What would you do when a client sends an offer with a rate lower than your proposal?

[viasdominique]

So the story is I sent a proposal for an hourly job that was advertised for "Experts". I was interviewed on Skype, we discussed the job and it ended well. There was no discussion regarding costs/fees/rates. I asked the client to start the contract (or send the offer) so I could get started.

Client sends the offer and the hourly rate is half of my regular rate (and my proposed rate). First of all, why would they do this? I sent a message back saying "Sorry I didn't realise you were offering a different rate for this project". With no response yet, he might be expecting me to already be working on it.

What would you do in this scenario? I don't imagine lowering my rate. At this point the offer still stands, and I have not declined it yet, although I probably will.

[martina_plaschka]

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Dominique V wrote:

So the story is I sent a proposal for an hourly job that was advertised for "Experts". I was interviewed on Skype, we discussed the job and it ended well. There was no discussion regarding costs/fees/rates. I asked the client to start the contract (or send the offer) so I could get started.

Client sends the offer and the hourly rate is half of my regular rate (and my proposed rate). I sent a message back saying "Sorry I didn't realise you were offering a different rate for this project". With no response yet. What would you do in this scenario? I don't imagine lowering my rate. At this point the offer still stands, and I have not declined it yet, although I probably will.

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Don't lower your rate, and if the client does not reply, just don't accept the offer. It might be a simple misunderstanding. 

[gilbert-phyllis]

I would not conclude an interview for an hourly project without specifically mentioning the expected number of hours involved and cofirming the rate. Regardless of whether or not that was addressed in the conversation, if th eoffer came in at half my rate, I'd immediately contact the client and ask whether it was a typo or we had had a misunderstanding. I would not accept the project at half my rate but I would possibly be open to adjusting the scope in order to help the client if they had budget constraints.

[melaniekhenson]

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Dominique V wrote:

So the story is I sent a proposal for an hourly job that was advertised for "Experts". I was interviewed on Skype, we discussed the job and it ended well. There was no discussion regarding costs/fees/rates. I asked the client to start the contract (or send the offer) so I could get started.

Client sends the offer and the hourly rate is half of my regular rate (and my proposed rate). First of all, why would they do this? I sent a message back saying "Sorry I didn't realise you were offering a different rate for this project". With no response yet, he might be expecting me to already be working on it.

What would you do in this scenario? I don't imagine lowering my rate. At this point the offer still stands, and I have not declined it yet, although I probably will.

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I think you did the right thing, although I'd have worded it a little differently. I'd have directly asked him to clarify. He doesn't know whether you're saying "sorry, I'm not going to do it, period" or what.

But either way, he knows what your rate is, he knows the rate he originally proposed/agreed to, and he knows he just cut it in half so as to why he'd do it? Because he wants the work much more cheaply and he's hoping you'll just say yes.

I don't know that I'd work with a client who intentionally did this even if he did say "Okay, sure, we'll go with the original rate." Not when you're talking about half, which is significant. It just seems really slippery to me and goodness knows what would happen after the project started. Just my $.02.

ETA: Sorry...as far as whether he thinks you're already working on it, that's why I'd have been more direct. I don't know, something along the lines of, "Hey, so very glad to hear from you. Before I accept the project I'd like to clarify something we discussed. We originally discussed $X/hour. I'm happy to get going right away on the project if you're able to send a new offer at that rate. Thanks." Or...I don't know, something. I didn't sleep much last night and I may be making less sense than I'd like. 🙂

But either way, if you didn't accept the offer, he doesn't think you're already working on the project, or if he does, and he winds up with nothing in his hands, that's pretty much on him, IMO.

[williambernal]

DV,

Sounds like your client is on the shady side, unfortunately.

You may want to send them one final, very polite message along the lines of-

I trust that the terms of my Hourly rate are perfectly clear so if there is any misunderstanding on your end please let me know so we can begin work as soon as possible. Thank you, and I look forward to a mutually successful collaboration!

But be prepared to receive no reply. At which point you should decline any offers, and move on.

Work smart, work safe!

[sergio-soria]

I would decline but I also would had discussed the hourly rate in the interview. I don't think it's a typo. I believe (not sure though) the rate is automatically populated with your rate when they are about to send you an offer. So if the number that appears is half your rate it's because they intentionally changed it. In my opinion it's better to avoid those clients who purposely want to pay you less knowing that you are a valuable worker. A cheap client is usually never satisfied and is always asking for the moon. And in this case it's even worse because you mentioned the post read they were looking for "experts." If they want "experts" they have to pay expert price.

Since you have not discussed the rate in the interview you did the right thing asking in a message, but I wouldn't accept the offer until everything is clear. And if I were you I wouldn't lower my hourly rate either.

[viasdominique]

I thought so. Only reason I hesitated about them being shady is they were an Upwork Plus Client and had good reviews. But hey it's not impossible.