How to bid payment/nr of words and not hourly fee?

[e_skoldebring]

Hey there, new here! Im getting started as an translator on upwork and entered my suggested hourly fee. I am getting proposals with (for example) a certain amount per 100 words payment. When I accept the interview, im asked to suggest an hourly rate.

Since i would be paid relevant to quantity and not amount of time, my bid is essentially incorrect, but I see now way to change it to suggesting a bid per 100 words as is the clients preffered way of payment.

Can someone advice? Thanks!

[jcullinan]

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@Erik S wrote:

Hey there, new here! Im getting started as an translator on upwork and entered my suggested hourly fee. I am getting proposals with (for example) a certain amount per 100 words payment. When I accept the interview, im asked to suggest an hourly rate.

Since i would be paid relevant to quantity and not amount of time, my bid is essentially incorrect, but I see now way to change it to suggesting a bid per 100 words as is the clients preffered way of payment.

Can someone advice? Thanks!

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Job posts can only have one of two formats: Fixed-price or Hourly.

Here's an article about the differences: https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211063418-Hourly-vs-Fixed-Price-Contract-Differences

In your proposal to either job type, you can indicate your preference for the other type in your cover letter, if you like. For example, "You've proposed an hourly contract, but I work on a per-word basis of $x/100 words, so a fixed-price contract would be more appropriate." And on from there.

Then in the interview process, should the client choose to entertain your proposal, you can iron out the details of how to set up milestones for x number of words, etc, and they can send you a fixed-price offer instead of an hourly one. 

[e_skoldebring]

Thank you for your helpful reply! I was not aware the client can change the payment setup after I propose an hourly rate to milestones. 

If I understand you correctly, the client would set up a certain number of 100 word milestones and once the translation if finished ( and we know how many words were written in the target languge), we close the corresponding number of milestones?

[jcullinan]

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@Erik S wrote:

Thank you for your helpful reply! I was not aware the client can change the payment setup after I propose an hourly rate to milestones. 

If I understand you correctly, the client would set up a certain number of 100 word milestones and once the translation if finished ( and we know how many words were written in the target languge), we close the corresponding number of milestones?

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The specific format of the milestones is up for negotiation between you and the client. If it's a 1000 word document, perhaps 2 milestones for 500 each, or 4 for 250, or whatever makes the most sense for the amount of work. You don't want too many tiny milestones, because that requires too much administration on the client side - every time you submit work, they need to approve it, which releases the funds for the milestone, and then they have to fund the next one before you can continue. Don't do any work on a milestone that isn't funded in escrow!

(This is why I work hourly - weekly payment is automatic as I track my hours, which I think is easier. But I'm not a translator.)

[petra_r]

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@Erik S wrote:

If I understand you correctly, the client would set up a certain number of 100 word milestones and once the translation if finished ( and we know how many words were written in the target languge), we close the corresponding number of milestones?

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 Why would you want to charge (or the client pay, for that matter) by wordcount of the TARGET language? Translations are almost invariably (if they are not hourly) priced by the source wordcount.

Any it seems pointless to set several milestones of 100 words, that is just needless fuffing about.

Personally unless it is a new (to me) client I will happily work on one (funded) milestone contracts unless it's a really big (well over $ 1k) translation.

[prestonhunter]

re: "unless it is a new (to me) client"

That's an IMPORTANT distinction!

(and great advice)

If I have never worked with a client before, I don't want to get into a fixed-price contract that is too big. Typically no more than an hour or two of work.

Because although most fixed-price clients are great, some clients totally can't handle the fixed-price concept. And it is better to find out which type you're dealing with before you invest a lot of work and find out you're dealing with a fixed-price contract who refuses to pay you for you work.