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zk961
Community Member

Charging the clients fairly

Yesterday there was a job post in which client was asking for a KDP expert to solve the issue with his paperback book in $25.

When I asked to have a look at his manuscript file and the error message, he sent the file via Google drive and the file was of 3 GB, with 38 high resolution images and 91 pages in total. 

When I investigated, I happened to know that he was trying to publish the book with bleed but he did not set bleed in the .docx file and also on the cover image. So that's why Amazon was showing error messages.

So the work that I had to do was to add bleed area in the size of the book. (increase the size of the book)., and then resize 38 full page size images to cover whole page. 

and then resize the cover to match the requirements of kdp. Then eventually I had to run a test on the book to see whether the problem has solved or not. and all of this needed to be done in 12 hours.

So, keeping in mind the file size and all of the tasks above, I changed the terms and I told him that I will charge $100 for that. 

When he came to know that I will charge $100 he told me that he will see other bids first and then come back to me.

After a while, he told me that he was hiring someone else with a lower rate.

What do you think, was I charging him very high for the task he was asking for? 

Kindly provide your views about it.

 

4 REPLIES 4
wlyonsatl
Community Member

Hi, Zainab.

 

Every freelancer has to understand their own niche on Upwork, which includes knowing what their pricing should be for each project they submit a proposal on.

 

Many clients come to Upwork looking for the cheapest possible completion of the work they need done. There are freelancer who will comply with such low pricing.

 

Other clients are more discerning and know that if they always just hire the lowest-priced freelancers, they'll usually get the low quality of work they pay for.

 

There is no telling exactly why your proposal wasn't the winner, but you were doing the right thing by not mindlessly matching the client's very low pricing after you found out what work was really involved.

 

Any freelancer who merely complies with cheap or uninformed clients' low initial proposed pricing is not doing herself any favors.

 

Freelancers who provide commodity services have little leeway in their pricing.

 

Freelancers who provide quality services that are applied with different degrees of difficulty and time required should price each project in a way that wins enough proposals to make freelancing a useful way of making money while also maximizing the freelancer's income over time. It is hard to balance those different goals, but always being the cheapest bidder is a bad idea.

 

Good luck with your future proposals.

 

 

zk961
Community Member

Hi Will

I am agree with you. Some freelancers set their rate only to win the project. They do not even think about the effort this project demands for. and at the end they fail to deliever quality work at the end. 

Anonymous-User
Not applicable

I don't think you bid enough at $100, but looking at your profile you absolutely know what you are doing. You're a pro at this type of work and it's working for you at your current rate. 

 

This was his loss. For one bad client, there are 5 more that will happily hire you. 🙂 

    

silw
Community Member

i wouldn't even have a look at his file for 100$.