Comments on: How to secretly find out what your competitors charge

By: Why Competition Can Help Boost Your Freelance Career | Ajeva

Why Competition Can Help Boost Your Freelance Career | Ajeva — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:05:36 +0000

[...] to Stay Ahead of Your Competitors and Get More Offers as a Freelance Designer How to Secretly Find Out What Your Competitors Charge Can a Contest Help Your Freelancing [...]

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 13:58:34 +0000

Yeah, this seems a little sneaky to me. The concept of asking for an email reply might be ok …”what is your hourly rate?” etc

But getting a designer to waste time on a quote sucks.

By: Saffron S.

Saffron S. — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 02:42:46 +0000

Another way to do it is to sign up for newsletters. When I was first planning the launch of my business, I signed up for ALL of the competitors newsletters. Sure enough, over the next few months almost all of them advertised special rates (some as Promos, some for Not for Profits).

“Save 15%! Only $90 per hour.”

Geez, thanks for the intel!

By: Alejandro García

Alejandro García — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 03:48:48 +0000

Hello Rahul B, i think that’s the best way to respond to anyone whos ask for a quote, thanks for sharing that option.

By: Rahul B

Rahul B — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 05:04:18 +0000

I agree with most of the above comments which are not in favour of this idea. Anyways, as a Web Designer or Company I would like to share how to safe-guard yourself against such things, and we follow that at our organization…

First and foremost, never get over-excited about any (true/false) requirement. It’s always best to KYC (know-your-customer) approach. Whenevr we get any unknown requirements we post following response….

————————
Hello,

Thank you for your enquiry

Kindly share your contact number, our representative will get in touch with you to understand your requirement precisely. Having precise requirement will help us give you realistic quote. Please provide following information…

Your Complete Name:-

Your Contact Number:-

Your City of Residence:-

Thank you and looking forward for your response. Alternatively you may also get in touch with us on following contact details.

Best Regards
—————————————

If the customer/enquiry is genuine they will surely respond. If don’t just forget the requirement and safely assume its one of these SO CALLED “guerrilla”.

By: Veronique

Veronique — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 05:11:20 +0000

HOOOO… !!!… I just received a request for a quote very similar to your example… I feel trapped!

By: Marcell Purham

Marcell Purham — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:54:52 +0000

haha. It dosen’t really matter what the other designers charge because you both are two different people with a different life. That designer may live in California and has to pay a lot for his family and so fort and you might live in a small town and have to pay little. Charge what you think will make YOU happy.

By: Lilian

Lilian — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 07:56:40 +0000

” Yes you are maybe taking away 10 minutes of the designers time to read your email, but that’s it, he/she would probably spend that time on their Facebook/Twitter anyway.”

Even if that was true, who made your price quote more important than ten minutes of someone else’s time regardless of what they would’ve done instead.

By: Justin : jzane designs

Justin : jzane designs — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:22:00 +0000

Don’t be a jerk, just ask. 95% of the time other designers will be willing to tell you.

Plus… it will save you from the horrible karma that following the advice of this post will get you.

By: Adrian - 7creative

Adrian - 7creative — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:58:17 +0000

That’s really “Guerrilla”-style