Do you advertise your prices/rates?

Dave1975

Active Member
Hi everyone,

I'm currently undergoing a complete overhaul of my own logo and website, and with my new website copy and structure I'm having trouble on deciding whether or not to include some ideas on my pricing/rates?

Clearly there's advantages and disadvantages to including them...

  • Positives being upfront/open approach allowing potential clients to see if I fit with their budgets and expectations, so the majority of enquires I receive will be from clients who know what to expect from quotes, fewer time wasters?

  • Negatives being publicly promoting my rates and guideline prices is obviously not a great thing in terms of competition being able to see them, and the other negative I considered was clients getting the wrong impression - the guide prices and explanation would need to be 100% accurate.

So, putting it out there for discussion, do you advertise your rates or guideline prices? or do you keep your cards close to your chest? Does it differ for freelancers and agencies? Is it impossible to give guideline or from.. prices given the varying nature and specific requirements of each individual project?

Interested to hear your views :)
Thanks, Greg
 
I don't show anyone prices unless they specifically require them in an e-mail or via contact form...

For three reasons:

1. If I advertise a product at a certain price, I'm held to that legally, which provides no flexibility if the prices need to go up for one project in particular.

2. If I advertised a project quote too high, to compensate for my first point, some people would just forget me immediately, because I'm way out of their budget.

3. I like seeing if I get interest from website visitors, as it shows that my designs are good. It also may give them the idea that I'm trustworthy or reliable or whatever, which will mean they're more likely to go to me for a job.\


  • Positives being upfront/open approach allowing potential clients to see if I fit with their budgets and expectations, so the majority of enquires I receive will be from clients who know what to expect from quotes, fewer time wasters?

  • Negatives being publicly promoting my rates and guideline prices is obviously not a great thing in terms of competition being able to see them, and the other negative I considered was clients getting the wrong impression - the guide prices and explanation would need to be 100% accurate.

But I do agree with you on the time wasters. I get quite a few people a month looking at my site, contacting me, and then never replying, it's getting really aggravating. I really want to put a notice up saying 'potential clients only, not idiots just getting my hopes up', but that wouldn't get me anywhere!

As for the negatives, I also agree. If someone looks at my prices and thinks they're expensive, they'll forget me, my portfolio, my services, and my site, they'll just write me off as greedy.
 
I price by the complexity of the project itself, so posting prices wouldn't work out well for me, because I'd have to do ranges, and every project is different.
 
I don't think its a bad thing to give a jist of prices but like Sneakyheathen I tend to price everything individually based on job and also how much of a pain I think the client will be (which obviously entials how much time/work/stress is involved).
 
You could put up a base price instead of a fixed price, then people will know know what to expect but that they might need to raise their budget.
 
I don't show my prices but personally I never seen a problem with it.

I know some awesome website designers who charge price list prices and they're work is actually just as good as some who charge by the hour or by the job.

I think traditionally those who advertised their prices were the first choice for start ups but with all the funding flying about at the moment I think thats changing.
 
Remember there is always somebody, somewhere who will do it cheaper than you.

There's some kid in the US doing logos for $2. Everyone may as well pack in now
 
$2? Flippin' heck that's appauling. Surely people know you get what you paid for.
 
whats his website?? he can do my work for me and I'll just put my feet up and watch the money roll in! I'll charge £50 per logo and out source it to him @ $2 - how many do you think he could do in a day?

why have I been wasting my life working up to now
 
$2! Wow.

The problem is that guy is no different to a bedroom designers charging £100 for 15 page website and CMS. Its all about de-valuing the skill.
 
I think Berry was just trying to make a statement... I don't think he was referring to a specific guy doing logos for $2, all though there probably is someone who does it. Maybe some clarification Berry? :)
 
That's less than minimum wage...unless he's spending less than ten minutes per logo it's not worth it, and it's not like you can raise a significant amount of money for a charity that way. =/

But as regards pricing...I think advertising your rate opens you up to clients price-shopping around, comparing designers on the basis of cost, and focusing more on "Why does this guy think he can charge 10% more than this other guy?" than your portfolio. Choosing a designer should be more about "Who's a good fit for me or my organization?" rather than "Who's the cheapest and does okay work?"

I did once see a web designer that had a kind of menu-style approach to pricing, and she had a whole page that outlined her fee for a simple site, a site + shopping cart, site + blog, site + image gallery, that sort of thing...it was very itemized, and I really didn't think it was the best way to introduce one's services to potential clients, through a very clearly defined price list like that.
 
Well you I guess you get what you pay for :cheers:
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Thanks for your replies everyone, I think I'm pretty safe in saying the general consensus is not to display your prices/rates, and as Muse said I might not want to be attracting clients whose final decision is based on the cost.

Thanks all! Useful thread :)
Greg
 
I agree with mostly everyone and I wouldn't display prices either. You could have a smaller company looking for a site and contacted you for it because of the prices you have displayed and then all of a sudden a huge corporation comes and they have unlimited budget to spend, but if you have a price list you maybe missing out on the extra money that you could make.
 
I recently asked business's on a forum (not designers) and they said they preferred to see prices, I don't currently have any up but I'm considering including a 'from' price so as to allow for the size of the project but to give the possible client an idea of what costs start from.

It is difficult to quote for a project without knowing whats involved though.

What do you all think?
 
Agreed. I don't think I'll ever advertise my price unless there's a legal need to TBH. I could either get ripped off because of an under-estimate, or give my potential clients the complete wrong idea from three numbers.
 
Dot Design said:
I recently asked business's on a forum (not designers) and they said they preferred to see prices, I don't currently have any up but I'm considering including a 'from' price so as to allow for the size of the project but to give the possible client an idea of what costs start from.

Hi Gareth,

This is where I originally started thinking about dispaying some guide prices from reading similar threads on the various business forums, I know from my own experience I can give approxmate pricing on projects based on average hours and rounds of feedback/revisions, I guess the major downfall is if a client gets one of the from prices stuck in their minds and then starts questioning the quoted price in view of knocking it down.

I think for now I'm going to leave any rates/price details out from my site, but will setup a PDF with a list of guide prices to e-mail out whenever I receive a general 'how much does a logo cost' type of enquiry, with explanations and average hours/revisions, etc.

Still interested to hear everyones views on this :)
Greg
 
That sounds like a great idea. My friend (also a freelancer) did that... excellent idea. :D
 
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