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Poll: What rate do you most often use with new clients? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What rate do you most often use with new clients?".
This poll was originally submitted by Doan Quang. View the poll results »
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High end of my standard rate band.
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| The same price as usual | Nov 18, 2015 |
I charge all customers as much as I think I can get away with.
No way on Earth would I offer a cheaper price to lure new customers in, as they'll just expect that price forever.
Agencies are getting pretty tight these days and few can stomach my rates, but direct customers are more reasonable about paying a professional rate for a professional service.
This morning I was asked to do a job of 11 words. It seems that most people here would have done it for f... See more I charge all customers as much as I think I can get away with.
No way on Earth would I offer a cheaper price to lure new customers in, as they'll just expect that price forever.
Agencies are getting pretty tight these days and few can stomach my rates, but direct customers are more reasonable about paying a professional rate for a professional service.
This morning I was asked to do a job of 11 words. It seems that most people here would have done it for free. I charged them our full minimum fee. Mercenary? No, they were just delighted I could squeeze the job in.
I think it pays to be firm. We're not market traders. ▲ Collapse
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 05:30
Spanish to English
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Normally, I will offer them my usual standard rate for normal, doable texts. However, if I am very busy or don't really fancy the work for some reason, I might occasionally ask for a higher rate as a deterrent. Then, if the prospect accepts the higher rate, it's a bonus.
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| Standard rate | Nov 18, 2015 |
unless the client insists on paying more - which is extremely rare
Regularly I find myself explaining that for a freelance translator there is absolutely no logic in offering discounts for 'prospective long-term collaboration' or large quantities of work.
Also, if we start to offer discounts like that it will undermine the whole market.
Some agencies just don't get that.
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Julian Holmes 
Japan
Local time: 12:30
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
Chris S wrote:
I charge all customers as much as I think I can get away with.
I'm all for the ever upward earnings spiral. I want to at least maintain my earnings or improve them, preferably exponentially, while doing less work.
As for offering a standard or slightly cheaper price - it just may be acceptable if content is that much easier and the customer pays cash on delivery to an offshore account no questions asked. 
In today's market where a lot of J>E translation is farmed out to Chindia, I do not want to end up relegated to New Delhi sweatshop status in spite of my 30+ years of experience and expertise.
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Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 05:30
Member (2009)
English to German
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| Standard rate | Nov 18, 2015 |
Yetta J Bogarde wrote: unless the client insists on paying more - which is extremely rare Regularly I find myself explaining that for a freelance translator there is absolutely no logic in offering discounts for 'prospective long-term collaboration' or large quantities of work. Also, if we start to offer discounts like that it will undermine the whole market. Some agencies just don't get that.
There is no reason to lower my price for new clients, especially not for a possibly long-term collaboration which can easily turn into a one-time project. There might be a chance to do a sentence for free after years and many, many projects for a loyal and good customer. But even this is solely at my descretion. Far too many discounts are already being dictated by some agencies, so why offer them?
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Regularly I find myself explaining that for a freelance translator there is absolutely no logic in offering discounts for 'prospective long-term collaboration' or large quantities of work.
Also, if we start to offer discounts like that it will undermine the whole market.
Some agencies just don't get that.
^ this. Unfortunately (apparently) a lot of translators out there *do* offer those discounts or agree to them, and it's destroying the market for all of us.
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I don’t have a standard rate per se (I do have a minimum rate that I will never go below): it depends on the language combination, the subject matter and other practical circumstances…
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EvaVer (X)
Local time: 05:30
Czech to French
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| Depends, yes, | Nov 18, 2015 |
but mostly higher - I have enough work and am only interested in new clients if they represent an improvement.
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Yaotl Altan
Mexico
Local time: 21:30
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
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The same rate, because I suppoe they have the same high quality.
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| As much as I can get away with | Nov 18, 2015 |
Which means - the higher end of my standard rate in most cases. Saves me a lot of time bickering with low-ballers, and ensurs that my rate average increases over time (if economic fundamentals remain the same)
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Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 23:30
English to Spanish
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| The old bait and switch | Nov 19, 2015 |
Thayenga wrote: Yetta J Bogarde wrote: unless the client insists on paying more - which is extremely rare Regularly I find myself explaining that for a freelance translator there is absolutely no logic in offering discounts for 'prospective long-term collaboration' or large quantities of work. Also, if we start to offer discounts like that it will undermine the whole market. Some agencies just don't get that. There is no reason to lower my price for new clients, especially not for a possibly long-term collaboration which can easily turn into a one-time project. There might be a chance to do a sentence for free after years and many, many projects for a loyal and good customer. But even this is solely at my descretion. Far too many discounts are already being dictated by some agencies, so why offer them?
I was approached by a translation company via LinkedIn this week. They said they were looking for new translators for their pharma/clinical trials. They approached me with a very professional email and everything seemed to check out. That is, until I sent them my rates.
They replied that they couldn't offer more than $0.10/new or no-match word. I offered a $0.13 compromise, but they didn't take it.
They didn't promise a steady run of projects nor some long-term relationship. I would be surprised if they (the agency) isn't insourcing work from a larger, more specialized translation company or outfit.
That's one of the reasons I prefer to negotiate rates on a case by case basis, because only a human being can gauge all those factors that play an essential part in starting a business relationship with a client. You can't trust an auction website (cough, cough) or a bot to do that for you.
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Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 23:30
English to Spanish
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| The downward price pressure | Nov 19, 2015 |
Catherine Pawlick wrote: Regularly I find myself explaining that for a freelance translator there is absolutely no logic in offering discounts for 'prospective long-term collaboration' or large quantities of work.
Also, if we start to offer discounts like that it will undermine the whole market.
Some agencies just don't get that. ^ this. Unfortunately (apparently) a lot of translators out there *do* offer those discounts or agree to them, and it's destroying the market for all of us.
On occasion I've thought: are translation agencies lacking a backbone? Can't they stand firm and tell their clients Sorry, but we hire highly educated and experienced professional translators, so we cannot agree to field your project with your budget. But you can always go to Fiverr, Translatorscafe, Mechanical Turk or similar websites.
[Edited at 2015-11-19 00:16 GMT]
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