Poll: Have any of your regular clients asked you to reduce your rates this year?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Jul 21, 2018

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have any of your regular clients asked you to reduce your rates this year?".

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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:24
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No Jul 21, 2018

I can’t remember ever being asked by a regular client to reduce my rates. I’ve been asked occasionally to negotiate my rates for a specific project. Anyway, for my "regulars" my rates were raised 2/3 years ago and I intend to continue to serve my existing client base at current prices since they are above average. For new clients I prefer to quote on a per-project basis rather than a per-word basis.

 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 15:24
Spanish to English
+ ...
No Jul 21, 2018

I've actually had to raise my rates this year for universities and similar institutions, as the non-privates have rolled out a new accounting system whereby authors wanting their research translations and corrections funded need to ask for an estimate beforehand. The added admin tasks involved meant I had to up my basic rate by 20%. The funny thing it doesn't seem to bother them that they are now paying more, as long as you jump through the hoops.

 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
No Jul 21, 2018

If they did, they would not be a regular client but an ex-client.



[Edited at 2018-07-21 14:33 GMT]


Michael Harris
 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 15:24
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
One of my clients raised the rate Jul 21, 2018

My rates vary, depending on the kind of job. I do not charge the same for straightforward opening hours and tourist descriptions as I do for legal or medical work that has to be researched and checked, or for the research papers that some museums also produce...

However, one of my clients actually raised the rate for a job a few weeks ago. I negotiate with him according to the type of job, and he set the rate up! (Perhaps at that point he had read the text more closely than I had.)
... See more
My rates vary, depending on the kind of job. I do not charge the same for straightforward opening hours and tourist descriptions as I do for legal or medical work that has to be researched and checked, or for the research papers that some museums also produce...

However, one of my clients actually raised the rate for a job a few weeks ago. I negotiate with him according to the type of job, and he set the rate up! (Perhaps at that point he had read the text more closely than I had.)

I only reduce my rates for exceptionally good reasons - like a one-off job for a non-profit organisation I am happy to support. Otherwise business is business, and nobody else's prices seem to be going down!
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Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 11:24
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Regularly, but indirectly Jul 21, 2018

Clients have been trying to lower rates regularly since GT and CATs were invented. They usually don't say it directly, but things like discounts for repetitions, post-editing and paid online/cloud platforms are precisely rate reductions, unless you are blind and didn't notice it. So I've been refusing all these practices for quite a while. And I have dismissed several clients who insisted on them or directly wanted to lower my rates. Got fish for the peanuts!

 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:24
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Not this year Jul 22, 2018

But I had numerous requests in 2016 and 2017.

 


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Poll: Have any of your regular clients asked you to reduce your rates this year?






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