Underbidding – How Low Should You Set Your Rates?
There was an email to me recently which caught my attention. She was asking me about how much to charge for an eBook. I remember one of my replies was something like, “I am sure that your would-be client won’t be paying much. He sounds barat.”
While others are actually valuing their writing and bidding accordingly to projects, more and more clients are offering low compensations for projects. As such, freelance writers are forced to bid low because of a lot of factors.
It doesn’t hurt to bid below the client’s budget, but to bid waaaaaaaaaaay low than the client’s budget is something to think about. One thing that you must learn about freelance writing is that you need to charge how much you think your writing is worth.
Why Underbid?
Freelancers underbid for two reasons:
1. They are new in the freelance industry, and
2. They think that by bidding low, the client would always get them.
While both numbers are quite true, number two is often the reason for most freelancers. Why? Because they want to get the client so badly, that they always post the lowest possible rate.
This can be seen in freelance sites, such as oDesk, because there’s a large number of freelancers. Clients, on the other hand, outrightly say that they will get the lowest bidder, and they will not negotiate.
How Underbidding Affects Your Career
Underbidding shows that you do not have much confidence in your writing. In addition, it makes your client think as to why you value your work lower than others. While other clients get those who bid the lowest, others still base freelancers on their portfolios and capabilities, so that is a big good luck to others.
Bidding way low, low, low also shows that you probably do not care too much about writing. Writers know how to value themselves both as a writer and as a person – and underbidding shows otherwise.
You do not want your client to think of you as somebody who does not have enough confidence and self-esteem, do you?
How Underbidding Affects Other Freelancers & the Freelance Industry
Admit it – it is not everyday that you see a job posting which offers more than $3 per article here in the Philippines. And if you bid even lower than that, then man – you are crazy.
Underbidding PUSHES the offered prices lower and lower, that $1 for 500-word articles can be seen lurking around job postings in Craigslist Manila. I know it sounds stupid, but that is reality. This is because more and more Filipino freelance writers battle for projects, pushing the rates lower and lower and lower. Soon, it would be hard to get a $5 per article gig because of underbidding.
When you underbid, you create an illusion that Filipino freelance writers do not value their services too much.
We all know that quality means you have to pay for it. But are you willing to push the budget low, underbid for a project, and still claim that you give your all in that particular project? Sure, you want to catch your client’s attention – but underbidding would catch his attention AND affect others, as well.
Barat and kuripot clients may be happy when a freelancer underbids – but fair clients would surely wonder.
What do you think of underbidding? Post your comments away ;D
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4 comments
Here’s something weird that happened to me: when I stopped underbidding and actually raised my prices, I got more clients and got higher-profile jobs.
Of course, the economy was different then so maybe there aren’t as many entrepreneurs now who are willing to pay for quality. But the ones that do are usually worth working for. I guess that’s why we need to compete based on something else other than price. There will always be someone who’s willing to charge lower.
The same thing happened to me now *_* I stood by my rate, and the clients negotiated. I think there are still some clients who would rather pay more – but they are getting lesser and lesser :O
Hey, naunahan mo ko on this one, haha..
I am thinking of creating this post because I am dismayed on how Filipinos treat their freelancing careers. They undervalue their capacity to deliver high quality freelance writing services. So the end result is clients would also undervalue us and would offer very low prices for our works. So I guess this should be a wake up call that we should value our work and get what is due to the service we are doing for them. Or else, we won’t be getting decent paying clients in the future.
I also had the same experience like Frugal Pinoy. I raised my prices to acceptable levels and quite surprisingly, I start to get better paying projects and as if by magic, my quality of writing has also improved.
So Filipino Freelance Writers should start to value their work more so we will all get what we ought to deserve. 
Haha. Exactly. I seriously think that we should give out competitive rates – not necessarily high but rates which truly make them think that we value our craft and skills. Boooo to underbidders
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