Is this worth 50 dollars?

Brian M · 07-17-2007, 11:22 PM

Hi. I recently made this commercial for someone. I was supposed to get paid 50 dollars for it, and I am getting stiffed. I would like your opinions as to weather or not you think its worth 50 dollars. What I mean is would you have paid 50 dollars for an advertisement of this quality? I even gave him a revision. I know its an advertisement, but there are no links or addresses in it. It is not spam, it is a job that I got stiffed on. I spent a day and and a half on it... So if you want to do a job for a guy named Aritrim, be wary, cause he wont pay.

Aritrim Job

jumpenjuhosaphat · 07-18-2007, 12:16 AM

No. I wouldn't have paid $50.00 for that. The reason why isn't that your quality of work isn't good. It seems fine, albeit a bit texty....Your spelling and English are a bit off though. "Stuffs" isn't a word. And "add" is short for addition, while "ad" is short for advertisement. So to "add" is to put 2 or more things together and come up with a sum, while "ad" is a form of business or self promotion.

So, as far as that goes, no, I wouldn't have paid you until the spelling of such things were corrected. However, I would have made you aware of my dislikes after you delivered the product to me, and asked you to fix them.

A word of advice though, use less text in your next marketing video and more color. And charge more, $50.00 isn't much....I've charged more than that for much less.

ideaGENERATOR · 07-18-2007, 12:19 AM

I got stiffed once too - but use it as a learning experience. Post your final product for your client to see but no download, after you recieve payment, send the files. Also, make sure that they are aware you are going to do this. If they have no intention to pay, they most likely won't hire you to work for no reason.

**3ncryptabl3_lick** · 07-18-2007, 12:59 AM

Always get something up front. At least a third or half, as a good faith payment.

I would not have paid $50 for this. I mean, to me, the copy, the length of the animation... I would have priced that project at around $500. So they got their moneys worth in terms of running time and a day and a half of your efforts.

But I agree with jumpen about the quality, it's really not up to the standard and definitely drags the whole animation down to a very 'high school' level. Which, in turn, does nothing to bolster the product or service its pitching. If I was the client, I too would have had you fix the mistakes first before taking posession of the file... so if this is the revision... oh, well maybe he just got fed up...?

There's allot you could have done to that to make it more catchy and give it some zing... $50 can't get you much time to sit and chat about how things will flow and where the eye is ment to go... as well as time to re-time events and make sure plenty of it is given to the viewer to digest all the information. I don't know what they expected for $50 but they got it and more. Now if they were serious, they should pay serious... So don't take it too hard. They obviously didn't even know what they wanted and obviously weren't willing to pay for it if they did.

Alexandro · 07-18-2007, 03:29 AM

I would not have paid $50 for this .

I dont't understand how do you spent a day and and a half on it.It is maybe less then an hour job.You are a beginner in flash?

You can send the files to the client with a watermark or use a action script to limit in time the use of the files.
After you get paid you send him a password to remove watermark or the time limit.

Domestic Diva · 07-18-2007, 06:44 AM

It looks like that took you a long time to create. So, yes, I'd say you deserve more money!

big drunk · 07-18-2007, 09:13 AM

So has the client refused to outright to pay?

Brian M · 07-18-2007, 11:33 AM

Well in reference to the text, I gave him what he wanted. I recieved a doc file with the text and specs that he wanted, and I followed the file to the T, I am all about customer satisfaction. And I gave him a revision. Also, I did just post a link to an html file, the one in the link above, he got no files from me. And, he didn't refuse to pay outright, but he has been avoiding contacting me to let me know anything one way or another, so now I am stuck with a useless ad and still no money. I have only been using flash for 4 months, but I am confident enough in its usage to create simple ads and such as this. What it boils down to is I gave him what he wanted and I got stiffed.

littlephoenix · 07-18-2007, 12:59 PM

well i can tell you spent alot of item on it, and time is money so you should get paid even though the guy didnt like it, i mean its nothing professional but again you spent time on it so you should get paid regardless.

ideaGENERATOR · 07-22-2007, 01:47 AM

That happens - should approach projects (even small one's like this) in stages. I like to charge halfway through - so I don't do the complete project and get stiffed. I split larger projects, like websites, into 3 or 4 stages.

Not only do you determine whether you are going to get paid, but you also get feedback that helps you determine whether your client expects more or is really satisfied.

superboysahil · 07-22-2007, 11:52 AM

i would pay 2$ for that

Brian M · 07-22-2007, 03:15 PM

Well, I know all you guys/gals think you are professionals, maybe some of you are, but I think the majority of you only think you are, and I did ask for it, I suppose. So why not show me some examples of 'professional' flash ads so I can learn a bit about flash and not just the psychology of wannabes.

If you actually took the time to give constructive criticism then please disregard the above note, it wasn't meant for you. But stuff like "I would pay two dollars for that" isn't constructive at all. In fact I find it a bit sophomoric and immature. But thanks anyway, I know you did the best you can with what you have..

dgridley · 07-22-2007, 03:21 PM

Unless you're working on spec, try and get a deposit up front.. helps take the edge off if both of you have something invested in your success.

Brian M · 07-22-2007, 03:40 PM

I give up...

Kareem · 07-22-2007, 11:56 PM

Brian, try the 50% payment upfront and the remaining 50% payment on delivery of the project. When working with a new client, specially one you know little about, and you're in need of the $$$ then mutual trust is a must
This can be a sucker for people who are a bad judge of character, specially when dealing with a client 100% online not even by phone.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience.

smartwave · 07-23-2007, 03:37 AM

Hi

I think it's the wrong question to ask if 'we would pay $50' for this work.
It depends on what your client briefed you on. It may have been exactly what he asked for, in this case, there should be no reason that he won't pay, providing you are able to make any text amendments so that is grammatically correct.

Always make your client aware of your fees upfront, specially if it's a new client.

Calisonder · 07-23-2007, 12:42 PM

thats not a good advertisment, but it is definently worth $50. If he wanted something better that looked proffesional he would need to pay hundreds of dollars.

again, that is a $50 job. He should have payed. And like somebody already said, always get 1/3 up front after the initail consaltaion and before any work is done.

Estreetloans · 07-23-2007, 01:03 PM

I would guess things like this happen all the time, especially with design related projects.

Unless you and the buyer had an agreement that he was going to pay for whatever you turned out then he may not have to pay you.

Unless you are willing to make the changes the buyer is requiring. I think that is part pf outsourcing work.

For example, we wanted someone to design a basic website for us, we explained to him how we wanted it, we couldnt have been more specific, but when he finished it, it wasnt exactly as we had pictured. However, we ended up going back and forth with the guy, and decided to pay him for what ever he had done and finish the project ourselves.

So in his case, he lucked out because he was willing to redo his work.

If your buyer is not happy you may need to make adjustments, you didnt deliver what he asked for, so why should he pay for it.

If you ordered a filet mignon from a restaurant and they gave you a burger, would you pay for it?

Brian M · 07-23-2007, 01:40 PM

Well as I said before, I followed the outline to the letter, that explains the misspells. Plus I gave him a free revision and followed that to the T too. But I really think all this trouble and discussion is definitely NOT worth 50 dollars, even if it was, it wouldn't matter. I have been beating myself up over this for no reason, its not my fault, I gave him what he asked for and he didn't want it. But on the other hand this is not promoting my freelance business very well, its making me look bad and I didn't do anything but give someone what they asked for. Its really an unfair situation in my eyes, but what can I do, huh? If the price would've been 2 or 3 hundred dollars and I was given a week or so to work on it, sure it would've been ALOT better than what that was, but he wanted it soon and I gave him a day and a half of labor for nothing. But anyway I am done whining, if I ever get anymore business, I will be charging half up front from now on. Thanks for the responses and advice, live and learn I suppose...

Estreetloans · 07-23-2007, 01:43 PM

Good idea!! Get half upfront. Thats probably the best solution. Well hopefully you can get some nice reviews from other buyers, then that one dissatisfied customer will be long forgotten.