Hey all, I want to begin this with admitting my fault in not starting with an offer. The reason I didn’t send one in is because my customer had already worked with a few different photographers and the project is part of a networking exchange. My bad. So I went there and took pictures for a bit more than two hours. My own expectations of quality make me edit every set of pictures by hand, so no presets. That makes another two hours in editing. Now I’m based in Europe and I calculated my prices based on my cost, my taxes, my expected wage, available hours deducted by holiday and sick time and an overall paid workload of 40% of those hours. That makes me start my prices at 130 per hour of photography and 70 per post processing hour. Of course there is deductions for longer bookings, and networking opportunities etc. Overall I gave my customer the price of a bit more than 300 euros for the job. Sadly my customer wasn’t to happy and very confused as her recent partners oy charged her 100 or got invited for dinner. The customer also wanted to edit the pictures themselves. Again I’m at fault for not following proper procedure here. My questions are the following. Was the price unreasonable? Do you not edit your pictures the way I do and do you only use presets? What would you recommend to do in that situation. Thanks!
The price isn’t at all unreasonable, but failing to even discuss pricing and scope of work before a shoot is imho deeply unprofessional to the point you should probably just offer to accept whatever they had in mind as payment.
Nobody should ever be surprised by the final bill, it doesn’t matter if it’s higher or lower than expected, they should know in advance what the amount is and have the opportunity to transparently approve or decline anything that changes it, also in advance. If it’s hours-based, there should be pre-established approval thresholds where it’s confirmed clearly at each stage.
Surprise bills are simply an unacceptable business practice, again IMHO
You mention a networking exchange. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but, it isn’t a bartering agreement - nor is it a social call. Obviously not a gift, nor was it a situation where you were offered a % of their profits.
Sure, shame on you both for not establishing expectations. Kudos to you for recognizing a learning experience for what it is.
In this situation I’d probably acknowledge that expectations were not defined (ie; budgets or costs), and offer a 12% discount -or- the option to decline your product entirely without any questions asked or hard feelings.
When my neighbor gives me a ride down the street to pick up my car at the mechanic, I slip them a $20. When another friend took down a very small pine tree, I paid for their chainsaw - and then some. I want people to be fully compensated for the things they do for me.
Normal price, just never work again without communicating the costs beforehand.
We edit by hand. Never presets. (Presets are always just a starting point anyway, so why bother)
I would offer a good discount because it’s your fault that the price wasn’t communicated. Also, you obviously didn’t work with a written offer or contract. Live and learn.
Agree with a bunch of comments but did not see the question about handing over unedited pics. Is this a common thing? I would not hand over any raw images though…
It’s important to know what the customer wants in writing since what they want might change when it’s time to pay up.