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Originally written by Danijela Plavsic on January 2, 2009 5:08 AM  I don't wanna be rude to him, and he's realy milking it and acting very unprofessional.

Hello Danijela,
First of all, happy New Year and welcome to TC's fora!
My thoughts about your post, how abrupt they may seem, can be summarized in one sentence:

Unprofessional outsourcers don't deserve the work of professional translators!

Although this is not directly related to your question, you may find it useful to read Post #165725 et seq. - and/or to follow Harry's advice...

Laurent K.

Originally written by Danijela Plavsic on January 2, 2009 5:08 AM  However, he keeps telling me how he is not translating those books to gain any profit, and how he didn't expect the costs to be more than 1000 USD per book...each book had about 85000 words btw. So, I don't know to deal with that. It's in my interest to keep him as a customer, for he says he plans to translate few more books, but come on. How low is low enough for that guy?! I don't wanna be rude to him, and he's realy milking it and acting very unprofessional.

Hi Danijela,

I have just checked you profile and website and noticed that you have deescalating fees based on volume.

My fee is 0.065 USD/per word. For projects with over 20 000 words my fee is 0.045 USD/per word, for projects over 50 000 words fee is 0.035 USD/per word, and for projects over 100 000 words fee is negotiable.   

That in itself invites the kind of client who is only interested in really low rates.

I trust that you have a clear (setting out all details in clear and unequivocal language) agreement with this client.

The fact that the client is now pushing for an even lower than originally agreed upon rate doesn't mean that you have to agree. However, you want more work from this client which gives him leverage to squeeze. That can work both ways. It is in his interest to retain a professional albeit very cheap translator, so you too can negotiate a better deal.

Welcome to the fora.

Nanna

 Hi Danjiela,

                  here in Brazil 0,04 USD per word is a  good price for the translator, talking about 4000 to 10.000 words, as you said 500 euros here is not also a bad salary. I would do that job here in Brazil for the price you did, agencies here pay that amount per word, around 0,02 USD , so be patient and do it until you do not have anything better, fighting with the client is not a solution.

 Hugs

                                     Ricardo

Originally written by Danijela Plavsic on January 2, 2009 8:48 AM Basically I have to make choice, either except his proposal or not. Either way I'll make sure he knows how unprofessional he is. I'm open for negotiations, but what he's doing is an extortion

Hi Danijela, and happy new year to you.  You are right that you have to make a choice; we all must make a choice any time work is offered.  You should not, however, "make sure he knows how unprofessional he is," as to do so would make you by far the more unprofessional of the two of you.  Your client has made you an offer, which you are free to accept or reject, but it is not unprofessional to make an offer, just as it is not unprofessional for you to reject it.  If you accept it, then you are commiting yourself to a deal and you have no right to complain about it.  You may want to make a counter-offer to his offer, which would be a calculated risk of losing the work, but perhaps it is worth it.  It depends on how much you need the work and how likely it is that you will lose the work if you make a counter-offer.

David, I think the client had agreed to the rate and therefore Danijela went ahead and translated the two books.

Now that the client has to pay the piper he wants an even lower rate than the aforementioned US$ 00.015 per word.

It seems, I am unclear on that point, that Danijela and the client neglected the basics for cementing a good business relationship: a written agreement.

N.

A very happy & prosperous new year to you. Sometimes it happens that we get an offer of a very low rate. As I myself have done a project on Video Subtitling with a foreign client recently at a very nominal rate. And his offer was just 1/4 of my actual rate. But there were two things working with him. First, I have been providing my services to native clients & had never worked with any foreign clients so far. So, I got an opportunity to work with the foreign client like him. Secondly, If you think that you can get more & regular work from the client. so it is better to accept such nominal rate offer sometimes. And this way you are making relation with the client. And one more thing I would like to add here, who made this standard rate. This is you who yourself decide what should be your rate on which you could satisfy your client & yourself and could get regular projects.

Rajul

'Thanks' to the Internet good news quickly spreads: Is .04 the new standard rate in the US?