| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8] | Commentary on rates by job poster(s) in their posts Thread poster: Henry Hinds
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Voloshka 
Local time: 19:51
English to Russian
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| Agencies' rates | Jun 1, 2006 |
Some replies from some European and North-American agencies:
"Sorry, your rates are a little rich for our tastes. For your pairs, we are not paying more than US$0.05/source word and, on big projects, $0.035"
"Can you work at .03 cents per word? This is the rate we are looking for."
"Our budget is 10 dollars for 315 words"
My favorite one: "Dear translator, You must lower your rates 2 units. We lowered your rates in our database"
Just like that.
Alyo... See more Some replies from some European and North-American agencies:
"Sorry, your rates are a little rich for our tastes. For your pairs, we are not paying more than US$0.05/source word and, on big projects, $0.035"
"Can you work at .03 cents per word? This is the rate we are looking for."
"Our budget is 10 dollars for 315 words"
My favorite one: "Dear translator, You must lower your rates 2 units. We lowered your rates in our database"
Just like that.
Alyona ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I liked this one | Jun 2, 2006 |
from a direct client:
"Sorry, but your rate is too expensive for me for an offshore work".
No comment.
Claudia
| | | | Henry Hinds
United States
Local time: 10:51
English to Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER In memoriam | Cheapo, Cheapo | Jun 2, 2006 |
Again... "Payment is $0.03 per word..." from Moldova.
Please pardon the title, but it is indeed descriptive in addition to being an attention-grabber, and it did grab a lot of attention.
I just wonder if this strategy of trying to force rates down to almost zero actually works for them?
Just for fun I ought to bid on one of these, just a short one. I could say: "Since you cannot offer higher rates, surely your financial situation, the competition you face a... See more Again... "Payment is $0.03 per word..." from Moldova.
Please pardon the title, but it is indeed descriptive in addition to being an attention-grabber, and it did grab a lot of attention.
I just wonder if this strategy of trying to force rates down to almost zero actually works for them?
Just for fun I ought to bid on one of these, just a short one. I could say: "Since you cannot offer higher rates, surely your financial situation, the competition you face and the business conditions under which you are operating must be quite difficult. In addition, just sending a payment must entail further dificulties and expenses, especially in hard currency. Thus, understanding your position, I am offering to do it free of charge, since I enjoy translating and money is really not important to me.
I wonder what the response would be? ▲ Collapse
| | | | sarahl (X)
Local time: 09:51
English to French
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| They still don't get it! | Jun 4, 2006 |
Same agency -or so it seems, I can no longer see the company's details-, same approach:
"...their most competitive and affordable rates, taking into serious consideration the sky-high difference in the standard of living between Europe and Africa".
Should we tell them we cannot afford to work at rock-bottom rates because of the sky-high difference in the standard of living between the US and Africa?
[Edited at 2006-06-04 17:16]
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Susana Galilea
United States
Local time: 11:51
English to Spanish
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sarahl wrote:
Same agency -or so it seems, I can no longer see the company's details-, same approach:
Notice how previously they justified their rates by specifying they didn't require a "heavyweight" translator, whereas on this occasion they are asking for "professional translators with very long experience (15 years+)".
Yet they are still fishing for the cheapest provider with the same ill-advised arguments.
No comment.
Susana
| | | | Ralf Lemster
Germany
Local time: 18:51
English to German
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| Repeating myself: contact a moderator | Jun 4, 2006 |
Sarah,
At the risk of repeating myself: contact a Jobs/BB moderator.
"...their most competitive and affordable rates, taking into serious consideration the sky-high difference in the standard of living between Europe and Africa".
Should we tell them we cannot afford to work at rock-bottom rates because of the sky-high difference in the standard of living between the US and Africa?
No need to tell them anything - had you contacted a moderator, we could have removed the posting straight away. (Note that a site rule dealing with such comments in job postings was introduced in response to the previous problem.
Regards,
Ralf
| | | | Aleksandr Okunev (X)
Local time: 19:51
English to Russian
| Another rate calculator on Proz | Jun 18, 2006 |
Ralf Lemster wrote:
Sarah, At the risk of repeating myself: contact a Jobs/BB moderator.
Regards,
Ralf
I would like to see another rate calculator on Proz, for both translators and sane clients (I would never think of educating a 1-cent-a-word agency).
Say, you input your rate per word, number of words, deadline, subject, press a button and see that you are willing to have this job done for a fee more/less than a dentist's/lawyer's/maid's/nightman's/garbage collector's average rate.
This would be vivid and quite sobering. Some people, even decent folks, have difficulties understanding that most of the people on Proz and in the translation community are NOT high school grads saving for a new motorbike, but professionals who possess certain intellectual properties, making it very easy for them to apply their abilities elsewhere. For example, writing a self-study brochure for English learners takes 4 weeks and fetches 5k USD in Russia without reprints. I know a couple of guys who make a living producing online English lessons. They have good income, a lot of fun and all the gratitude from the army of their pupils.
My 2 kopecks
Stay well!
Aleksandr
[Edited at 2006-06-18 11:23]
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