Now how to deal with these cheaters ?

Providing site designing service here has been one of my worst experiences in recent times, it sucks when people simply vanish after getting the job done.
Upfront or Escrow is still not mandatory here, giving coverage to the buyers, which may seem to be biased in view of a designer.
This week only, been burnt 4 times, 2 stopped responding, one went offline completely, and the other is delaying payment like hes the busiest person to the every second of his day.
So I wondered, how you guys deal with them ? Is there any action or something I can do to prevent such ?
Also proving just a -ve iTrader do not help, in return I take the risk of getting another, which is strictly a No No against my policy, have to stay here long term and -ve iTrader is a black spot in the reputation which every fellow member here try to avoid.
I don't want to draw people in my personal problems but at this point I may be a little bit troubled so thought u guys might have something for me.
have a nice day everyone, at least better than me !

 

I understand you, I have also faced scammers here (6 in total). I feel DP is not strict like other forums like WF, etc. If you get an unfair negative rep and if you prove that to mods, mods should have a chance to remove that neg rep. But I don't think they have that privilege. DP need more mods with more privileges. This is my personal opinion. I feel bad that even senior members are cheating. I have opened a thread here on DP about that.

What I suggest you is do not work without payment. Ask for upfront payment.

 

even i have face same problems too,i would advice you to contact people in your local area and only have a few set of people at hand,that will enable you to only manage few and as they are in your reach communication will also be better compared to others.

 

My best advice would be to seek for professional advice, I rather not make this kind of questions here, because most of us won't be able to help you.

 

Treat yourself like a business and change your policy with your clients. I would make it mandatory to put the payment in an escrow account and have them sign legal contracts/documents to show proof of the client/business relationship. That way, if they burn you, you have legal proof of a breach of contract and you can sue or threat to sue. The later is usually sufficient to get them to pay...Sry that you got burned, but you cannot be so trusting, especially online

 

Have you tried taking a partial payment? As genuine clients should have no problems about paying this. It's very sad to see people simply running off and not paying and it's becoming more and more common on the internet. We also dropship on eBay and because we did not do our research right on a supplier $600AUD went down the drain! No contact from the supplier and they are still online.

So i believe that if you aren't already doing so start by taking a Part payment or say a 25% deposit of the total amount from your clients. It will basically be a security deposit so if they do happen to simply run off at least you have something from them?.

Best of luck!.