I dabble in a bit of amateur photography and was contacted last year by a NL based graphic designer about using one of my photographs on a book cover, which I agreed to. A fee was agreed and I was advised that the publisher is usually slow in paying. Fair enough.

An invoice was sent to the publisher [also in Holland] in Nov 2011. I can see the image in use for promotional purposes on the publisher’s website [the book is due out April/May].

I still havn’t been paid and have just re-sent the invoice [via email]. At what point should I start getting arsey about this? I think I’ve been pretty patient so far, but have asked for ackowledgement in my latest email [in case of spam filter]

What were the agreed payment terms ?

I normally get arsey after 3 months.

From that point on I start with regular calls as they are harder to put off than emails. Try and get a firm date when the invoice will be paid as well as a reason why it hasn’t happened yet. Then if the invoice isn’t settled on the agreed date make another phone call to get the reason why it was missed and agree a new date.

It’s hardly a foolproof technique but I reckon after a couple of calls it becomes easier to pay you than not.

I would get arsey now and first off give them 7 days to pay. I had a similar issue with a French company where we helped them out by shipping goods to them next day. We had to send the goods straight away to catch the courier so they went before we received payment. Lots of emails to them about payment and all ignored. I then sent a payment basically saying that if we didnt receive payment in 7 days then it would be sent to our debt recovery company (we don’t have one) and they would start legal matters to recover the costs. I got reply within hours and payment by the end of the day.

In your case you still own copyright so if they haven’t paid then they have not fulfilled their side of the contract and they are breaking the law by using your image. If they are publisher then they must deal with copyright ands images all the time so no excuse.

Payment up front next time! Costly PITA to sue abroad I’d have thought.

In your case you still own copyright || so if they haven’t paid then they have not fulfilled their side of the contract || and they are breaking the law by using your image.

Not entirely sure if those three elements stack up in the way you suggest they do.

You need to fix a (reasonable) payment date and start increasing the fees day on day after that date. A friend of mine owns a very profitable business but has twice now nearly been taken out entirely by very late payment of massive invoices (tens and hundreds of £K) by large well-known companies who could easily pay up if they wanted. They forget you need to pay bills and staff in the mean time.

Not considering legal action just yet. Just going to get a bit more proactive about chasing it up…

Whereabouts in Holland are they located ?

Near Alkmaar I think.

What were the agreed payment terms ?

^ this is important. If you didn’t agree anything (or put anything on your invoice) then they don’t have to rush 😉

Invoice stated payment within 30 days of invoice.

An hour and a bit north of me then.

I was up for a little bit of local(ish) footwear flooding.

I was up for a little bit of local(ish) footwear flooding.

Thanks for the sentiment. Your online outrage will suffice. 😉

http://payontime.co.uk/
Has advice although not sure if it also applies to EU.
A

International is a pain, but as a general rule of thumb I would apply pressure immediately the invoice is overdue. The deal is you supply, and they pay. You’ve done your bit, so there should be no bashfulness about asking for your due.

In my company we put people on stop the day after due date, and will not supply further goods until the account is up to date. A county court application made out in their name appears through their inbox after about 10 – 15 days. Everyone told me that we would go bust if we took that attitude. Strangely, we haven’t and our payment situation is extremely good. We also pay all of our suppliers ontime, largely because we don’t have cashflow problems generated by slow payment of our invoices.

Thanks all, just had a response from the publisher. Looks like my first mail was missed somehow. Hopefully, he’ll settle up sharpish. I have plans for the cash! 🙂