| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Asking for lower membership fee without access to job board Thread poster: Bernhard Sulzer
|
|---|
I am willing to try out a form of Proz.com membership, if offered, that will list my services with all other paying members as a result of prospective client searches for a translator. In other words, include me in the pool with all other paying members.
Currently, all paying members are listed before me.
I'm not interested in access to the job board.
Unless significant restrictions are put into place preventing offers that pay so little they are unacceptable t... See more I am willing to try out a form of Proz.com membership, if offered, that will list my services with all other paying members as a result of prospective client searches for a translator. In other words, include me in the pool with all other paying members.
Currently, all paying members are listed before me.
I'm not interested in access to the job board.
Unless significant restrictions are put into place preventing offers that pay so little they are unacceptable to me.
I would suggest this fee to be much less than the current full membership fee.
I have contributed to this site over many years through KudoZ answers and many forum posts. That should also count for something IMHO.
I know Proz.com states they don't get involved with fees that are negotiated between provider and client. Some will argue they are, indirectly. That's fine. I just am not interested in seeing the offers on the job board. That might change if improvements are made.
I'd appreciate staff to weigh in here.. And my colleagues' opinions are appreciated.
[Edited at 2023-12-19 15:32 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | |
Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
I am willing to try out a form of Proz.com membership, if offered, that will list my services with all other paying members as a result of prospective client searches for a translator. In other words, include me in the pool with all other paying members.
Currently, all paying members are listed before me.
I'm not interested in access to the job board.
Unless significant restrictions are put into place preventing offers that pay so little they are unacceptable to me.
I would suggest this fee to be much less than the current full membership fee.
I have contributed to this site over many years through KudoZ answers and many forum posts. That should also count for something IMHO.
I know Proz.com states they don't get involved with fees that are negotiated between provider and client. Some will argue they are, indirectly. That's fine. I just am not interested in seeing the offers on the job board. That might change if improvements are made.
I'd appreciate staff to weigh in here.. And my colleagues' opinions are appreciated.
[Edited at 2023-12-19 15:32 GMT]
Once upon a time you could buy a partial membership. (for jobs only or for forums only). It has been abolished, so not sure if the site is willing to reinstate it.
You can read this 2007 thread https://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_membership/83195-full_partial_membership_whats_your_experience.html
[Edited at 2023-12-19 15:37 GMT]
| | | | | Proz used to have at least 3 levels of paid membership | Dec 19, 2023 |
Sadly the two less expensive options were terminated without warning. That happened just as I was about to renew my paid partial-membership, which is when/why I stopped paying altogether. It would have meant paying 2x the annual fee, with an option of paying even more for the super-member version.
I paid for over 15 years. For what? Even the thousands of browniz I had accumulated turned to dust.
Pay to play seems to be the Proz motto. If people think that paying equates to being a q... See more Sadly the two less expensive options were terminated without warning. That happened just as I was about to renew my paid partial-membership, which is when/why I stopped paying altogether. It would have meant paying 2x the annual fee, with an option of paying even more for the super-member version.
I paid for over 15 years. For what? Even the thousands of browniz I had accumulated turned to dust.
Pay to play seems to be the Proz motto. If people think that paying equates to being a qualified, professional translator, then so be it. Today's world.
So isses ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 16:11
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
I don't use the job board. I suspect few people use it.
If we were to could assign relative values to the various things that ProZ.com offers and calculate the portion of the membership fee that pays for them, then I speculate omitting access to the job board would shave perhaps 5% off of the membership fee.
I estimate being listed in the platinum section of the directory would be worth 75% of the fee... and that is what you're trying to get, right? You want to ge... See more I don't use the job board. I suspect few people use it.
If we were to could assign relative values to the various things that ProZ.com offers and calculate the portion of the membership fee that pays for them, then I speculate omitting access to the job board would shave perhaps 5% off of the membership fee.
I estimate being listed in the platinum section of the directory would be worth 75% of the fee... and that is what you're trying to get, right? You want to get listed in the platinum section.
That said, there's a reason why online service do not allow their members to cherry pick what features they want, for a reduced price, and that reason is cross-subsidization. Less popular sections of the site are propped up by the membership fees paid by people who pay for the more popular sections. This is a solid business model that allows for a variety of sections to exist, despite them not all being equally valuable in terms of money or valuable in terms of popularity.
writeaway wrote:
I paid for over 15 years. For what?
You paid for the services that you had access to, even if you didn't use them all.
The Browniz system was an attempt from the early days of ProZ.com to encourage users to participate in the site more actively. Once ProZ.com reached critical mass, there would have been less of a need to artificially boost user participation beyond that which users of such a site would otherwise have done.
[Edited at 2023-12-19 15:59 GMT]
Angie Garbarino wrote:
Once upon a time you could buy a partial membership (for jobs only or for forums only).
I do know that there used to be a system where bronze members could buy credits that gave them temporary access to certain platinum benefits, and in some cases users were also able to use their collected Browniz points for that. I'm not sure how often people made use of this.
The Wayback Machine gives some insight.
https://web.archive.org/web/20001022101303/http://proz.com/info_prem.php3
https://web.archive.org/web/20020603235641/http://www.proz.com/?sp=faq#membership_browniz
From 2000 to around 2003, there was "platinum" membership and "premium" membership, with two different sets of benefits. The price of both of these doubled within the first year of ProZ.com's existence. At that time, you could pay up to half of your platinum membership with BrowniZ points.
https://web.archive.org/web/20051124145725/http://www.proz.com/faq/membership#plat_what
After a while, "premium" was dropped but then "partial platinum" was available for a while. By 2005 there was the option to have "partial platinum" membership for about a 30% discount. By around 2007, the term "platinum" was dropped (wow... that long ago!) and ProZ.com started distinguishing between "site users" (non-paying members) and "site members" (paying members), and there was just one paid membership category.
In 2016, the "Plus" membership category was introduced, which was more expensive than the regular membership, in exchange for some additional benefits.
[Edited at 2023-12-19 16:18 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
Bernhard Sulzer
United States
Local time: 10:11
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Let Proz.com make an offer | Dec 19, 2023 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
I don't use the job board. I suspect few people use it.
If we were to could assign relative values to the various things that ProZ.com offers and calculate the portion of the membership fee that pays for them, then I speculate omitting access to the job board would shave perhaps 5% off of the membership fee.
5% off? No thanks.
I'm a professional translator. I expect professional services. I'll pay for what I consider professional.
Let Proz.com make me an offer.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:11
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Bernhard Sulzer wrote: Samuel Murray wrote:
If we were to could assign relative values to the various things that ProZ.com offers and calculate the portion of the membership fee that pays for them... I'm a professional translator. I expect professional services. I'll pay for what I consider professional.
If we assume that my estimate that the platinum section of the directory is worth 75% of the membership fee, would you consider paying 75% of USD 120 i.e. USD 90?
If I could get platinum directory access for just USD 90, I'd probably go for it. But that's exactly the point, isn't it? If ProZ.com were to offer a user a cheaper rate in exchange for removing access to sections of the site that the particular user don't use anyway, then most people will simply opt for the cheaper rate. Instead, you should look at it this way: for you, platinum directory access is worth 100%, so you should be willing to pay 100% for it.
| | | |
Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
I'm a professional translator. I expect professional services. I'll pay for what I consider professional.
Let Proz.com make me an offer.
What makes you so special that they would do that?
It's only $120 a year. One job and it's paid off.
| | | | Bernhard Sulzer
United States
Local time: 10:11
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Christopher Schröder wrote: Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
I'm a professional translator. I expect professional services. I'll pay for what I consider professional.
Let Proz.com make me an offer.
What makes you so special that they would do that? It's only $120 a year. One job and it's paid off.
I'm not more special, but I'm not paying for something I don't use or that doesn't produce any results for me.
I actually paid for quite a few years. And as writeaway mentions, there used to be several levels of paid membership.
Also, it's our profiles that Proz.com offers to prospective clients. We then have to convince the prospective client to actually use our services. But without the information we provide in our profiles, Proz.com wouldn't exist and couldn't charge for the services. And this isn't the only expense I consider for marketing my services. I already pay fees to put myself out there. What I'm looking for is something that does something for me on a continuous basis, which is to simply come up in the search by prospective clients within the pool of all paid members.
Make me a reasonable offer.
[Edited at 2023-12-19 17:43 GMT]
| | |
|
|
|
Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:11
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
What I'm looking for is something that does something for me on a continuous basis, which is to simply come up in the search by prospective clients within the pool of all paid members.
If I was the boss at ProZ.com, I would offer you... USD 120. The reason for this is simple: USD 120 will catapult your directory position from page 26 up to page 1 for English-to-German. That is an excellent deal, in my opinion.
Now, if I were to offer you, say, USD 110, then I'll end up with 1200 angry English-to-German translators who do already pay USD 120, asking me what offer I can make THEM that would not cause them to lose their current position in the directory search results. It will become a race to the bottom quickly. Dozens of them might even decide that if anyone can just get the same service for e.g. USD 110 when they're forking out USD 120, then why should they continue to pay at all?
It's true that ProZ.com would not be making any money if translators had not completed their profiles, but I don't see this as translators doing ProZ.com a favour.
| | | | | Either it works or it doesn’t | Dec 20, 2023 |
The trouble is, Bernhard, if you have such faith in your directory ranking bringing in work that it’s worth even $60 to you, it must surely also be worth $120. Either it works or it doesn’t.
I, on the other hand, recently rejoined almost as part of a bet with Henry, and I’ve been offered a total of $20 of work so far.
| | | | Bernhard Sulzer
United States
Local time: 10:11
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Not interested in paying for what I don't use | Dec 20, 2023 |
I appreciate all your input.
But I have stated at the outset my reasons asking for a lower membership fee. I also pointed to the fact that there used to be several different levels of membership. I don't look at something and say well, this particular service works for me, so I'm going to pay for all the other services, especially for services that are not helpful to me at all.
As a matter of fact, paying for a service including the job board is something I just won't do. But... See more I appreciate all your input.
But I have stated at the outset my reasons asking for a lower membership fee. I also pointed to the fact that there used to be several different levels of membership. I don't look at something and say well, this particular service works for me, so I'm going to pay for all the other services, especially for services that are not helpful to me at all.
As a matter of fact, paying for a service including the job board is something I just won't do. But for a reasonable fee, and that is for much less than $120.00, I'd be interested in trying out being part of the searchable database including all other translators who pay for that. Hopefully it turns out it works, bringing in just a few good jobs. A 30-day trial period free of charge would be nice. Maybe it will work for me and maybe it won't. I mean the searchable database.
If other translators want to pay for other services that I'm not interested in, that's their choice.
Christopher Schröder wrote:
The trouble is, Bernhard, if you have such faith in your directory ranking bringing in work that it’s worth even $60 to you, it must surely also be worth $120. Either it works or it doesn’t.
I, on the other hand, recently rejoined almost as part of a bet with Henry, and I’ve been offered a total of $20 of work so far.
[Edited at 2023-12-20 13:24 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Membership fees in the "self-serve" model are already low, and have stayed that way for years | Dec 20, 2023 |
Hello Bernhard,
For those interested in new work, showing up in the first layer of the directories and that greater visibility to potential new clients is the main thing within paying membership, leaving aside for the moment things like the Blue Board and all the rest. Is that worth 120 a year (in the case of the Standard membership)? I think so, and then some. If you get just one new client out of it, with all that entails, it's going to lead to more than 120 USD in work.
<... See more Hello Bernhard,
For those interested in new work, showing up in the first layer of the directories and that greater visibility to potential new clients is the main thing within paying membership, leaving aside for the moment things like the Blue Board and all the rest. Is that worth 120 a year (in the case of the Standard membership)? I think so, and then some. If you get just one new client out of it, with all that entails, it's going to lead to more than 120 USD in work.
ProZ.com membership has always been what we call a "self-serve" model: there are a bunch of services included, and each person gets to use what they want, when they want, and how they want. This is what allows the site to provide as many services as it does, and at the continually low pricing that it has maintained. And it also avoids complex pricing schemes and packaging that would come from offering a separate membership package for the directories, for posted jobs, for the Blue Board, for Invoicing, and so on and so forth. For the people who benefit from those services, they are worth 10 bucks a month, and they are not limited to just one service if they don't want to be.
This self-serve model has changed a bit recently, with the new premium monthly option, which includes everything in the Plus package and also website/hosting and AI, with one-on-one help and consultation from the ProZ.com team, and costs 25 a month. https://go.proz.com/premium
Discounts on the first year of membership are occasionally offered, as an added incentive for those who are not yet members and are on the fence. This is the case now for the Standard and Plus packages, until the end of December. https://www.proz.com/professional-membership
By the way, even though a member may not be interested in the posted jobs in general, the occasional interesting job post does come along and one can just quote on it (and receive greater visibility within the quoting system to the job poster), rather than paying 1 USD each time that happens. ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
Bernhard Sulzer
United States
Local time: 10:11
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Still asking for a special partial membership | Dec 20, 2023 |
Jared Tabor wrote:
Hello Bernhard,
For those interested in new work, showing up in the first layer of the directories and that greater visibility to potential new clients is the main thing within paying membership, leaving aside for the moment things like the Blue Board and all the rest. Is that worth 120 a year (in the case of the Standard membership)? I think so, and then some. If you get just one new client out of it, with all that entails, it's going to lead to more than 120 USD in work.
Thanks for your reply Jared. I can say that over the years I held membership, I was very disturbed by the job board because it gives room to mostly incredibly low job postings. Unacceptable to me. The occasional good job posting, and I've never seen any that weren't on the low end of the fee spectrum, aren't reason enough for me to become a member paying for it. I'm not interested in using it.
If there were mainly good job postings, it would be worth it. I might consider a full membership then. But currently, most job board offers are the complete opposite of what I could accept. The only positive thing I observe is that there are fewer and fewer actual translation jobs on the job board.
I know you offer other services such as Blueboard. Not interested currently. Don't need your invoicing tool. Don't really use KudoZ but helped to build it.
You write "...showing up in the first layer of the directories and that greater visibility to potential new clients is the main thing within paying membership, leaving aside for the moment things like the Blue Board and all the rest."
I'm currently only interested in paying for showing up in the first layer of the directory and the opportunity to publish my information on your site and being able to reply to inquiries.
Please consider a special membership and fee for that. Please consider that it is Proz.com members' information that enables you to have this directory. Your service fees should be seen relative to the number of paying members. Prospective partial members like me still mean more income for your business.
Thanks for your input.
[Edited at 2023-12-20 17:46 GMT]
| | | |
I don't see it going to happen. Technically impossible. Sorry, but on what base should they give you a discount? On your 'ruby blue eyes'? What about people with another colour eyes? (figuratively speaking of course)
Personally I think you are handling this whole topic totally wrong from the beginning. You should have proposed a kind of checklist for example, with all the separate services (each with its own price). Check/tick all the services you want to use, and pay for them.
... See more I don't see it going to happen. Technically impossible. Sorry, but on what base should they give you a discount? On your 'ruby blue eyes'? What about people with another colour eyes? (figuratively speaking of course)
Personally I think you are handling this whole topic totally wrong from the beginning. You should have proposed a kind of checklist for example, with all the separate services (each with its own price). Check/tick all the services you want to use, and pay for them.
Although, I don't see that happening either.
[Edited at 2023-12-20 21:59 GMT]
[Edited at 2023-12-20 22:22 GMT]
[Edited at 2023-12-20 22:23 GMT]
[Edited at 2023-12-21 10:55 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 16:11
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
If you're interested in the services of this website, then pay for it. If you're not, then don't. I agree with Christopher above that 120 dollars a year is not expensive at all.
And if you really think it's a good idea to try to change Proz's business model through a forum, then I would suggest you change your tone of voice, which is rather arrogant. If a potential client would talk to me like this, our conversation would be over after 2 messages.
| | | | | Pages in topic: [1 2] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Asking for lower membership fee without access to job board | Wordfast Pro | Translation Memory Software for Any Platform
Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users!
Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value
Buy now! » |
| | TM-Town | Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business
Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
