Is it better to charge for freelance work by the hour or a one off price?

idealmike Level X³

November 21, 2016, 12:14 pm

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Is it better to charge for freelance work by the hour or a one off price?

Hello all freelancers. Obviously when you sell a service on SEOClerks you get paid for that service and any extras that you sell with it. You do the work that's required, then deliver the order and then you get paid when the order is complete. Nice and straightforward.

But without SEOClerks, if you are to do some work for someone, and that work could take up to, say 4 hours of work in total. And you was to work for on it for either 4 hours straight, or 1 hour per day for 4 days. Then you could either charge by the hour for that work or charge a one off price instead.

What is the best thing to do in this scenario? Charge for your time by the hour? Or charge a one off price for the work instead? Or does it really depend on how many hours we're talking about and or how much work is involved?

Because sometimes the work might only take you 1 hour or less. Or Sometimes it could take you up to a week. So if so, how do you value that in a price you can charge people? Is it better to work out what it would charge per hour and just give them a price to pay upfront? Or is it better to do the work, then see how long it would have taken you and then charge them for however long it took you to complete that work?

What way do you like to charge for your freelance work and why?

By the hour? Or a one off charge?

I'm interested to know!

Thanks!

Mike

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Everett

Everett

I charge a one off price, or basically I have "packages" or "services" that customers can buy. I do not go by the hour because I'm not exactly certain of how many hours it could take, depending on the project or if I am actually going to be available during the hours specified by the order.

I have had more success with packages or services other than charging by the hour. Plus, if I am charging by the hour, I would want to focus on all the hours that I had to do based upon the hours that were agreed upon, and sometimes this can conflict with other services and I do not think the client wants to pay for me working on other projects.. lol

8 years ago

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Lynne

Lynne

I think I would like to charge a one off price. I just don't like an hourly rate for a few reasons, both for when I am paying and for when I am being paid.

I am a very fast worker, I get a huge amount of work done in a short amount of time. So perhaps my hour of work may be the equivalent of 2 hours if someone else did it right? So then what should I charge a client?

I believe it should be the value of the work done, not how long it takes to be done. There are also different types of work that would have different values.

To answer your question would I work for an hourly rate if it is more than the one off work rate? Duh yeah I would. Just because I prefer one off rates doesn't mean I will give up a great opportunity to make an hourly amount.

8 years ago

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EliteWriter

EliteWriter

I have always opted for a set price, not based on hours of work. I think that it is often difficult to establish how many hours you will be spending on the job. For instance in my case, even though an article of a particular length is going to take a particular timeframe to be completed, i cannot really apply the same charge every time based on the hours as some articles require more research time than others. Having said that i wish i could set an hourly rate as that could lead to a more fixed wage i guess.

8 years ago

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hitmeasap

hitmeasap

Good question Mike. I'm fond of hourly payments, but I've never really worked like that myself. Even though I actually somehow like the thought of it. I usually just charge the client a one time fee and I do the same thing if I'm the one who's paying someone to work for me. I pay them a fixed amount, either weekly, a one time fee or monthly. But I'd love to pay and charge per hour. That would be awesome.

However, I think it's easier to do business with one time payments in general, which is why I go with that instead of something else.

8 years ago

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CryptoGuru

CryptoGuru

It really depends on what your offering, where you live, and the cost. I cant really say what i would do as a general thing, but what can say is that i enjoy changing prices with every client. Here on Seoclerks i charge a flat rate for pretty much everything i do ad that is due to high levels of competition. When i sell something on social media i always aim high to see what the person thinks.If they seem un easy about the price i will offer a discount if they subscribe to my mailing list, as much as 30% off. If the person seems happy about the price i will try to up sell them and offer them a add on service. After all the more money you make per transaction the better off you will be.

8 years ago

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MasterA

MasterA

Personally, I charge a fixed price when doing projects for people. When I buy from other freelancers it feels weird paying per hour because you don't actually know how much time they spend on it so I would much rather get a fixed quote from multiple freelancers and then choose the best one. The best one doesn't always mean the cheapest as I want good price and good quality at the same time.

8 years ago

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augusta

augusta

I prefer charging per hour because per hourly charge one tend to make more money than when one want a one time payoff.

7 years ago

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Barida

Barida

This question depends solely on what you have discussed with the client that you're working for. I mean it depends on how the client is willing to pay you unless you have become a popular freelancer that would be able to fix your price and nothing will happen. But talking with your client to thrash out the payment structure is quite okay for the business.

7 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

When I hire a freelancer, I pay for the job, it does not matter whether the freelancer completes in one hour or several days. I always pay the fixed amount. Even when I work as a freelancer, I prefer to work for fixed payment. When you are working for a fixed payment, you know what you are earning. For hourly pay, it might be difficult to convince the client how much time you have actually spent on the job.,

7 years ago

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Corzhens

Corzhens

I had once been commissioned to provide contents for a forum with a not so common niche. The deal was for me to make 200 posts in a period of 1 month on my convenience. It was a packaged contract of 20 usd. Nice experience although some writer friends say that I should have asked for a higher fee.

7 years ago

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