What do I do?

I recently shot a photoshoot, and styled and re-coded an entire wordpress site for my buddy's clothing company. Usually I charge half up front for all of my work, but I figured I could trust him since he's one of my best friends and we've done numerous business deals like this in the past. Well low-and-behold, when it comes time to pay me he tells me that they're "short on cash." This was after I'd already slaved away to get the website ready for their release date of their new clothing line. There were a few minor details I had left to do that I chose to not bother with when they said they didn't have enough money to pay me at the time, and I told them I'd do those portions when I received my financial compensation. I told them to pick a date, any date was fine by me as long as it was in the month, for them to stick to and pay me by. That date was yesterday, I still have no money, and they still have no idea when they'll be able to pay me.

I'm caught in a bit of a situation here, as you can tell. I've put forth numerous hours of work and I have nothing to show for it--except for the work itself. I need cash too. However, he's one of my best friends and has been nothing short of legitimate up until now.

What do I do? The only leverage I have is to take down the site and say "no site until I get my money," but then again, I'm not really comfortable with screwing over my buddy.

Your insight is appreciated, thank you for reading.

My personal opinion:

Keeping in mind that this is a good friend, definitely do not take down the website yet. If he hasn't paid you in a few months, then you might consider it. Until then, don't offer any updates or fixes; just leave it as is until he pays you. Like you said, he's been legit up until now. Give him a few more days, he might really just be low on cash.

Just my opinion, of course.

My view for what its worth?

The old adage of "there are such things as friends in business..." sounds true in this instance!

I re-read your OP and what strikes me was that he let you carry on developing the images & the website in the knowledge that his plans for the new venture did not have the money in the budget to pay for your services, what sort of business takes advantage of supplier by not allowing for their fee in the budget? ~ what other 'work' did you do that he has paid for???

Has he not paid for the clothing & other services to actually sell the products??? So why did he not set aside the monies to pay you? Very poor treatment IMO

Now were I in your shoes ~ if you cannot get him to agree a payment date and this is afterall a business arrangement not him saying he will but the beers next time once has had his pay cheque ~ I would perhaps modify the website to say the front page introducing the new line but make all the other pages "under construction". Now obviously this needs to be kept businesslike so make it is writing etc. i.e. make it clear that your services require final payment before the goods are delivered. Or does he when selling the clothes take a deposit for the clothes and expect to get paid "a week next Friday" with the balance

Edit - doing the above does not IMO damage his business because many eBusiness sites get tweaked & modified to 'improve' them so a slightly limited availability for a short time would simply leave possible customers wanting more?

As for screwing over your buddy, well what is he doing to you by not completing on the deal he made with you!!!

Whatever you do if the friendship is important (to both of you) do not make this personal ~ it is purely business, isn't it.

jbergdoll wrote in post #9015717
I'm not really comfortable with screwing over my buddy.

You are not screwing over your buddy, he is screwing you.

I'm sure he has a legitimate cash flow problem, and I'm sure he is not intentially screwing you, but that makes this all the more a concern. He may be on the brink, and if he folds you will likely see nothing.

Tough situation, perhaps he can pay you half right now. If he's really a good friend he needs to be upfront with you and you guys need to figure something out.

I think that you have to be fair to yourself. You might have to take down the site. Fair is fair.

I changed it to a "site undergoing maintenance" page, and I disabled the wordpress installation for the time being. He told me there ended up being some extra expenses they didn't plan on when printing their shirts, but told me I still would get my money on time. He only decided to tell me that they actually didn't have the cash until after I had finished the website.

If I was in your position, I would be straight forward about it. If he's your best friend, he should have had the courtesy to keep you informed about his finances. What I would do is just modify the site to display one splash page with all their contact & business information. Basically, a summary. That way, he'll still have something to show for when it comes to business and you will hold off on adding the additional content and pages once you get paid.

I'd hate to be in your position but simply saying "dude, I hate to do this to you but I also need the money. I've bent over backwards enough. Once we get all of this squared away, there won't be any problems."

Good luck!

The deal was money for website. No money, no website. Simple. Work out a payment plan if they want the website before they give you money.

jbergdoll wrote in post #9015922
I changed it to a "site undergoing maintenance" page, and I disabled the wordpress installation for the time being. He told me there ended up being some extra expenses they didn't plan on when printing their shirts, but told me I still would get my money on time. He only decided to tell me that they actually didn't have the cash until after I had finished the website.

Best buddy, eh! So good he left you out of the loop

Do not get mad with him, as I said in my initial post keep it nice & buisnesslike ~ have you told him his site is now under maintenance?

Yep, they're a bit unorganized and I don't doubt that they just didn't really add up all of their expenses until it was time to start writing the checks, and then realized they were short.

Oh well. Taught me a lesson that's for damned sure.

Ah well, once bitten twice shy.

For sure once this sorted out and you get paid perhaps you should pass when he asks for "the next new project" that needs your expert attention....."

Or just charge a lot more, and have half paid upfront