What should i do??

So last year an acquaintance of mine contacted me to take some photos of a golf course for their new webpage(he manages the greens.) After a few phone calls back and forth, we agreed upon a price and a week later I started to take some photos. I was very busy between school, my real job and just life, so it took a little longer to get the job done. I had discussed this with him before taking photos and it wasnt a "rush" job so it wasnt a big issue. A couple other things came up that i wasn't expecting and so this wasnt my top priority so it got put off for a couple weeks. We had been in contact and sooner then later they needed the photos and he said that its not a big deal if i couldn't deliver they would hire someone else, no hard feelings BUT i delivered them. So now he had the cd with the photos on them. A couple of days ago i went on their website, lord behold my photos are there.......but i never recieved payment. I am pretty sure that when I exported from lightroom that i put my copyright on them, but not 100%.

what should i do?

Should i email them and say...

Hello im the photographer that took the photos for your website, but i never recieved payment.

Missed it, had you already invoiced them by sending them a bill?

No, i havent. how would i go about that

Can I ask?

You say you agreed on a price, was this is writing as a confirmed arrangement? Is your acquaintance the decision maker for agreeing to such an arrangement? Why on earth did you part with the CD of images before payment was made to you?

Surely you (just?) need to know from your contact who to bill for your services? As for how to go about it ~ well print an invoice in Word (AFAIK there are many standard templates) and mail it for the personal attention of who ever signs the cheques!!!

Unless there is a reason you do not expect payment then I would not be worrying about it. Send them a bill, probably what they are waiting for.

This thread takes the cake:o

However it did give me a great idea for a patent. Invent a cam that prints invoices on the spot.
Proof positive that everyone is a photographer these days

And don't expect to get paid as soon as you mail the invoice unless you have something in a signed agreement. Most large companies that I do work for are now NET 45 days.

Ok, thanks! I'll send them an invoice. I was so busy at the time/still busy that i just forgot about it. May seem like an exuse but im stickin with it haha

Did you agree any form of payment terms?

Some of my clients only pay upon receipt of an account statement. If you submit the invoice and payment is not immediately forthcoming send them a statement a few weeks later.

If its a corporation, like zagiace already said invoice them and it will probably take anywhere for 30-90 days to receive a check. If you don't get something in 60 days give them a call and maybe a second notice.

WOW you did'nt expect a payment without the invoice did you.
Is there a reason you did'nt send an invoice with the cd other than being to busy.
And make sure the invoice has terms of payment on it; 30 60 90 days for example.
Dont take this the wrong way but good business planning is good business sense.

It's a good idea to put those on the invoice but terms should be in the contract / agreement and are usually set by the corporation at least here in the US. The larger the company the longer they take to pay IMO. A discount for quick (10 day) payment sometimes gets their attention.

Here in the UK normal terms of business are 30 days.
And lot of companies want paying instantly when you deliver "goods".
Hopefully the op will come back and update us when he gets his payment.

Yeah, 30 day terms is normal but getting paid in 30 days is rare.

All of my clients are on 30 day terms but as they are invoiced monthly in arrears I will have possibly given 30 days on the first job before I raise the invoice that itself is on 30 day terms.

Most take a further 45 - 60 days for the payment to actually be made so in reality I am working on upto 90 day terms.

This sounds bad but once over the initial delays payments come in monthly so it doesn't really matter that much.