I see a never-ending stream of people complaining that they have been screwed by this or that (usually unnamed) people or companies (often they don’t know which) using their services via click-work, reverse-auction platforms.
I think the time has come to bid farewell to that freelance translating work model. If you don’t have recourse because you don’t know who you’re dealing with, can’t visit them, or can’t even determine what country they’re in—often the case—you are asking for trouble.
So why not stop asking for trouble and start going after identifiable and, better yet, visitable clients? Better yet would be working for clients that are not in the translation business.
The justifiable confidence bad actors have that distance from their vendors and the cost of legal remedies will protect them has caused the collapse of the online, click-work model for translators. The bad news is you probably can’t escape it sitting in front of your computer and particularly if that computer is at an insurmountable distance from the actual jobs. That’s going to leave countless freelancers vulnerable, because they can’t change their situations and probably can’t move to where remedies, including a visit to their work source, are not available. Well, life’s tough, then you die.