I know from a colleague of mine, who was accidently sent the PO meant for the actual client, that  although she was being paid 15 Euros for a job, the agency actually invoiced the client 70! UNBELIEVABLE!

That happened to me once too. The agency was billing the client .30 a word. That's when I learned I wasn't charging enough.

On the contrary: it's quite believable. Several years ago a similar thing happened to me:  the agency by mistake sent me a financial document intended for the the end client from which I learnt that they charged the client twice my rate.

NK

Years ago when I still did some interpreting and still starting out in some respects, a client volunteered (I didn't ask) that a particular agency was charging him $70/hour for my services.  They had tried to get me for $15/hour and I had haggled it up to $25.

Although I do work as a copywriter/ghostwriter for the last five years, only for the last year I've been working (more) as a freelancer translator.
I have never been asked to do a free test, maybe because I always sent my brief portfolio, and require a sample of the document(*). But most of the times, I do a trial translation, paid of course. 

Although I do see the point, and the importance of a trial translation, I fail to see the point on free tests of more than ~200 words, and the discounts for repeated words. 

It's a strange world my friends, that's for sure. Sometimes I do wonder how the end client would react if they knew how much the translator gets paid. *roll eyes*

(*) I've never worked for agencies, mainly because most of the times we never reached an agreement about the payment/price. 

Same thing happened to me last year, I got a PO intended for the client, charging €0.10 per word, while the agency paid me less than half the invoiced amount due to repetitions, etc.  The client on the PO was yet another agency in a different country, so I really wonder how much the end-client was charged...

Four times as much, I guess.  I also saw an invoice to end client 20 odd years ago.  I was paid £4 p/h and the University was charged £6+.  Not as bad but bearing in mind, this was the early 90's.

Oh look, Nanna has zero sense of humor and is splitting hairs and picking fights again. Since Nanna said "too bad" that the subject was dropped, I felt I needed to add my two cents.

Leena's post had absolutely nothing to do with claiming that translators should work for free. Absolutely nothing. It was a completely logical post referring to the fact that organizations such as the one referenced wouldn't need to exist if people lived within their means/practiced safe sex. I completely got her point as did many others. You're just trying to pick a fight and I really don't understand how you can leap to conclusions that are so ridiculously wrong. It's laughable.

This forum should be a welcoming, supportive community. That's all I'm saying.

A million times, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!