Got an easy freelance job but the client wants to pay using a credit card processor like Clover Go or Intuit Quickbooks. Said they had a problem with Paypal holding their funds last time. Am I getting scammed or have you encountered clients like this and what did you do? I applied with Clover Go but it’s not specifically set up for freelance graphic design the same as the others so I got denied.
From new customers, especially if I have doubts about their payment behavior, I demand at least partial prepayment.
Ironically, that’s what he’s trying to nail down and send me. At the very least it’s an easy t-shirt graphic job that provides me a chance to work outside my usual styling.
It doesn’t sound like a scam if they’re trying to pay you and not asking you for some sort of set-up fee or needing your login credentials or whatever.
Are they refusing to use PayPal due to a bad experience with them in the past? It’s not as though they need to deposit money in a PayPal account to pay you. You just need to send them an invoice through PayPal, and then they pay you through PayPal using their credit card. At least that’s how I remember it from the last time I had a client insist on paying me through PayPal.
This sort of thing is one of the reasons why I don’t accept small jobs from new clients or private individuals. As often than not, I spend as much time messing around with them about stupid non-billable time-wasting stuff like this and end up regretting taking on the job.
You might try asking on r/Scams on reddit. The people there stay up to date on the latest scams.
1 Like
I will have to. They pulled the ole can you pay this third party with the left overs after you take your fees once the check has cleared. It being the printers is still in the realm of believability, but I have to assume they’re technologically incompetent customer but I doubt it when printers as easy to deal with as having a credit card ready.
Scam. This is an explanation from the US Federal Trade Commission:
1 Like
Yep, the last communication was 10 days ago and there was a supposed 3 week delivery time but I think they know they fucked up with the third party request even though it’s pretty common for designers to be in touch with the printers to ensure accuracy.
I would immediately refuse a request like that. At first, they seemed to prefer a specific payment method, but from your last post, it sounds as though they’re either incompetent or scammers — both of which are reasons to dump them.
At agencies where I worked, it was the norm for the agencies to work directly with printers, pay the printers, and then pass along those printing fees to the clients (plus a fee for arranging and supervising the printing). Of course, the agencies where I worked didn’t deal with iffy companies that didn’t seem to know how to pay for business expenses and had little or no credit history.
As a solo designer, I don’t want to be responsible for making payments on behalf of a client — even one I’m sure about. It complicates my bookkeeping and tax returns and could leave me holding the bag in case the client does something weird. From what you’ve described, the client is already making odd requests that make little sense, which is a huge red flag for a scam setup.
If this is a scam, which I suspect it is, and you proceed, they will use additional step-by-step requests to eventually manipulate the situation into a trap where they will end up with your money, and you will end up owing the printer.
1 Like