Ask HN: How to convince my client to pay more?

> unlimited revisions

Unlimited is too much. Charge more and put some restrictions on the number of revisions.

Try to read whatever patio11 wrote about this. For example https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/consultin...

Figure out a per project price. Define it in a way that protects against scope creep.

Try to separate price from hours worked. If you get better and faster, the same price per project gradually becomes a better hourly wage for you.

Clients don't necessarily know nor care how long it takes you. They care did the task get done.

You need to have some idea how long things take and some tolerance for things taking different amounts of time. Keep your pricing structure focused on tasks or projects.

Charging by the hour when you aren't their employee is always all kinds of headache and neither side is happy. The client ends up feeling overcharged because they can't track your hours and you end up feeling underpaid.

Charge per task. Get good at defining tasks in a way that makes you happy with the pay.

Expect to not always get it right. Be kind to yourself when you don't. View it as a learning opportunity. Do some analysis of what went wrong and what you need to do different.

If you can get new work (another client), charge more for it. If you have a cheap client, get rid of them as soon as possible,

Cheap clients are bad clients. If you charge more, you will be more respected. You will have more and better clients. And you'll make more money. :-) Price acts as a signal. Think about how you would buy something that you didn't know about, say wine; in the absence of other info, you would equate the higher price with a better product.

If you charge less initially ("until you get your funding, etc") when you charge full price the customer will not feel grateful at the deal you gave them. Instead, they will feel ripped off by your full price. Charge full price or work for free.

Thank you, guys, for all these useful comments. I feel like I have to give you more perspective on why I bid too low i.e. $85.

First of all, I have only completed 20 low budget tasks on my Fiverr profile. This client is from Netherlands and he is a developer himself. When he first approached me, my gig was priced at $40 for a single page. He gave me all the requirements and asked about the offer, after reviewing the requirements I bid $80 and explained to him why I was doubling the price.

I am guessing he was looking for a low budget freelancer already, and if I pitch too much for new tasks he might run away.

PS: I have 5 years’ experience in frontend. Previously working for a company and recently switched to full time freelancing.

Read the book - "Win Without Pitching Manifesto" by Blair Enns

The market is crazy right now. Take what you can and save it. Seriously on Friday we lost some really important supports and we can see a horrible market going forward. Take what you can make. You have to put food on your table. With the number of EI claims in North America the contracts will likely dry up. For now, make the money and increase your clients then you can charge more once we get over this economic activity issues.

I guess what you need is to know in advance how much time, effort, and earnings will involve a gig. Not just from Fiverr, but for anything.

Maybe whay helps is to timebox the assignment: I will be available for fixes/etc for... a week, maybe two weeks ? Also, having a ticketing system might help you: it is very too easy to send an email from the phone to ask for new stuff and you need to track time anyway.

You can tell the existing client that now the intro. offer has expired and for new pages, you will charge $x/Hour with limited revisions. If he really liked your work, he would still pay. If not, you need to find a new client and this time, don't promise them unlimited revisions.

Charge more for future work

Yes, but how should I tell him in a convincible manner

By impressing them with your work, it's easier when they think they are getting a deal already

You are good. You can discuss all the things about the page the client likes and how you were so happy to get it just the way he wanted.

Then you offer to do subsequent pages at your working rate. Big smile (even over the phone), big enthusiasm. Your rate and revision policy are what they are going forward, but help the client envision how amazing the end result will be!

Make sure they understand that they were previously receiving the hugely discounted introductory rate, that you love working with them, and give them your "normal" rate, which is whatever price structure you think will work better going forward.

They may try to negotiate your new rate. Give yourself a little wiggle room so that you can accommodate a negotiation if necessary. If they flat out refuse, then take it as a learning experience and spend your time finding a new client.

If a potential client doesn't value your work, you can't convince them to value it. No matter how good your work is, the client values it based on what it is worth to them. A worse website might be good enough for their needs.

The only thing that you can convince a potential client of is that you won't work for less than your proposed fee. It's hard to walk away from potential work, but more volume of money losing projects doesn't make up for the fact that they are money losing. And a client promising lots of money losing work isn't worth keeping as an active client.

That's not to say never take a money losing project. Big established organizations with ample budgets often have orbital rings of larger and larger projects. The minimum overhead of working with them makes small projects in the outer orbit produce small losses. But small projects are the route to the orbits with bigger projects with obvious profits.

Often times the only thing you can do is walk away. When individuals have no understanding / concept of time or they simply don’t care a choice has to be made.

I think about it as business to consumer versus business to business. B2C is about status. B2B is about lasting relationships. By default, anyone searching for services on freelance aggregators is using a B2C model. Status can be about spending lots of money, but it defaults to being a saavy shopper or hard negotiator and such. Basically people with a B2B view of web design and lots of projects already have a relationship with a design provider.

People on the freelancing aggregators are businesses. It really often comes down to being able to do what you can afford to do. When a client doesn’t understand the time it takes to put together what looks good, often there can be an ultimatum. It’s extremely hard when the individual doesn’t have concept of time or design.

Your introductory rate is discounted because you recognize the risk the client was taking with their time by hiring you with scant evidence you could do the job and do it well.

Your new rate reflects a reduction in their risk since they know you can do the job.

It is hard to do. You can explain that what should have taken x hours, took x+y hours because of his many changes. You cannot work for such low-income. So your new rate is what is reasonable in light of the past experiences with him. If he doesn't agree then so be it. You do not need an unreasonable client who won't pay a fair price.

To make a profit in any business, you need to charge a fair price. That is, deliver good work and know the value of what you provide. Subsidising other people's businesses is not healthy.

Asking for more after the fact kind of messes up the Fiverr value prop for buyers, and I think you run the risk of them reporting you to Fiverr if you ask for more after the fact.

I'd avoid Fiverr & Upwork as a worker. That's the race to the bottom.