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Low offers never ending Thread poster: Henry Hinds
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Henry Hinds 
United States
Local time: 02:25
English to Spanish
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In memoriam
From a recent job posting:
Our financial budget is tight so we could only afford to pay 0.02 U.S. cents per word.
It never ends, does it.
Two bids so far; must be driven by hunger.
Only one blue board rating, a "1", so I maybe he offers little...
...but pays nothing.
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Alicia Casal
Argentina
Local time: 05:25
English to Spanish
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I guess they'll never end...
I can t guess how the afford the financial charges..
I ve just posted in Money Matters....
It seems that this Argentine translator is not "cheap".
I ask myself: How would this market be in 10 years'time?
Which would the main players br?
Alicia
[Edited at 2007-03-26 19:03]
[Edited at 2007-03-26 19:07]
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It seems they don't mind about quality in translation. They always someone who does the job for them, no matter how.. I think it is our responsibility to safeguard our profession and dignity, not accepting such offers for example..
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Andrea Riffo
Chile
Local time: 04:25
English to Spanish
+ ...
And here I thought that the tempting offer of 0.02€/word I (and a couple of colleagues) received last week was as low as they get.
This is turning to be depressing :|
[Edited at 2007-03-26 21:00]
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Alicia Casal
Argentina
Local time: 05:25
English to Spanish
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| No depression please | Mar 26, 2007 |
But come into action!
Have you got any appretince?
Do you teach newbies?
A.
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 01:25
English to German
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In memoriam | Brokers and subcontractors | Mar 26, 2007 |
A while ago I received a phone call from a US-based translation agency, specifying a project that they would like me to do - after interviewing me for more than 20 minutes (qualification, fields of expertise, experience, academic degrees, certification, ethics, shoe size, etc..), and presenting themselves as a kind of "intermediary" (= broker), offering the UNIQUE SERVICE and BENEFIT (!!!) "that your payment will be guaranteed and we are here to protect translators", this guy asked: "Would you b... See more A while ago I received a phone call from a US-based translation agency, specifying a project that they would like me to do - after interviewing me for more than 20 minutes (qualification, fields of expertise, experience, academic degrees, certification, ethics, shoe size, etc..), and presenting themselves as a kind of "intermediary" (= broker), offering the UNIQUE SERVICE and BENEFIT (!!!) "that your payment will be guaranteed and we are here to protect translators", this guy asked: "Would you be willing to work @ USD 2 cents / word?"
I was speechless for a couple of seconds, then I couldn't help but bursting out in laughter. The good man all of the sudden had a call waiting on the other line and announced that his company might not have any projects for me at this time.
A few hours later I checked the job site and found a posting by this very company, matching the description that I received over the phone for 5 cents / word in the language pair English>German.
PS. Did I mention that they were talking about a translation job?
[Edited at 2007-03-26 23:20] ▲ Collapse
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| As my dad always says... | Mar 26, 2007 |
when disgusted with someone or something:
UNBELIEVABLE!
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Andrea Riffo
Chile
Local time: 04:25
English to Spanish
+ ...
Alicia Casal wrote:
But come into action!
Have you got any appretince?
Do you teach newbies?
A.
I don't have apprentices because I am still pretty much an apprentice/newcomer/newbie myself in the international market (proz and the like), so my action -to date- has been limited to vocally refusing such enticing offers and letting people know why I do it. I welcome suggestions, though
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Alicia Casal
Argentina
Local time: 05:25
English to Spanish
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| Refusing/ not bidding is great | Mar 27, 2007 |
Cool Andrea!
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| Testing the waters. . . . | Mar 27, 2007 |
This could be a case of an agency testing the water. There was a time when I thought $0.02 per word was necessary in order to break in to the market. Luckily, I never got to that point of desperation and now things are moving along nicely.
Obviously, there are a lot of market forces at play here. In some places, $0.02 per word is a boon! The target language has a lot to do with it. Globalization forces have led some outsourcers to beleive that they can get anything for nothing... See more This could be a case of an agency testing the water. There was a time when I thought $0.02 per word was necessary in order to break in to the market. Luckily, I never got to that point of desperation and now things are moving along nicely.
Obviously, there are a lot of market forces at play here. In some places, $0.02 per word is a boon! The target language has a lot to do with it. Globalization forces have led some outsourcers to beleive that they can get anything for nothing.
As one who had to suffer through many bad translations over many years of education, it was obvious that quality was not the driving force. One can only hope that there are enough clients out there that still consider quality a virtue. Leave the scraps to the desperate.
Making a million, $0.15 at a time!
SaludoZ!
Jason ▲ Collapse
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cmwilliams (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:25
French to English
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| You're right | Mar 27, 2007 |
Yes, low offers keep coming in. Another one was just posted for EUR 0.03 per word. That's what happens when freelancers working at low rates start acting as outsourcers offering even lower rates to their translators. Where will it end?
[Edited at 2007-03-27 15:27]
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| I am not getting into the discussion again | Mar 28, 2007 |
This has been discussed so many times, I don't see what I can offer that I haven't offered before.
Let me just reiterate a request I've made some time ago, that others agreed to but that fell into a cybervoid, as things tend to on this site when it comes to suggestions.
Why not have a setting for all users in which they can define their absolute minimum rate under which they don't even want to see jobs? This would work like a filter. Any job posted on ProZ below your ab... See more This has been discussed so many times, I don't see what I can offer that I haven't offered before.
Let me just reiterate a request I've made some time ago, that others agreed to but that fell into a cybervoid, as things tend to on this site when it comes to suggestions.
Why not have a setting for all users in which they can define their absolute minimum rate under which they don't even want to see jobs? This would work like a filter. Any job posted on ProZ below your absolute minimum wouldn't even show up on the site when you are logged in, just like Google ads don't show up on the site when you are logged in. I mean, if they can do this with Google ads, they surely can do it with jobs, too. This way, nobody would be fixing rates, nobody would be boycotting anybody - people would just put their sunglasses on and only see what they are willing to see. The neat thing about this is that the visibility of ridiculous offers like the one Henry is referring to would be greatly reduced. This could even have a long-term effect, because such outsourcers, after a while, would realize that nobody bids on their jobs with the terms they offer. So, they may feel tempted to improve their terms.
Anybody has any thoughts on this? ▲ Collapse
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Magda Dziadosz
Poland
Local time: 10:25
Member (2004)
English to Polish
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| Have you entered your rates? | Mar 28, 2007 |
Viktoria Gimbe wrote:
Let me just reiterate a request I've made some time ago, that others agreed to but that fell into a cybervoid, as things tend to on this site when it comes to suggestions.
Why not have a setting for all users in which they can define their absolute minimum rate under which they don't even want to see jobs? This would work like a filter. Any job posted on ProZ below your absolute minimum wouldn't even show up on the site when you are logged in, just like Google ads don't show up on the site when you are logged in. I mean, if they can do this with Google ads, they surely can do it with jobs, too. This way, nobody would be fixing rates, nobody would be boycotting anybody - people would just put their sunglasses on and only see what they are willing to see. The neat thing about this is that the visibility of ridiculous offers like the one Henry is referring to would be greatly reduced. This could even have a long-term effect, because such outsourcers, after a while, would realize that nobody bids on their jobs with the terms they offer. So, they may feel tempted to improve their terms.
Anybody has any thoughts on this?
Hi Victoria,
The reason why your suggestion may seem to "disapear in cybervoid" might be that this system already exists for several years
Entering rates in your profile automatically activate filter, so you don't receive any notifications outside your rates.
The reason why many people still do receive them is that they have not entered their rates (or set them low?). Sometimes job posters include their suggested rate in the body of the post, not in the rate field and the filter won't catch it then.
HTH,
Magda
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| Developing Viktoria's suggestion | Mar 28, 2007 |
The suggestion made by Viktoria could improve things in the long term if ProZ automatically informs job posters, indicating:
1. How many translators in the corresponding language combination have chosen not to receive notifications for jobs at the rate offered, and even sending them a link to a list (of those who agree to this).
2. If no rate is indicated, the same as above, but regarding those translators who have chosen not to receive notifications of postings withou... See more The suggestion made by Viktoria could improve things in the long term if ProZ automatically informs job posters, indicating:
1. How many translators in the corresponding language combination have chosen not to receive notifications for jobs at the rate offered, and even sending them a link to a list (of those who agree to this).
2. If no rate is indicated, the same as above, but regarding those translators who have chosen not to receive notifications of postings without a rate. ▲ Collapse
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| Reply to Magda and Pablo | Mar 28, 2007 |
Thanks for your timely reply, Magda.
I don't think we mean the same thing. I did not mean turning notifications off for job posts below my absolute lowest rate. I rather meant turning off the displaying of such job posts on the site.
I have turned off job notifications altogether a long time ago, they were just cluttering my already cluttered mailbox. I instead browse job posts on the site, whenever I feel like it or have a reason to (not very often). When I brow... See more Thanks for your timely reply, Magda.
I don't think we mean the same thing. I did not mean turning notifications off for job posts below my absolute lowest rate. I rather meant turning off the displaying of such job posts on the site.
I have turned off job notifications altogether a long time ago, they were just cluttering my already cluttered mailbox. I instead browse job posts on the site, whenever I feel like it or have a reason to (not very often). When I browse jobs on the site, there is no way for me to filter them - they display in basic chronological order. This is what I suggested to fix.
To Pablo: great idea! Letting outsourcers know how many of us say no to offers such as theirs could improve this. It would be even better if the site could display, in the job posting form, what percentage of translators qualified for the job have chosen not to see it.
[Edited at 2007-03-28 18:41] ▲ Collapse
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