Poll: Have your regular clients asked you about reducing rates in the past year?
Autor de la hebra: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
PERSONAL DEL SITIO
Jan 24, 2019

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have your regular clients asked you about reducing rates in the past year?".

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DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ucrania
inglés al ruso
+ ...
It's fancy Jan 24, 2019

I thought it was a direct client privilege, yet most freelancers answered that regular clients don't ask for discounts, so I wonder...

 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
Estados Unidos
Local time: 10:16
Miembro 2003
español al inglés
+ ...
Yes, one has Jan 24, 2019

Several have simply told me that my rates were too high.

[Edited at 2019-01-24 08:34 GMT]


 
EvaVer (X)
EvaVer (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 19:16
checo al francés
+ ...
A few Jan 24, 2019

for specific projects.

 
neilmac
neilmac
España
Local time: 19:16
español al inglés
+ ...
No Jan 24, 2019

That's why they are still "regular". They are happy with the status quo.

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Catherine De Crignis (X)
Christine Andersen
Ricki Farn
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 18:16
Miembro 2007
inglés al portugués
+ ...
No Jan 24, 2019

I can’t remember ever being asked by a regular client to reduce my rates though I’ve been asked occasionally to negotiate my rates for a specific project. Anyway, for my long-standing customers my rates were raised 3/4 years ago and there's no point raising them again for several of them who would very probably stop sending me work, so I intend to continue to serve my existing client base at current prices. Of course, I have been feeling the pressure to lower my rates from some potential cli... See more
I can’t remember ever being asked by a regular client to reduce my rates though I’ve been asked occasionally to negotiate my rates for a specific project. Anyway, for my long-standing customers my rates were raised 3/4 years ago and there's no point raising them again for several of them who would very probably stop sending me work, so I intend to continue to serve my existing client base at current prices. Of course, I have been feeling the pressure to lower my rates from some potential clients: that’s why I now prefer to quote on a per-project basis rather than a per-word basis.Collapse


 
Dmitry Novikov
Dmitry Novikov  Identity Verified
Local time: 21:16
Miembro 2012
francés al ruso
+ ...
Other Jan 24, 2019

On the contrary, one client offered me an increase

 
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Dinamarca
Local time: 19:16
Miembro 2012
inglés al danés
+ ...
Yes one or two Jan 24, 2019

and then they got fired.

Ricki Farn
 
Alexandra Speirs
Alexandra Speirs  Identity Verified
Local time: 19:16
italiano al inglés
+ ...
Nope Jan 24, 2019

They wouldn't dare ....

Chris Says Bye
 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Dinamarca
Local time: 19:16
Miembro 2003
danés al inglés
+ ...
Precisely what I was going to say Jan 24, 2019

neilmac wrote:

That's why they are still "regular". They are happy with the status quo.


I have negotiated with a new client this month. I quoted my top rate, and they quoted a rate they say they registered for me some years ago, which they asked me to confirm. I do not remember ever working for them.
We came to an agreement at a rate I can live with if they come back again.


 
Ricki Farn
Ricki Farn
Alemania
Local time: 19:16
inglés al alemán
No, not in the past year Jan 24, 2019

.... and those would be ex-clients.

One tried to impose (not ask for) a reduction in the summer of 2015.

And a more insidious one, also around the same time, simply started turning on "internal fuzzies" ("homogeneity") in the wordcount WITHOUT TELLING ME and thought I would not notice it. When I mentioned it, they said they were re-outsourcing and couldn't influence the parameters set by their primary outsourcer. Dude, way to see my tail feathers.

However,
... See more
.... and those would be ex-clients.

One tried to impose (not ask for) a reduction in the summer of 2015.

And a more insidious one, also around the same time, simply started turning on "internal fuzzies" ("homogeneity") in the wordcount WITHOUT TELLING ME and thought I would not notice it. When I mentioned it, they said they were re-outsourcing and couldn't influence the parameters set by their primary outsourcer. Dude, way to see my tail feathers.

However, we basically have to count everyone who is not willing to follow inflation, as "lowering rates", and somehow there is no widespread awareness about this among translators. I see a lot of (Germany-based) translators working for what was the going rate when the Euro was first introduced.

[Edited at 2019-01-24 13:44 GMT]
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Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:16
alemán al inglés
+ ...
Never Jan 25, 2019

I have been translating for several decades. The possibility didn't even occur to me.

 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brasil
Local time: 14:16
Miembro 2014
inglés al portugués
+ ...
Two, actually Jan 28, 2019

One client, after three years without any readjustment, sent an e-mail to all translators with a chart stating the rates for repetitions and fuzzies, and stating that the chart would apply to all translations thereafter. They never heard of me again, of course.
Another client, my client since 2014, sent several jobs at a lower rate than agreed or considering discounts for repetitions, also not agreed upon in advance. Since this is a very regular client, and this applied only to a few jobs
... See more
One client, after three years without any readjustment, sent an e-mail to all translators with a chart stating the rates for repetitions and fuzzies, and stating that the chart would apply to all translations thereafter. They never heard of me again, of course.
Another client, my client since 2014, sent several jobs at a lower rate than agreed or considering discounts for repetitions, also not agreed upon in advance. Since this is a very regular client, and this applied only to a few jobs (10% of the total during the year), I accepted it. Hope it doesn't become a standard, or it will be one more ex-client.
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Poll: Have your regular clients asked you about reducing rates in the past year?






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