Image Designer Archive
Thread: Pricing for design work
Greets,
I just mastered ID a few days ago and so have been getting a bunch of requests for work.. and I haven't the slightest idea what to charge people so I've just been accepting tips. Is there "standard" pricing?
What do some of you guys generally do?
Thanks,
Aurelien
I usually work for tips, however that may change. More and more over the last few days I've been stiffed on payement. The good customers still outnumber the bad but it's getting more prevalent to take us for granted. I still ID any entertainers working the cantina for free...or for tiny tips if they insist on paying.
I think a standardised price list is the way I will go...no idea what I'll charge yet.
Alter - Master Image Designer - Starsider
There is a great variety of pricing methods being used out there. Some work for tips, sometimes suggesting a range in which they would like to be tipped or have been tipped in the past. Others have price lists based on number and/or type of changes, or amount of time spent working with someone.
I do the following and very rarely have a customer who can't afford my prices:
Hair/markings/horn/eyebrow/facial haircolor = 1k
Markings pattern(lekku/zabrak/spots) = 2k
Facial change = 2k
Hairstyle = 3k
Body change (including fur color) = 4k
Unlimited face changes = 5k
Unlimited body changes =10k
Hmmm I'm based out of Theed as well Kwee. Might be worth getting the IDs together and have a common pricing strategy? I've had customers travel from other planets after waiting 5 days to see me online....so I guess I can't be that bad at this ID thing. ![]()
Alter - Master Image Designer - Starsider
I usually charge 1k per change
5k for unlimited facial
10k if you want a full body/face/hair change
I just made master ID this past weekend and customers seem happy with the 1k per change and I usually get a nice tip on top of it. Might sound cheaper thanIDer's but I enjoy the interaction and rping that goes along with it.
I get TONS of work on Intrepid, and I kept getting stiffed on tips after putting in half hours' worth of work, so I developed a price list.
2k per accepted change for hair or face, 7k for body changes and 10k for torso or skin color. 3k for markings changes. Pretty easy to remember and I have had no complaints. I am always willing to discount if the person really can't afford it, or do free work for friends or newbies.
I work for tips, but have a 1k minimum cost for anyone who tries to leave without paying. I must be lucky or just very formidable... I've never been stiffed by a customer. I had one the other night who just said "thank you" and disbanded, so I sent him a coolly polite tell saying that I was sorry he was under the impression that my work is free, and that he owed me 1k. I'm fairly sure he had to borrow it from someone, but he paid me.
Slightly off-topic, I had a fun customer the other night who was horrified that he'd seen someone in the Bestine cantina who was uglier than him, and asked me to make him as ugly as possible. Let me just say, there is nothing more unattractive than a fat red skinned man wearing pink hot pants. I earned that 12k tip!
Avadiha Lona - Master Image Designer - part-time pistoleer and creature handler, Tarquinas
Image design isn't my main profession, I don't even have the title up, and most of the time it's just clothes customers that ask me if I know an IDer that I end up IDing, so I just work on tips (even though I have seen people I don't know come to get a new haircut). I've seen the best (20k for change of hair and lip color) to a guy tipping me 150cr after I spent 30 minutes showing him all the hairstyles.
But again, I mostly did it for myself so I don't really care.
Nice Ava. My best was a 40ktip for me to help a brand new player fix her look (paid for by an established player). I'd already said I'd do it as a favour for somebody else but what the hell? I believe in earning my cash so I spent a long time tweaking to get the exact look she wanted.
Nic: The only problem I have with meetings....I'm stuck here in the UK half a world away from the majority of players. So when you are all online....I'm usually sleeping like a baby. ![]()
Alter - Master Image Designer - Starsider
::sigh:: Not Nic, I meant Kwee.
I'd give my left arm.....wait....ok....I'd give my neighbours left arm for an edit button.
Alter - Master Image Designer - Starsider
I use same pricing as Kwee
I used to only work for tips, when I first started that worked very well but I found that I needed a pricing llist.
A Starsider meeting sounds fun.
Most people dont complain about the prices. I did have this one client who just made me laugh.
Client : How much for a haircut
Me: 2k for a basic haircut, 3k for a fancy haircut (ID only)
Client: Wow your expensive, I only pay 25$ in RL
Me: *laughs* Well you do not run missions for thousands of credits per hour there do you?
This is a specialized service.
Client: Well I clear 1k a week, so thats 200 a day so a haircut is 1/8 of a days pay
Me : silence
He just wasnt getting the concept of RL plays no part here in pricings, Like Im gonna cut his hair for 25 credits?
I just walked away hehe
I just got master ID a few days ago as well and decided to go for the tip method. When people ask me what I charge I say "I have no set prices, I leave it up to the customer" and so far it has paid off nicely! I had one difficult customer make me go through loads of hairstyles and tipped me 200 credits (but it's still better than nothing) then other people like a lady this morning who tipped me 10k for increasing her breast size slightly.
Most pay more than I would probably charge if I did have set prices so I'm happy to continue this way.