Have you ever had a client you were just "afraid to take seriously"? Thread poster: George Trail
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George Trail 
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:31
Member (2009)
French to English
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Dear ProZ,
So yesterday some guy I've never met before offers me a translation job of more than 100,000 words and what does he offer me for it? 1,500 Euros. So, less than 0.015 Euros per word. (!)
I told him that that simply wasn't enough, which he was quick to respond to, with an email saying "2000 Euro". That was it. The entire email.
At that point I made it clear to him that I just couldn't work for anything less than 0.05 Euros per word (and from my exp... See more Dear ProZ,
So yesterday some guy I've never met before offers me a translation job of more than 100,000 words and what does he offer me for it? 1,500 Euros. So, less than 0.015 Euros per word. (!)
I told him that that simply wasn't enough, which he was quick to respond to, with an email saying "2000 Euro". That was it. The entire email.
At that point I made it clear to him that I just couldn't work for anything less than 0.05 Euros per word (and from my experience even that's peanuts for a lot of people in the translation profession).
Eventually he sent me another email saying "2500". Those four characters were the entire text of it. Later on he sent me another one offering me 3,000 Euros for it. Finally, I get his final offer in yet another email: 5,000 Euros. This actually does amount to 0.05 Euros per word for 100,000 words but even so: we've now gone from 1,500 Euros to a figure more than three times that, and he was just so casual about it.
Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if he's not legitimate.
What do you think? ▲ Collapse
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Sounds like the troll getting trolled 😂
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Joakim Braun
Sweden
Local time: 11:31
German to Swedish
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| Legitimate, possibly, but... | Mar 19 |
Some people negotiate in one-liners.
I'd be more worried about his raising the bid so much, and repeatedly, than about message brevity. But the volume is suspicious. Individuals don't usually need 100K translations, and serious companies large enough to need it don't negotiate in one-liners.
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| Legitimate or not ..... | Mar 19 |
.... this smells like problems.
We translators trade in words, not in cattle.
Forget about this 'client', and move on. That would be my advice.
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The solution: Say yes and ask for payment upfront. He'll probably never pay, so you can forget about it.
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Kevin Fulton
United States
Local time: 05:31
German to English
George Trail wrote:
So yesterday some guy I've never met before offers me a translation job of more than 100,000 words and what does he offer me for it? 1,500 Euros. So, less than 0.015 Euros per word. (!)
What do you think?
Why waste your time responding to offers like that?
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Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 12:31
Member
English to Turkish
George Trail wrote:
At that point I made it clear to him that I just couldn't work for anything less than 0.05 Euros per word (and from my experience even that's peanuts for a lot of people in the translation profession).
So you'd have been inclined to accept that offer had they offered it in the first place? Can you actually survive on 5 cents per word in the UK (I seriously want to know)? I see that you're a member since 2009?
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ibz
Local time: 11:31
Member (2007)
English to German
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I wouldn't even answer.
I makes no sense to discuss such low offers. And if the price then goes up from 1500 to 5000 Euros, that smells like a scam.
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patransword wrote:
The solution: Say yes and ask for payment upfront. He'll probably never pay, so you can forget about it.
...Bitcoin plus payment upfront! That's the way I as an "opportunist" would handle that situation...
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