The outsourcers try to negotiate own rates advertised in job postings? Thread poster: Alexandra Schneeuhr
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Hello,
Not sure if it's just my ill luck or if there's a new trend. Recently I happened to respond to a couple of job postings here on ProZ. The rates in both cases were stated openly in the job posting and I believed them acceptable.
The first outsourcer contacted me stating that "there was something wrong with the system of proz when I published the work, so you might see the rate of USD 0.08. But in fact we can offer USD 0.04 per source English word". Oh well... the ... See more Hello,
Not sure if it's just my ill luck or if there's a new trend. Recently I happened to respond to a couple of job postings here on ProZ. The rates in both cases were stated openly in the job posting and I believed them acceptable.
The first outsourcer contacted me stating that "there was something wrong with the system of proz when I published the work, so you might see the rate of USD 0.08. But in fact we can offer USD 0.04 per source English word". Oh well... the mistakes do happen, so I did not really hold it against him, and simply responded that I am not available for the project at the moment.
Then, the next day I respond to a job offer with a low per-word rate but a subject-matter I am interested in. I get a PO from the outsourcer almost instantly, but I notice that 1) the deadline is 8AM instead of 4PM, 2) the rate is $0.03 instead of $0.06 and 3) the word count on the PO and on the actual file attached doesn't match. When I point out all of these and ask for corrected PO, the outsourcer comes back with: "sorry but we cannot pay more than 3 cents". No problem really, apart from the fact that I cannot work for 3 cents ))
It's not a big issue anyway, but I do wonder if such things are honest mistakes or a new price-negotiating tactics?
[Edited at 2012-09-18 18:24 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Luca Tutino 
Italy
Member (2002)
English to Italian
+ ...
| Lower rates are often coupled with unprofessional behavior | Sep 18, 2012 |
That's just another good reason not to reply to postings and accept such low rates. - My 2c...
Luca
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 12:11
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| It could be a big issue, IMO | Sep 18, 2012 |
Alexandra Schneeuhr wrote:
The rates in both cases were stated openly in the job posting
Let's be clear about what that means first, Alexandra. As a paying member, you have the right to see the contents of a special grey box, called something like 'budget'. Is that what you are referring to? Or was the rate quoted in the main text of the posting? If the latter is true, that's against ProZ.com rules for posting jobs, and there's a special link at the bottom of the job to report it - it's all automatic and ProZ.com staff will get that information removed, pronto.
If, as a member, you have chosen to display the client's budget (there's a toggle switch to turn display on/off), then you should regard it as information, nothing more. You can still quote whatever rate you're happy with (and you should give a rate in your quote even if you use the same one). Of course, quoting double may be a complete waste of time, but hey, it's your time! Trying to educate the client lets off steam if nothing else. And it isn't actually a total waste of time to quote just a little more - I have had proof of that. There's also a lot of evidence to show that outsourcers will often reject the lowest bids.
The first outsourcer contacted me stating that "there was something wrong with the system of proz when I published the work, so you might see the rate of USD 0.08. But in fact we can offer USD 0.04 per source English word".
Well, it would have been a good idea to send that email to ProZ.com. I'm sure they would have liked to investigate and fix the problem.
Then, the next day I respond to a job offer with a low per-word rate but a subject-matter I am interested in. I get a PO from the outsourcer almost instantly, but I notice that 1) the deadline is 8AM instead of 4PM, 2) the rate is $0.03 instead of $0.06 and 3) the word count on the PO and on the actual file attached doesn't match. When I point out all of these and ask for corrected PO, the outsourcer comes back with: "sorry but we cannot pay more than 3 cents".
Same action needed here, I would say - report it to ProZ.com. Whatever the poster's reason, they issued a job posting that misrepresented their real offer. Mistakes can happen but it's only if such mistakes are systematically reported that staff can identify any abuse.
It's not a big issue anyway, but I do wonder if such things are honest mistakes or a new price-negotiating tactics?
But it is a big issue if other people are feeling pressured to accept because they've seen the 'carrot' and they're too weak, or too desperate for money, to reject the new terms. Maybe this is a widespread practice. I hope not, but I really don't know.
I'd like to encourage you to report similar cases in the future. I hope ProZ.com staff won't see it as none of their business.
| | | | | I wonder what is the 'respond directly' feature for? | Sep 18, 2012 |
Thank you for responding, Sheila. I must admit I always look out for your posts as I find them so very helpful and well thought-out.
These two job postings had one thing in common – you had to ‘respond directly’, i.e. to email to the outsourcer using the email address provided, not to respond via ‘submit the quote’ option. I guess that once you enter into private correspondence with a potential customer, there’s not much ProZ could or should do about rates and other issues. May... See more Thank you for responding, Sheila. I must admit I always look out for your posts as I find them so very helpful and well thought-out.
These two job postings had one thing in common – you had to ‘respond directly’, i.e. to email to the outsourcer using the email address provided, not to respond via ‘submit the quote’ option. I guess that once you enter into private correspondence with a potential customer, there’s not much ProZ could or should do about rates and other issues. May be if I responded by clicking that ‘submit the quote’ button found in the bottom of a job posting page, it would be a different story… but anyway. I do not have much to complain about, as all I lost was a quarter of an hour of my time. What I really wanted to know is if anybody else had a similar experience. Or maybe it is typical for EN-RU language pair only? Or maybe it something in my cover letter (which is normally very brief and no-nonsense) that make outsourcers think they should pay me half the rate? )) Well… ranting DOES help, you know ))
[Edited at 2012-09-18 20:49 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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