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frederick_steve
Community Member

Pricing

Hi,

I'm confused by some of the job posts. For example, I see someone wanting a ghostwriter for a 30,000 word book and their budget is $20??? Another one says he wants to pay for a writer to create a resume and says he pays top dollar ($$$), but he lists a flat fee of $15.  Am I missing something? 

9 REPLIES 9
martina_plaschka
Community Member


@Steve F wrote:

Hi,

I'm confused by some of the job posts. For example, I see someone wanting a ghostwriter for a 30,000 word book and their budget is $20??? Another one says he wants to pay for a writer to create a resume and says he pays top dollar ($$$), but he lists a flat fee of $15.  Am I missing something? 


 Steve, you initial confusion is understandable. In time, it will be replaced by a level of acceptance, interrupted briefly by crying in a corner. 

These people are serious. They don't pay more. Skip them and concentrate on better paying clients. (Brush up your profile, too, it is too sparse now.)

Thanks for the response. That's what I was afraid of. Just got a note from a guy who says his budget for writing articles is $15. But he can get me a lot of work!!! So, I guess if I write 100 articles for him, I might be able to almost pay the mortgage next month.


@Steve F wrote:
Thanks for the response. That's what I was afraid of. Just got a note from a guy who says his budget for writing articles is $15. But he can get me a lot of work!!! So, I guess if I write 100 articles for him, I might be able to almost pay the mortgage next month.

 That is also a pattern. Clients with extra-low budgets offer much work in the future! Question is, who wants to work on lots of projects at these low rates? As if sheer volume makes you work faster, or what?

In the coffee break section you will find a thread "crazy job postings." Feel free to add your choicest finding there...

Yes, they are serious. I got a job of $75 for creating an app. But the app has taken more than 3 months. And in other project, where I thought that the work was worth $100 USD, each day the client comes with a problem, he does not have so mucho computing activities, but my monthly expenses get past, and I cannot concentrate in more projects.

petra_r
Community Member


@Steve F wrote:

Hi,

I'm confused by some of the job posts. For example, I see someone wanting a ghostwriter for a 30,000 word book and their budget is $20??? Another one says he wants to pay for a writer to create a resume and says he pays top dollar ($$$), but he lists a flat fee of $15.  Am I missing something? 


 Not sure what is confusing.

Clearly different people have different ideas what something should cost.

Some have no idea and just put in a placeholder number.

Some really do want to pay that little, and will usually find someone to want to do it for that.

 

That said, you are free to apply at your own price or just move on.

 

@Martina P wrote:

 Steve, you initial confusion is understandable. In time, it will be replaced by a level of acceptance, interrupted briefly by crying in a corner. 

These people are serious. They don't pay more. Skip them and concentrate on better paying clients. (Brush up your profile, too, it is too sparse now.)

 Some are serious, some are not. If I am really interested in something I apply, at my price, ignoring the budget totally.

Crying in corners is entirely pointless, it just wastes perfectly good time that can be used better elsewhere.

pponso
Community Member

According to me, the seller, when posting a job. Always write a budget, but he is open to high bidders.

 

Sometimes, you will see a buyer ready to pay $40/hr, but he never gets back and sometimes, you will see that a person with $50 budget with $$ or $$$ or even $, comes back to you in not time, even if you have bidded for $500.

 

Because some people are really curious, what they are gonna get for the price and some do value your skills...

 

So, never miss a bid, if you think, you would love to do this work, just bid according to your level, regardless of the budget.

 

I'm not sure, if this is something helpful, but, have tried this once(Client's budget was $150, My bid: $500), had received the enquiry, but could not do the conversion, because client's card was not working (she said this)...

 

Goodluck!

kfarnell
Community Member

A lot of people (even if their listed budget is actually a budget rather than a placeholder) can be persuaded to accept a higher quote.  Much higher. I recently made $1200 on a project that was listed for $250. There were low bids from people who presumably assumed they had to comply with what was listed. Their loss.

petra_r
Community Member


@Kim F wrote:

A lot of people (even if their listed budget is actually a budget rather than a placeholder) can be persuaded to accept a higher quote.  Much higher. I recently made $1200 on a project that was listed for $250. There were low bids from people who presumably assumed they had to comply with what was listed. Their loss.


 Just under 8 x budget is my record to date (NOT including "placeholder" budgets)

 

Thanks, Kim!
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