Pricing a job..

[Guest sound]

Hey,

Before you talk somebody into using cubecart for their new store.

How much would be a fair price for a digital & tangible goods store?

I built a main site for this group allready and they don't know much about running it.. my job

which is a bit of a pain as i'm not gonna manage their site for free, that's another issue though.

So.. i'm thinking, if i build cubecart as a digital store for them, after customising it the way they like

I might be caught to do the actual organising of the products also.

I'll also be licencing this store for them... maybe i should join the affiliate program also?

Any addvice and maybe a price for this job?

Well if you've seen any of my attemppts at cube cart you'll have an idea of the job i'll be doin.

Logo up top.. customised color scheme.. paypal setup.. products setup etc.

I don't want to over charge them and i want to make it a decent price considering my knowlege of cubecart.

And i definetly don't want to do more work than they're paying me to do.

I'm allready providing them with hosting so that's covered i'll do the store on the same account.

Thanks later

[Guest brosville]

pricing any job in almost any field is the most difficult thing in the world!

Many years ago, I had a friend who ran an Estate Agency - he charged 3%, when everybody else charged 2% - I asked him how he got away with it - his reply was simple -"I give them a "classy office", a girl on the 'phone with a public school accent, and I TELL them they're getting a better service!" - that's basically "it" -you charge whatever you've got the brass neck to ask!

Full commercial rate in my area (Sussex) for a functioning shopcart with full installation and customisation is around £1500. Personally, I'd say £1000 is "reasonable" for the bare bones, if they want it stocked, charge them a hefty rate by the hour!

(I'm basing this on recent discussions with a mate who's in the local chamber of commerce - whenever the subject has come up, these are the general levels as taken as "reasonable")

[Guest sound]

Hi and thanks for your comments,

Full payment when the client's happy with the job, is that the right approach.

Maybe some payment up front once you're all happy on a price?

Covering the costs of licencing the store and some design work.

Well that's the situation i seem to be in with this job, for their main site.

I was thinking 500euro for the store and the licence cost.

But i don't want to under cut myself either,

We'll see how it goes...

Thanks later

[Guest brosville]

I go for 50% at the offset, and 50% within 7 days of going online - most people seem quite happy with that!

- try asking around your area, or look up the local webdesign websites - my attitude is that ultimately a website is built by someone sitting at a computer - some idiots are taken in by the hype of "meeja companies" - they'll charge you £20,000 for what you and I would charge £1,000 - it's just they arrive in the Boxster the client has helped buy! :)

[Guest]

I charge between £500 - £1000 for a licensed cart depending on design and mods needed.

I also charge £20/hour for my rate if they need alterations or stock put on.

[Guest sound]

Thanks again,

I'll have to rethink my whole design setup.

Got a lot of extra info last nite reading here,

I have to set up something to fall back on as in a contract.

They never finished paying me for the first job yet,

Even though the site is not complete, i never took 50% up front.

Now they want a store as extra.

I know this was asked in another post (Web Design Agreenment)

But do any of you have a contract document you issue to your clients?

I don't have anything to give them so we all know where we stand.

Legal documentation is obviously the only way to do business.

Something i could look over and re-write to my specifications.

Thanks later

[Robsta]

I have a contract, terms and conditions and I get 20% deposit with a clause in the contract saying I can ask for money (to cover work done) each month if the project drags out. I state that the full amount is due on completion of the site development, no matter if I am also adding their content or not (as this can be a delaying tactic by some people). If I am adding their content, they can take ages to write it, or sort out product pictures, if payment was dependent on the content then I'd never get paid.

I typically split out the costs into sections to make it easier for them to decide what they want. I split it out into Design (unique); development (of unique design, or from example site or their design); and content (per 20 products, or for brochure style site a fixed price cutting off at the stage the site goes live).

This method makes sense to the customer, and easier to enforce as they have agreed to it up front.

I also state in the contract that I own the copyright to the site design, not them.

Hope this helps.

[Guest ms_arbez]

This is giving me some good ideas. While this is my first time using CubeCart, it has become my new best friend EASILY. I actually charged about 1000 US Dollars for the job, but with the time alone to upload and set up the products, I think it's been worth it.

Generally for ANY job, I charge 50% up front before I begin any work, and 50% before the site actually goes live, and sometimes 14 days after. I've gotten my proposal pricing down a lot better, but I do need to get a decent contract. Luckily for me, I've been able to pull away from doing work for friends now!

[Guest sound]

That's probably the best thing, don't do work for friends.

I'm gonna get back to them this monday and sugest we complete

the first job by means of them supplying their content.

Then somehow slip the question of when are you gonna pay up.

And then we can move onto their new store which i'm not doin

without them paying me 50% up front.

I think 1000 whatever is a nice price for a custom job.. bare bones or other.

But i'm thinking it's not gonna be easy to tell them it will cost another 1000 for a store.

Thanks once again, great info.