Has anyone ever had an agency tell them they weren't charging enough? Thread poster: Jack Doughty
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Jack Doughty 
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:01
Russian to English
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In memoriam
Was asked yesterday to do a proofreading job at a per page rate. I quoted for it and the project manager replied that she thought I wasn't charging enough, the rate should be one euro per page higher. So I followed her advice!
[Edited at 2014-10-28 17:14 GMT]
| | | | Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 10:01
Member (2009)
English to German
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Of course you did, Jack. You sure have a nice PM who knows what your work is worth.
This only happened to me twice. The first time, several years ago, I was asked to translate a webite. Upon receiving my quote, the PM wrote something like this, thank you for your quote. How about if we pay you XX Euros instead? Since she added nearly 35% there was no way I could have declined. ... See more Of course you did, Jack. You sure have a nice PM who knows what your work is worth.
This only happened to me twice. The first time, several years ago, I was asked to translate a webite. Upon receiving my quote, the PM wrote something like this, thank you for your quote. How about if we pay you XX Euros instead? Since she added nearly 35% there was no way I could have declined.
The second time, about 2 years ago, I had quoted EUR 1.50 per line (between 4 to maximum of 6 words per line), and was told that they'd gladly pay me EUR 2.00 per line since this was creative work and should be paid accordingly.
Since then I have only been told that my rates were too high. Sigh. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 04:01
Spanish to English
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| Twice for me as well | Oct 28, 2014 |
Once about 16 years ago, I was charging an agency 0.09 a word and they told me that they pay most of their other translators 0.12 a word and that I could raise my rate "if I wanted to".
The second time was a few years ago when a different agency told me that most of their translators charged them an extra fee to translate PDFs as well as an additional fee for formatting, creating tables, etc. and suggested that it wo... See more Once about 16 years ago, I was charging an agency 0.09 a word and they told me that they pay most of their other translators 0.12 a word and that I could raise my rate "if I wanted to".
The second time was a few years ago when a different agency told me that most of their translators charged them an extra fee to translate PDFs as well as an additional fee for formatting, creating tables, etc. and suggested that it would be alright with them if I wanted to do the same. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 10:01
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| My first international job | Oct 28, 2014 |
On my first job for a non-local agency, I quote a generous amount that was "fair" in my own country at the time, and the PM told me that it's very little in their country, so she quadrupled it for me. That was my introduction to the fact that clients from other countries can be charged rates that are fair in those countries instead of one's own country.
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for months and months I had been told I asked far too much, so eventually for a new agency I reduced my rate a little bit - just to see what would happen - and was offered my normal rate instead. This agency is still my favourite one after many years, very nice people and excellent collaboration!
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The first time was very similar to Samuel's experience.
I quote "double" the price that was "fair" in my town. The PM responded they would love to pay more, so they doubled the amount! My quote was in USD. They paid in Euros. This was about 8 years ago when trading USD to EUR would triple your money! In the end, my rate was quadrupled!
This was also one of my first assignments for an international agency. The project took several months of hard work, but receiving that nice ch... See more The first time was very similar to Samuel's experience.
I quote "double" the price that was "fair" in my town. The PM responded they would love to pay more, so they doubled the amount! My quote was in USD. They paid in Euros. This was about 8 years ago when trading USD to EUR would triple your money! In the end, my rate was quadrupled!
This was also one of my first assignments for an international agency. The project took several months of hard work, but receiving that nice check at the end of the month made it all so worth!
Unfortunately this agency was sold a few years ago, and their nice 5 points in the Blue Board have eventually turned into a 1.
The second time the client (direct client, this time) basically ignored my rate and decided to pay double. I still work for them after several years! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 14:31
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
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SITE LOCALIZER
Quite an interesting question, and interestingly, this has happened to me - once, some ten years ago.
I was once approached by a (gentleman) client to do a translation for a large multinational American firm. It was in the nature of a testing the waters type of job, a small document, for which I charged my minimum rate.
The client soon got back to me and told me to go over the translation once again as he wanted it to impress his American client from whom he expected to... See more Quite an interesting question, and interestingly, this has happened to me - once, some ten years ago.
I was once approached by a (gentleman) client to do a translation for a large multinational American firm. It was in the nature of a testing the waters type of job, a small document, for which I charged my minimum rate.
The client soon got back to me and told me to go over the translation once again as he wanted it to impress his American client from whom he expected to get a steady flow of work based on this translation. He even suggested that I could charge more if required.
I declined to charge more, as I felt that my rate was reasonable enough, but revisited the translation once again and resend to him.
I have been working with this client since then. He did manage to get the contract from the American and I continue to handle the Hindi portion of this multilingual translation job. Needless to say, this client continues to be my best and most cherished client. ▲ Collapse
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Never was that lucky, most of them are trying to beat my prices down, but thanks to you all, I now know miracles still do exist. I am a believer again.
[Edited at 2014-10-29 21:59 GMT]
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I certainly envy all of you. I've only been asked if I could come down with my writes. And when I quote my minimum, I hear crickets.
| | | | | Once a few months ago | Nov 5, 2014 |
I set my rate at the average level. When a client called to ask about my availability and rate, I doubled it because I thought for such a field and for I haven't seen the text but to my suprise, they said it was still on the low end. She is indeed a nice PM but too bad I couldn't work for them. I mostly hear agencies telling me my rate is a bit high and try to down it. Somes with the bidding system try to down it to 1/3 the rate because there are translators who are new and dont do much research... See more I set my rate at the average level. When a client called to ask about my availability and rate, I doubled it because I thought for such a field and for I haven't seen the text but to my suprise, they said it was still on the low end. She is indeed a nice PM but too bad I couldn't work for them. I mostly hear agencies telling me my rate is a bit high and try to down it. Somes with the bidding system try to down it to 1/3 the rate because there are translators who are new and dont do much research trying to win. I dont work for them and dont know what to say about the translators, dont know if doing so means shooting their futures. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Often in small jobs | Nov 5, 2014 |
I firmly believe in being paid for the actual work I do, and when I do a tiny job that only takes 15 minutes (administration included), I think it is OK to be paid for 15 minutes of work at my hourly rate, which is an adequate one. Some customers "complain" that I should charge at least a full hour, and when they insist, I kindly comply with their request.
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Can't recall any such situation from my own experience, but an acquaintance who runs an agency sometimes does that when good translators charge bottom feeding rates.
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jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 04:01
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
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| A Chinese colleague has this experience | Nov 6, 2014 |
One of her clients asked her to fix her invoices saying that "We pay by target language word count for review jobs".
And this way, the client paid her 40-70% higher for no good reason.
I think sometimes the PMs just got confused.
[Edited at 2014-11-06 01:21 GMT]
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 04:01
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| Why couldn't you work for them? | Nov 6, 2014 |
Little Woods wrote:
She is indeed a nice PM but too bad I couldn't work for them. I mostly hear agencies telling me my rate is a bit high and try to down it.
| | | | | Not an agency, but several clients | Nov 6, 2014 |
The only agency I've ever worked with has a fixed fee that I never challenged.
Several clients, however, have paid me at a higher rate than I had asked for.
Why? I don't know, really. I'd like to think that they want to ensure that I'll say "yes" the next time they contact me! Maybe they just paid me at their regular rate, though.
Jane
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