| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: Do you charge different rates for different clients? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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From this year of 2014 I have fixed my rates - incl. a min. charge - and believe me, it saves me a lot of time and hassle.
| | | | | If you were a producer | Jun 1, 2014 |
Maxi Schwarz wrote:
I charge the same for end clients and agencies, because I do the same work.
I think it is good to be fair, but also consider all the elements of what you are doing.
would you charge the same to your end customers and your gross dealers? This would not be very wise, as it wouldn't be fair at all towards your gross dealers (= translation agencies in our case). Think about it!
N.B. I'm not an agency.
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My rate will change depending on the project, format, when it's due, how much time I spend filling out forms/website profiles, etc... I do charge a little extra for clients that pay in Euros, since the exchange fees eat some of my profit.
| | | | | Yes, they are highly variable | Jun 1, 2014 |
To begin with, my main clients are international organizations, and their rates are predetermined using by their own internal mechanisms. They pay more than most markets, I haven't recently explored the rationale behind their rates.
Within the international organization market, I am allowed to charge extra for rush work, for research, and for complex formatting. Sometimes it's billed as an extra charge, sometimes as an hourly fee, and sometimes they increase the "word count." Some a... See more To begin with, my main clients are international organizations, and their rates are predetermined using by their own internal mechanisms. They pay more than most markets, I haven't recently explored the rationale behind their rates.
Within the international organization market, I am allowed to charge extra for rush work, for research, and for complex formatting. Sometimes it's billed as an extra charge, sometimes as an hourly fee, and sometimes they increase the "word count." Some agencies make these adjustments as well.
There are some agencies that I really like to work for, and my rates are consistent, but 3 to 6 cents lower than the rates for international organizations. Many agencies that contact me think these lower rates are still too high, but I rarely reduce them further because my plate is already full.
I NEVER reduce my rate for Trados matches, clear or fuzzy. I tried that, and I discovered that the same word is often translated differently depending on the context. Our work is about capturing the meaning of a sentence, not the individual words.
Note: It ticks me off when agencies propose a lower rate for a large volume. For me, the work is the same, so why should I reduce my rate just because a few words and phrases are repeated? Again: it's about capturing the meaning of whole sentences, and usually each sentence is different.
If whole sentences are supposed to be repeated in a text, that's just a lucky break that makes up for some of the blood, sweat, and tears that we shed. ▲ Collapse
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| Subjective accommodation is not ethical, that's all | Jun 1, 2014 |
Christel Zipfel wrote:
charge to your Swiss customers what you charge in Moldova, thus contributing to ruin still more the market?
Of course, it depends on the yardstick you apply; I don't think the other way round your customers can afford the Swiss rates...
[Bearbeitet am 2014-06-01 15:27 GMT]
The yardstick is myself, my cost of living is the same wherever my clients live... That's why I said I don't discriminate my rates based on clients, but on services and absolute circumstances... Seemingly people have not understood the question like me because 90% of them answered yes... Would you find it ethical from your hairdresser if she charged you 20% more than someone else, in the exact same circumstances, just because she knows you are wealthier or she just "feels like it"? I doubt... To me it's a matter of personal integrity.
Muriel Vasconcellos wrote:
Note: It ticks me off when agencies propose a lower rate for a large volume. For me, the work is the same, so why should I reduce my rate just because a few words and phrases are repeated?
Because of something we call economies of scale. I guess you don't know what it means to have to translate a myriad of tiny projects everyday, having to make sense of new topics each time and spend a lot of time handling files and doing unpaid extra tasks...
| | | | | Ambiguous poll question, as usual | Jun 2, 2014 |
I answered 'No' and was surprised to see I was in the minority.
The way I understand it, if your fees depend on text complexity / text type, you should NOT answer 'Yes' automatically. That has nothing to do with the question as stated. It's whether you genuinely offer different rates to different clients depending on who they are, where they are from and possibly what your working relationship is like.
[Edited at 2014-06-02 06:52 GMT]
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