How do I bid for the large number of fixed price projects when the amount of work is not known

[7b430c65]

A large majority of projects posted say “Fixed price, budget $1200 or $1500”

Some are even for $100 or $200, and from the description they appear to be full projects, not 1-2 days work.

Should I interpret this to mean $1200 per month, or total for the entire project? How can any project be done in $1200? It is not even sufficient to cover 1 month’s work, and the small paragraph given with most projects does not give enough detail to see how many months it will need up to completion.

And we do not get any further details, or cannot contact the client unless we apply for the project, and while applying for the project our total bid amount must be mentioned. So this a very big hurdle in applying for any project – how do we mention the bid amount without first discussing the project with the client, and how do we discuss it with the client without applying for it.

[wescowley]

This happens a lot in my field. I take my best guess based on what the client has in the post, and then say in the proposal something like "the amount on the proposal is a placeholder estimate. Once I see the material and we discuss scope, I'll give you a firm quote." 

[7b430c65]

But how do we deal with the fact that the client has said his budget is $1200 (or sometimes $100 or $200) and our best guess may be $30,000. A very large majority of the projects give a budget as above, so we have to skip almost all projects, except very few which give a reasonable budget

[martina_plaschka]

You don't have to skip it. A proposal is nothing more than the start of a conversation. 

[wescowley]

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Khushro S wrote:

But how do we deal with the fact that the client has said his budget is $1200 (or sometimes $100 or $200) and our best guess may be $30,000. A very large majority of the projects give a budget as above, so we have to skip almost all projects, except very few which give a reasonable budget

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You just say "My estimate based on the information in the job post is $30,000,  I can give a firm quote after discussing the scope."

With that wide a gap, there's a good chance you're way out of the client's range, but who knows. I routinely quote higher (but usually not that much higher) than the client's budget and land a good percentage of the things I bid on.

[sofia2008]

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[prestonhunter]

Khushro:
Keep in mind that when real clients post jobs on Upwork, their goal is not to "pay $300 for something."

Their goal is to accomplish a certain task, or obtain certain files or a specific result.

Are you confused by the dollar amount?
They are too.

Most clients don't know exactly how much they want to pay. But they know what they want a freelancer to provide for them.

So if you can get their attention by demonstrating that you understand how to do what they need, you can decide on a price, and do the work, and leave a customer satisfied.