Not Recieving Payment for Writing for a Writing service

[Mary26]

I was ghost writer for a writing service and the owner has been behind on my payments for a few weeks. Recently, I was fired from the company. I was late on an assignment so the owner deactivated my account. He didn't email or anything. So, I emailed him asking when can I expect payment for all of the work I did with the company. It took several emails before the guy would respond. His response was he would pay me when the work was approved by clients. Well, I know that's a lie because this was work that was turned in a couple of weeks ago. The work was supposed to be paid every week which it wasn't. Also, I haven't received a payment at all this week.

While working for the company, the owner had a history of paying whenever he felt like it. Also, I was getting ready to leave the company because I needed some consistency in pay. For example, if you did several assignments then he would pay you for one assignment at a time instead of just giving you all of the money. Also, it could take from a two weeks to a month to get paid for some assignments.

I want to know what can I do about getting my money from this guy. What are some steps I can take?

 

[Mary26]

Really? How did commission junction scam you?

 

[Mary26]

No takers? Do anybody have any suggestions?

 

[RedMango]

Could I ask which company. I've recently been scammed, more than once this year and if the company matches up I have some info I could share..

 

[meathead1234]

Why don't you just sell all the work you did for him that hasn't been paid for?

 

[dshad]

meathead is right. There are tons of people willing to buy your work.

 

[houseaz]

Sorry work is paid for upfront or at least 50% upfront 50% upon completion. Working any other way is asking for trouble.

 

[rabenus]

Yeah. Threatening them to publish your work online might do the trick. He will pay you if he really sold those articles.

 

[RedMango]

What if the work has already been published by the scammer? Then what?

 

[randomwoman]

I'm really sorry this happened to you .

I would email the owner again politely asking to be paid. Let them know that since your agreement (I'm assuming you had some sort of formal arrangement even if it was just via email) included being paid for the work you retain the copyrights.

Use copyscape to see if your work is already on the web. If it isn't, reuse as you see fit. If it is, contact the website owner or hosting service letting know the situation and that the work belongs to you.

I've known other writers who have had to use these methods to get through to someone who has tried to take advantage of them. The owner might find it easy to ignore your payment requests, but they will have a harder time dealing with angry clients who want to know why someone is claiming they are using work that is copyright protected.

 

[Talsin]

Unfortunately this is part of doing business on the net.

Always try and get at least 50% upfront. Never do more than a certain amount of work without being paid for it (amount can vary depending on who you are dealing with), even with people I have worked with for a long time online I stop working after two weeks if they havent paid me, with people I dont know I generally wont work more than a few days without pay.

Now if they are in the same country as me and are willing to enter a fully legally binding work contract I can consider being more flexible, but if they are some random guy a million miles away then no you must protect yourself.

 

[Mary26]

RedMango, the writing service is internet research associates. Many of the writing services don't allow money to be paid upfront and pay upon completion of work. I realize now that I need to be working for myself instead of someone else. Thanks for the suggestions. No, he still hasn't made any attempts to pay me.

 

[Deleted member 15724]

You should have left when they were late on payments. Article writers are prone to be scammed because they hand in the work and can only hope to be paid. My advice for you would be to work with only reputable people.

But, if you're on this forum why are you writing articles? That's pennies. You should be using those articles for your own site.

 

[Deleted member 15724]

Welcome to the world. Commission Junction scammed me out of $1,500. I've been scammed at least 12 times in my internet career. You just suck it up and move on.

Commission Junction did not scam you. I am 100% sure that you did something blackhat and they caught on to it. They are one of the only aff networks I know that would ban someone and actually pay whatever you were owed even if you were under the threshold.

 

[RedMango]

RedMango, the writing service is internet research associates. Many of the writing services don't allow money to be paid upfront and pay upon completion of work. I realize now that I need to be working for myself instead of someone else. Thanks for the suggestions. No, he still hasn't made any attempts to pay me.

After reading a few websites and threads about the company, it looks as if they tamper with written work, sack you and never pay. Obviously it is not difficult to fabricate some 'positive' reviews on the Internet (I've written many to combat scam sites, not for IRA though ).

I too am leaning towards working on my own websites/blogs. I only found this site from someone ousting a scammer who has just recently got me too, but every cloud has a silver lining - this site just so happens to be a goldmine for where I wanted to take my business anyway.

C'est la vie.

 

[Mary26]

Deleted member 15724, I been a little lazy about internet marketing but working on some sites now. I was writing article because of it being quick money. I realize now that I should have stopped when the payments were slow. I trusted this guy because he had a pretty big company. I figure the guy wouldn't want to mess up his reputation by not paying his writers.

 

[randomwoman]

RedMango, the writing service is internet research associates. Many of the writing services don't allow money to be paid upfront and pay upon completion of work. I realize now that I need to be working for myself instead of someone else. Thanks for the suggestions. No, he still hasn't made any attempts to pay me.

I wrote for them occasionally almost two years ago. I stopped when they started expanding and payment started to be an issue. IRA used to pay right after work was completed, then went to "within 10 days" or something like that which I didn't want to mess with.

I would send clark and email telling him you retain the rights since you weren't paid and you will be using your work yourself. My best friend (worked for him after I stopped) did this and complained on a few writing forums. Next thing you know.... She had her money in paypal.

Don't let that company get you down. There are others that are a great way for a good writer to earn money quickly.

Good luck with everything and seriously, don't beat yourself up over this. Onwards and upwards

 

[Mary26]

Thanks for the kind words! The whole experience is just a learning lesson.

 

[RedMango]

Why don't you just flog all the work you did for him that hasn't been paid for?

Where is best to flog* articles? I'm at the end of my tether and have lots of work which I'd rather $$$ in on than wasting my time chasing payment.

* flog - damn word filter

 

[meathead1234]

Where is best to flog* articles? I'm at the end of my tether and have lots of work which I'd rather $$$ in on than wasting my time chasing payment.

* flog - damn word filter

Well you have a few choices:

- Buy a relevant domain and build a niche site with the articles. Either keep the site or flip it straight away for a quick profit.

- Troll freelance sites and wait for someone to ask for articles in the niche you wrote in.

- DP (if you are really desperate)

- AC (not sure if this works anymore)

My biz model would be put them on a site and flip it - but it's really down to personal preference.