Charging by the hour or per product

[Nicksyb]

Hiya

Just wanted everyones advice and opinions please.

I am just starting up a service to up-load products to E-Commerce websites.

Now originally I thought about charging per the hour however some people might abuse that.

So if you were to pay someone to upload products would you pay per product or by the hour?

[OldWelshGuy]

I wouldn't entertain 'by the hour' pricing on such a service. What happens if you type with two fingers and can upload only 20 products an hour? That means that if I had 200 products it would cost me 10 hours payment.

I use people to do this all the time, and I give them the details, and I want a fixed price. I always know how long the job 'should' take as i do a couple myself to get a feel.

[Fuzzy]

Not per hour, not per product, but I would pay per job

[Nicksyb]

Just to be different

I guess if it was a bit more complicated then just adding products that I could do per project

[Fuzzy]

Fuzzy likes to be different.....per project sounds ideal

[OldWelshGuy]

Not per hour, not per product, but I would pay per job

yep that was what I meant

If I know that I can do 40 products an hour, and have 1000 products, then I know it is about 25 hours solid work. If someone quoted $1000 I would tell them to go whistle, as I would be paying $40 an hour which is way too much for data entry.

[boxby]

Are you asking what would be better for you, from a business perspective, or what would the customer prefer.

As a customer I prefer costings based on the job. But that's because i'm paying and i want to keep everything under control & budget.

But that's not what would probably be the most profitable and sensible for you, from a business perspective.

Customers want what's best for them, not what's best for you!!

[OldWelshGuy]

Are you asking what would be better for you, from a business perspective, or what would the customer prefer.

As a customer I prefer costings based on the job. But that's because i'm paying and i want to keep everything under control & budget.

But that's not what would probably be the most profitable and sensible for you, from a business perspective.

Customers want what's best for them, not what's best for you!!

I must be a bit odd then, as I often up the agreed payment on scriptlance or GAF if I feel the person working for me has worked harder than the amount quoted

I want a good relationship with the people I use, so want to pay them a fair price.

[Indizine]

there's no harm in having a cost pe entry as a starting figure, then Nickie can negotiate accordingley on larger jobs. If its a good one, a nig one, she might wish to discount it heavily to get it, but it still be profitable.

As I see it, @ 25p each, say 100 items, that's £25. If it would take me say an hour say, then i'm saving money.

You should consider what it would cost in your time - your hourly rate - if you were to do it yourself.

[Dotwhack]

I charge my services out per job - someone wanting something doing gets a price for what they want.
Although it's pretty much based on hourly rate. So someone says they want x number of products doing, you'd estimate it takes 6 hours so charge them 6x your hourly rate.
From experience, some jobs will come in slightly over your estimated hours and some under - evens itself out eventually.

Once you've done a few jobs, you'll have a better idea of what your rates need to be.