[varunkho]

Thanks! This is good advice. Btw, if I have a written signed contract in place and if the client does not pay and I'm outside US, is it possible to hand over that case to an entity (like collection agency) in US to take care of?

Edit: Also, is there a standar contract template for a vendor/contractor that lays down these conditions in legit manner. For instance, how much interest you can legitimately charge for each day delayed ETC. Just curious.

[dorfuss]

Yes, it is possible to entrust a company which will take care of that remotely. I believe most international debt collection agencies work this way. It doesn't matter where you are. Let's say you are a French company and you sell to Japan. You don't know Japanese. You go to a big collection firm, you are served in French, but the particular collector is sitting in Tokyo, knows the law there, the language, and finds the debtor and gets the money for you.

Usually there would be a small set-up fee ($50-100) and commission fee for successfully collected moneyes (8-25%, depends on the debtor's country).

Today everything is done on-line, so you don't have to actually be there.

No standard template, sorry ;) Everything depends on the country/state. Btw that's what lawyers are for :) Over here it's 14% a year by the law itself, you don't have to mention it in your contract/agreement, but also you can agree on more/less. However it cannot be 1000%, because it's against the Civil Code. In some countries you can also collect the "collection costs". In some other you cannot. No simple answer.