bugtype: Can somebody please tell business people that a freelancer's rates are their rates and that trying to haggle just makes you look like a cheap and difficult client

Can somebody please tell business people that a freelancer's rates are their rates and that trying to haggle just makes you look like a cheap and difficult client

What does that extra $20 you're trying to save really get you because now you seem too difficult to work with and need to start the onboarding process all over again with someone else. If you're going to be difficult right from the start then I already know you're going to scope creep later on

You also already know they’re going to delay paying forever.

Oh yeah definitely. That ones the worst

When I was managing I always made sure AP paid the free lancers first, small businesses next, then large businesses. Coro policy was 60 days. I managed to get that to 30 because we’d sure never put up with being paid late. A multibillion Corp should never be dragging its feet on payment.

This absolutely rules. It's wild how differently writers are treated compared to other services providers. It's great that you helped equalize things

There are advantages to being stubborn and having supportive bosses.

It's a shit test: it selects for people willing to accept their bullshit. (And it works both ways, so yeah, hard pass.)

normalize nonrefundable upfront fees like tattoo shops so they can avoid exactly this

I hear some writers do this! Most of us aren't as in-demand as good tattoo artists though haha

yeah I wish it could be enforced industry wide so yall don't have to worry about it lol

When I was younger I got a gig designing little character balls for a game. They wanted me to do 50 and I told them my rate was X per hour. It wasn't a lot but since they were poor communicators and wanted endless revisions it piled up. So they asked me to fix the rate to X per ball.

So I took the remaining balls left and calculated the time I'd spent on the others and figured out the fair price. X for each ball and three free edits per one. They then tried to use the free edits not used on some designs for others. I didn't calculate my prices out that way and told them no.

Anyway I got done with that project and was so glad that I never had to talk to any of them again. And as far as I understand their game never released and their "game studio" shut down shortly thereafter. Good riddance to bad clients.

That sounds like such a headache but I'm glad you made it through! It's never just one thing with a client like that

But that’s the norm right? No changing that.

Is it though? I don't know any freelance writers who haggle. Published rates are the norm. Maybe it's normal for other industries.

I really don’t know apart from stories I have heard of waiting for the check.

Also freelancer rates cover their taxes and own health care, and even with that it still tends to be ridiculously cheap over hiring someone with the skills full time.

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