client is not mentioned there, I ask several colleagues and try to get an indication about the agency's thrustworthiness by looking at their location, email address, website etc. If I do not trust it entirely but find the proposed assignment sufficiently interesting, I ask for advance payment, but most of the times I will not collaborate with an agency that is hard to assess.

[Edited at 2018-06-
... See more
I have other places to find translators' feedback, e.g. Paymentpractices.net. If the potential client is not mentioned there, I ask several colleagues and try to get an indication about the agency's thrustworthiness by looking at their location, email address, website etc. If I do not trust it entirely but find the proposed assignment sufficiently interesting, I ask for advance payment, but most of the times I will not collaborate with an agency that is hard to assess.

[Edited at 2018-06-23 09:42 GMT]

[Edited at 2018-06-23 09:43 GMT]
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Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:04
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
It depends Jun 23, 2018

I don't work with agencies very much anymore. In the past, I would go ahead if the subject matter interested me and the terms seemed reasonable. In one case the company went out of business, but other than that, I've been fairly lucky.

 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 10:04
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
It depends Jun 23, 2018

Of course the very first thing I do is to check the Blue Board and other similar resources. However, there are new agencies that may be excellent and simply didin't have enough time in the market to be in any of these referral sites.
I receive e-mails from potential clients like that regularly, and there are several things you can do to "give it a chance". That way, I have added several good clients to my portfolio.

1. If the agency is not in the BB, it doesn't mean it's a bad
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Of course the very first thing I do is to check the Blue Board and other similar resources. However, there are new agencies that may be excellent and simply didin't have enough time in the market to be in any of these referral sites.
I receive e-mails from potential clients like that regularly, and there are several things you can do to "give it a chance". That way, I have added several good clients to my portfolio.

1. If the agency is not in the BB, it doesn't mean it's a bad one. It's bad if it's in the BB with a score below 4.6, not if it's not even there.

2. If their e-mail mentions your name, is written in good English, mentions the name/title of the sender, has a signature with company logo and details, etc., that's a positive sign.

3. If they have a decent website with "all it takes", another good sign. Read their story. Check the place/building in Google Maps, etc. Also check the IP in the e-mail to see if it’s in the same location as the claimed address of the agency. Many agencies in India and China, for example, state an address in London and send you e-mails from Bombay or Shanghai. If that happens, it’s scam.

4. If the negotiations go well (rate and payment terms agreed, no online platforms, no discounts for repetitions, no attempt to lower your rate, etc.), another plus.

5. The first job can't be something very large. Up to 3000 words is the ideal situation, just to try them and see if they pay on time. Good agencies also test you first, so they also want to start with a smaller job. For larger jobs, try to ask for at least 20% payment in advance. Bad agencies will never pay any advance.


[Edited at 2018-06-23 12:49 GMT]
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Oscar Romagnone
 
satish krishna itikela
satish krishna itikela  Identity Verified
India
Local time: 18:34
Member (2011)
English to Telugu
+ ...
NO Jun 23, 2018

Hi All,

At my career starting i used to work for agencies which are not listed in Blue board or with out any feedback entries. At that time some of the agencies used to take my work and started vanishing from the screen. So after few vanishes i decided not to work for agencies which are not listed or not having positive or any feedback. From that time i never faced such vanishes in my career till now, to say in other words i became choosy regarding the agencies o
... See more
Hi All,

At my career starting i used to work for agencies which are not listed in Blue board or with out any feedback entries. At that time some of the agencies used to take my work and started vanishing from the screen. So after few vanishes i decided not to work for agencies which are not listed or not having positive or any feedback. From that time i never faced such vanishes in my career till now, to say in other words i became choosy regarding the agencies or clients which i work and everything is going well by gods grace.

Best regards,
Satish.
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Isabelita Echevarria Prengel
Amir Arzani
Ventnai
 
EvaVer (X)
EvaVer (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 14:04
Czech to French
+ ...
Yes Jun 24, 2018

Local ones. Not many CZ agencies are listed. Some have been my clients before I registered with ProZ. And of course all direct clients are "off-ProZ".

 
Eckhard Boehle
Eckhard Boehle  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 14:04
English to German
+ ...
Other Jun 25, 2018

Actually, I don't know it anymore with all the agencies I work with. I used to consult the Blue Board every time I got an offer of some unknown outsourcer and also commented on a lot of good and bad ones among them, but haven't looked into the Blue Board for a long time as I have customers that both provide me with assignments and pay me very regularly, so I don't rely on any new clients anymore. And I haven't checked if these agencies are listed in the Blue Board.

 


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Poll: Do you work with agencies not listed in the Blue Board, or with no feedback entries?






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