Getting Paid

There have been only three times when I had difficulty getting paid. All were in the mid-1980s when I was just starting out:

1)   My first corporate customer was a very small pharmaceutical company. The company wanted the photos shot on transparency film because the images were for a slide presentation. I asked if they also wanted prints. No, they did not want prints, only slides. The job was done and the slides were delivered. The customer refused to pay because I did not deliver prints.

It was only then that I found out, from the person who referred me to this customer, that this company had a history of being difficult, always demanding discounts, and always paying late. The customer took a 50% discount when they finally paid many months later.

2)   I shot an advertising photo for a Toronto restaurant. The restaurant owner never paid. So I filed a lawsuit in small claims court. I then found out that the owner was also being sued for not paying rent or utility bills. It also came to light that the owner had several “undocumented” people working for him and they were paid only $2/hour. A few weeks later I found out that the owner was facing criminal charges for allegedly assaulting some of his female employees. A few more weeks later, the restaurant was shut down by the city. This was the only time I didn’t get paid.

3)   After a photo of mine was published in a boating magazine, someone contacted me and asked to buy a large print of the photo. The image was shot on transparency and a 24″ x 36″ Cibachrome print was made by a pro lab. The matted and framed print was delivered along with an invoice for $900 which they never paid.

I sent repeated letters by registered mail. Finally I sued the person in small claims court.

The first court appearance was with a mediator. The other person said I refused his cheque and demanded only cash. Then he said he offered to pay in installments but I refused to accept that. For my part, I had a copy of my invoice and copies of all the registered letters and signed delivery receipts.

The mediator took perhaps five seconds to rule in my favour and ordered the other person to pay $900 plus my legal expenses and interest.

The mediator asked me to stay behind. As soon as the other person left, the mediator said to me, “What’s wrong with you photographers?!” He went on to say that he has dealt with many unpaid photographers. “Always get the money upfront. No money, no pictures.”

That advice has stayed with me ever since.

Adventures in Getting Paid

After the mid-1980s, I’ve never not been paid but:

1)   The person who had hired me to photograph a health conference left for a sabbatical the very day my invoice wasd. No one else at the Swiss-based heath organization knew who I was. I got paid a couple months later after the person returned to work.

2)   My contact person at a British data company never returned any of my emails for payment. After three months, I emailed the company’s CEO. I mentioned that without payment, they couldn’t use any of the photos. The photos were already on their web site. The CEO actually returned my email very quickly and payment arrived an hour later.

3)   My bank (RBC) has refused cheques from a US bank because the teller didn’t recognize the bank (which is/was one of the largest banks in the US). RBC has also refused cheques because the teller didn’t like the paper the cheque was printed on. Thankfully cheques are becoming obsolete.

It hasn’t been all bad. One company paid me by limousine:

A couple days after a job for a car manufacturer, a black stretch limo pulled up in front of my house. The driver was dressed in the stereotypical chauffeur attire: black suit, black gloves, small black hat. When I opened my front door, the driver handed me an envelope. I had no idea what was happening until I opened the envelope to find a cheque with the car manufacturer’s logo on it. I have no idea why they sent the cheque by limo but I was impressed.

Easy Payments

Credit cards and e-transfer make payments quick and easy. Tell customers in your quote and in your invoice that payment should be by credit card or e-transfer. My corporate customers almost always pay within a week and retail customers pay before delivery of their photos.

You can ask retail customers for a deposit before the photography takes place. Always get paid in full before delivery of any pictures.

Some corporate customers might need a pre-invoice so they can pay a deposit.

Always get a deposit if the job has high expenses. Always get a deposit if you have assistants or stylists working with you so they can be paid as soon as possible. Always get a deposit if the customer is from out-of-province. I’ve had customers pay in full a few days before the job, as soon as I arrived for the job, or while I was packing up my camera gear after the job. It’s never a bad thing to get paid as soon as possible.

Be sure you’re set up to automatically receive e-transfers. It might be a good idea to have a separate email address just for e-transfers. My bank (RBC) charges a junk fee of $1.75 per e-transfer. Bank fees are tax deductible.

You also need to accept credit cards. I started out using PayPal but switched to Square because Square lets you accept credit cards in person, (PayPal doesn’t allow this in Canada), and Square’s online invoicing and bank depositing seem to work better. My bank (RBC) charges yet another fee each time Square transfers money to me. There are many other online payment services available.

The problem with credit cards is the cost. There’s a small fee, currently just under 3%, that you pay for each credit card transaction. For example, on a $5,000 invoice, a 3% credit card fee will cost you $150, compared to an RBC e-transfer fee of $1.50. Credit card fees and bank transfer fees are tax deductible. You could add an equivalent 3% amount to all your prices to compensate for the credit card fee which many businesses do.

It’s only a job if you get paid.

If you don’t get paid, you’ve wasted your time and effort and you’ve lost money.

Always get the money upfront. No money, no pictures.