peacefulparadox

When you do freelance work for clients, do you require them to pay an deposit upfront?

It seems that many do. I'm wondering how this became standard in the industry. Afterall, when you eat at a restaurant, they don't ask you to pay 10% before cooking the food.

My tendency is to not require a deposit unless it is a large project or where I have expenditures upfront. I bill them one lump sum at the end of the project. It is easier for the client to commit to the project initially and I don't have to make an extra trip to deposit the check or to keep track of what percentage had been paid.

The argument is that there are some crooks out there on the internet who will receive your work and not pay for it. It only happened to me once where I finished job but client didn't pay. I guess that is the cost of doing business. Just like if you open a store, there is a given percentage lost you assume from shoplifters.

But is that really that common? None of my friends and family are crooks; none of my past co-workers are crook (as far as I know). Neither are any of my acquanitances. So it seems that most people are not crooks.

Take the poll. Answer "yes" if you usually require deposit. Answer "no" if you usually do not require deposit. Then there is an answer for half-and-half.

I'm curious to see how many require upfront deposit. Also tell us what percentage deposit.

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