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Poll: How do you respond to a query that asks for your "best rate"? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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| I calculate, and give my fee | Jul 17, 2019 |
... which is based on my regular rate. If no text for translation has been submitted, I ask them to submit it, because I cannot invent anything out of thin air.
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Kay Denney 
France
Local time: 18:24
French to English
I quote my best high rate. After all if they're going to negotiate, it'll only go down from wherever I start. Funnily enough, I very rarely hear back.
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"best rate" seems to be an industry code for "we are not interested in quality, the lowest bidder will get the job no matter what". That means that the query obviously is directed at the amateur market.
Or has anyone ever got a job at professional rates from a "best rate" query?
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I quote my best high rate. After all, that's what they asked for, isn't it? The question annoys me so much that I've starting quoting USD 0.20 a word. That's what inspired me to post this question. Obviously, they don't get back to me.
It occurs to me that this could be a way to promote better rates.
[Edited at 2019-07-17 09:05 GMT]
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| I give them my best rate (for me) | Jul 17, 2019 |
I usually ignore this kind of emails, but if I'm in the mood to respond, then I usually send them my best rate, and since they don't usually specify if it's the best rate for them or for me, I give them the best rate for me, so my highest rate.
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Three possibilities: 1. I quote my regular rate, if I’m interested in working with that specific client and the email is addressed to me personally; 2. I quote my higher rate, if I’m just annoyed by the question (though I admit that sometimes the client doesn’t realize that it could be ill-received); 3. I just ignore it!
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Kay-Viktor Stegemann wrote:
"best rate" seems to be an industry code for "we are not interested in quality, the lowest bidder will get the job no matter what". That means that the query obviously is directed at the amateur market.
My thoughts exactly. I might check out the agency and send a quote if there's a possibility they might send work. However, the scenario that Kay-Viktor proposes is a lot more probable, meaning I'm unlikely to bother.
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| My rate is my rate | Jul 17, 2019 |
I have agencies from countries where the cost of life is not as high as in North America ask me for my best rate. I tell them I don't give discounts. Agency rates are already low as it is and I should lower that? Work multiple hours for peanuts? No thanks. I'd make more money on welfare.
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 18:24
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| I don't take everything literally | Jul 17, 2019 |
Muriel Vasconcellos wrote:
How do you respond to a query that asks for your "best rate"?
When an e-mail says "Kind regards" or "Sincerely" at the bottom, I don't believe for a second that the sender is actually sincere or sending me kind regards. Or when I'm addressed as "Dear Mr. So-and-so", I do not assume that the sender holds me dear. In addition, I always write "please find attached" when I want to alert the recipient to the fact that there is an attachment, without ever actually meaning that I hope the person will search, and then eventually "find" the attachment.
This is just the way we write. Some things are simply fixed expressions that people have learnt to use. The same applies to "best rate". The sender doesn't mean anything untoward by it -- he's just asking for a rate using what he believes is a business-like (and hence polite) way of speaking.
Others have learnt (unfortunately) that using abbreviations create the right kind of impression, hence "ASAP", "TET", "ETA", "TEP", "SOB", "COB", and "EOB" etc. abound in some agencies' mails, but again: one should not take offense. In all likelihood the sender means nothing bad by it. I'd rather judge an agency by their conduct than by the way they write English.
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| Sometimes I ask them about their best deadlines/highest rates (aka "best" from my point of view) | Jul 17, 2019 |
Other times I just give them my regular rate.
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Lincoln Hui
Hong Kong
Local time: 00:24
Member
Chinese to English
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| I don't know | Jul 17, 2019 |
Kay-Viktor Stegemann wrote:
Or has anyone ever got a job at professional rates from a "best rate" query?
I'm reasonably sure my main clients did not communicate with me that way, but I don't know for sure if one of my occasional clients might have used the word in their queries. I wouldn't remember if they did, because it doesn't register to me as anything important. I submit my rate, and either things work out or they don't.
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When the agency asks for the best rate, I put my regular rate.
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Chié_JP
Japan
Local time: 01:24
Member (2013)
English to Japanese
+ ...
I am more wary of extra unpaid job they ask for after translation done (with no budget for best rate).
Decent agencies with decent price will never do wrong behaviours so this is a red flag. If they have special conditions I am open to negotiation, but in general it only means they do not have much room in their heart for doing great job for END client.
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