When to say no to some work?

badlyDrawnToy · Feb 13th, 2007, 18:19

Hi. Just getting going as a freelance web developer, but I'm quite experienced.. been contracting for years. I quoted for an e-commerce solution, and the prospect has come back saying I'm about twice the price that he wanted to pay.

His site currently turns over £10k/yr by people phoning through orders
He wants credit card and paypal integration
He seems to think that, as he already has a site, most of the work is done! The site is pretty poor - product lists loading in frames and product details in pop-up windows.

I quoted to include all legals - privacy T&Cs etc, improvement to existing design, e-commerce integration.

I quoted £2,400 + hosting. He wants to pay £1,200.

He claims to have a quote for £1,200. I don't do OS-Commerce installs or similar. They're over-complex and buggy.

So. Do I walk away? I could do with the work, though I have other prospects. It will never be a site I really want to add to my portfolio as the look and feel is pretty bad and he doesn't want a complete redesign.

I could probably go in cheaper, but not as low as he wants. I could remove PayPal, and perhaps SSL certificates (credit cards are input over SSL on payment provider site - but contact email address should really be sent secured).

Maybe I should steer clear of small businesses. I get the impression they never want to pay much.

Thoughts? Experiences? Am I over expensive?

Lchad · Feb 14th, 2007, 12:50

What I do is list all the things that I'd like to do to a site to get it up to a point where we can be proud of it. I take all the client's recommendations and work up a price. Sort of the "if life were perfect package". Then is the client agrees, great.. Most often they feel their site is "just fine" because they do not know the latest techniques, trends or seo. So at that point I start to whittle away at what needs to be done versus what I want to do.

We come together on a price. And no, often these sites are not sites I can tout as my own or display in my portfolio. However, the client is happy, I've made some money, and I'm on to the next.

If you can't do the work for 1200 then don't do it. Let him use the person he says that can. Hope that helps!

badlyDrawnToy · Feb 14th, 2007, 14:48

I like your thought process. Will bear that in mind. I decided not to drop my price. Plenty more fish in the sea.

cheers