Losing Money On My Services

[Justin]

Hello, I'm wondering if other people's customers back out of deals all the time? I recently worked for hours on three projects these last three days. My first project the person paid a $5 deposit but wanted me to configure a plugin that didn't work. I of course refunded the money and PayPal charged me a nice fee for refunding the money. My second project I didn't have any deposit to avoid PayPal's fee. I did their job and let them try it on a demo server. The job was finally finished (they liked everything and tried it on the demo server) and then they removed me from Skype without paying. (They didn't get the finished product either though.) My last job I asked for a deposit after a nice long discussion and agreeing on several different cost for different thing they just never replied. I have worked many hours these last couple days and lost money!

Do you guys have these issues and if so how do you prevent them? Thanks, Justin

 

[Jack]

Hello, I'm wondering if other people's customers back out of deals all the time? I recently worked for hours on three projects these last three days. My first project the person paid a $5 deposit but wanted me to configure a plugin that didn't work. I of course refunded the money and PayPal charged me a nice fee for refunding the money. My second project I didn't have any deposit to avoid PayPal's fee. I did their job and let them try it on a demo server. The job was finally finished (they liked everything and tried it on the demo server) and then they removed me from Skype without paying. (They didn't get the finished product either though.) My last job I asked for a deposit after a nice long discussion and agreeing on several different cost for different thing they just never replied. I have worked many hours these last couple days and lost money!

Do you guys have these issues and if so how do you prevent them? Thanks, Justin

I always get customers to tell me in detail what they want beforehand and I usually give them some options for certain features.
If I don't know exactly what they want, then I won't start.

If I get the feeling they are going to be difficult, I try and avoid dealing with them unless everything is absolutely confirmed or they accept a premium rate.

I also usually charge 50% before it's created, then I work on it a few days, show them the final, if they like it, they pay the other 50%, and I give them to product.

You're talking about PayPal feels:
Isn't it like $0.30 + 8% or something? Otherwise just tell them to send as friends / family.
And I'm pretty positive if you just click "refund this payment" it will refund it in full without any fees.

PS / Edit:
I don't think you should have refunded the deposit. That defeats the whole purpose of a deposit.

 

[Justin]

I always get customers to tell me in detail what they want beforehand and I usually give them some options for certain features.
If I don't know exactly what they want, then I won't start.

If I get the feeling they are going to be difficult, I try and avoid dealing with them unless everything is absolutely confirmed or they accept a premium rate.

I also usually charge 50% before it's created, then I work on it a few days, show them the final, if they like it, they pay the other 50%, and I give them to product.

You're talking about PayPal feels:
Isn't it like $0.30 + 8% or something? Otherwise just tell them to send as friends / family.
And I'm pretty positive if you just click "refund this payment" it will refund it in full without any fees.

PS / Edit:
I don't think you should have refunded the deposit. That defeats the whole purpose of a deposit.

Well I felt bad that the plugin didn't work and I spent a little over thirty minutes on it.

I got charged $0.20 by PayPal because I refunded their payment. (Not bad but it's negative money for more work.)

Although thank you so much for all your advice and I diffidently will use it with further deals.

 

[Skionz]

I am a Java developer, but if a larger plugin, or program is request I make the client pay half up front. Usually if it is a quick 1-10 hour project I will just finish it and have them pay after seeing proof. I usually don't have people back out, but I constantly have people try to add new features after we have made the deal which is extremely annoying. I also don't deal with people who I think may be trouble. In your situation, people are hiring you to configure plugins (I think). You can assume your clients are dipshits since they can't configure it themselves, so you should be cautious.