How much are we worth?

[Gailwriter]

Well it has happened again. Another offer of $4 for a full rights article from georged. Now I receive an offer from this man, always for $4 full rights, about once a month. I imagine other people do too. Someone has to be selling full rights offers to georged for him to constantly bombard the market with these offers. This is not for usage and my articles are not old, nor are they priced anywhere near the $4 mark. He is offering $4 for articles I have priced at between $40 and $60. It is soooooo disappointing to see you have an offer and realise it is only georged again. I am considering removing best offer option from my articles because I am tired of georged. The sad thing for me is to realise georged is able to get away with this low offer, time and time again, and that some poor person, for whatever reason, is being sucked in to sell. If the offer limit was set at a reasonable limit for full rights (at least $10) would this not stop georged from taking advantage of writers?

[Amy W]

That's why I think there should be a minimum price for offers. I hold nothing against writers who are just trying to make some money - who hasn't been there? But I think there should be some limits. Take minimum wage - if there were no minimum wage laws, you know some employers would be paying workers $2 an hour. But because the government says minimum wage is $10.25 - at least it is in Ontario - workers are actually paid a decent amount of money. I know freelancers need to look out for their own bottom line, but it would be great if there was some guidelines, and not just here but industry-wide, to ensure that writers aren't living below the poverty line.

Besides, CC's reason for imposing the minimum price on articles also applies to offers. If I can't post an article for $4 usage because CC wouldn't make a profit, then why can I accept an offer of $4 usage? If CC isn't making a profit on offers below $7, and writers aren't making profits on offers below $7, then why are offers below $7 allowed?

[Lisa-Anne Sanderson]

I agree with you, Amy. I got an offer of only $3.00 and thought that it was absolutely ridiculous! It was for an article that I
thought was very good! All that we can do is keep refusing them and keep writing and trying to boost our morale somehow!

[Celeste Stewart]

Just ignore them. With a global marketplace like CC, or even local ones for that matter, there's always going to be someone wanting a bargain. It's not a problem if you say no. You don't have to entertain lowball offers nor should you be offended when someone offers a ridiculous price for your article. Your article could be worth thousands of dollars yet there's always going to be someone out there either "kicking the tires" or trying to get something for nothing. Plus, like it or not, there are writers out there selling articles of $2-$3 each so there will be a few customers trying to play that competition card. Of course, we all know what $2 articles generally look like. I doubt that people making lowball offers have a critical eye for quality. They just want a cheap article on a topic that's relevant to whatever it is they're trying to sell.

My opinion? It seems a little silly to be worrying about the difference between a lowball offer of $4 being below the newly established minimum of $7. Both are dirt cheap and there's not that much difference when it's all said and done. Ignore those offers and stick to your own rates. If you have an article you believe is worth $80, than it's worth sticking to that price regardless of whether a customer offers you $7 or $4 for it. You can save a lot of grief by avoiding the best offer option and setting rates you're confident in. If a customer's really interested but the price point is slightly out of his range, he can always send you a message via the CC system and you can then enter into a more reasonable negotiation. A customer offering pennies on the dollar is only interested in his needs and not a long term relationship so I'd ignore those offers without remorse whether the offers are at $7 or below. The main price that matters is the price you're comfortable with, not a pre-established minimum.

[Yogagirl]

I was disappointed to receive an offer of $4.00 for "full rights" for one of my articles. Naturally I rejected this offer and was surprised it was even made. Surely I am worth more- $2.60 for me and $1.40 for CC to edit and send emails etc. This type of offer undervalues all of the CC authors and CC itself. What really upset me was that someone has sold an article for $4.00 "full rights" so I assume it was the same person I rejected who was lucky enough to find someone foolish enough to sell. This customer has made a public request for a mother's day article for $5.00 full rights and I am really hoping there will be no response to his request. We should all stick together and reject such offers. Perhaps CC should consider placing a cap on offers - It is ok to purchase an article for "usage" for under $10 but surely not for "full rights". This way we would not be all wasting our time rejecting offers that are an insult to all writers. What do other writers think?

The same thing has happened to me and have rejected those ludicrous offers for full rights. It's not like we are making a killing off articles (unless you have a lengthy article that you can sell full rights for $100 plus), but we should be able to make it worth our time and energy.

[HayleyWriter]

What bugs me is that every day on the recently sold list, you see articles selling for less than the $7 usage minimum. Obviously, some writers are accepting these low ball offers and selling themselves short. You do not have to accept these low offers ... hang on and wait for a sale that makes writing worth your time!

[Lisa-Anne Sanderson]

Maybe the writers who accept such low prices write tons of articles! That is the only way in which the writers could make any money.

It is depressing to see amounts of $5.00 or so in the 'Recently Sold' list, I agree. Even $20.00 is rather low. I don't bother with most requesters who only offer $10.00 - $20.00 per article.

[copypro1]

It saddens me to see the pitiful amounts accepted when a customer has SPECIFIED a dollar amount well in excess of the amount they then buy the articles for. When a customer says, "I will pay $250 for this," and a writer offers it to them for $35, they are undercutting themselves and all others sharing this site. My research, creativity, and writing are often worth far more than I can get, primarily due to someone else offering their work for so little. Respect yourself and your work. Accept less if you are a beginner, but don't take a $200 offer and turn it into a $25 job. That's just dumb, on many levels. Look at the guidelines and price accordingly. If you value your work so little, then at least don't undercut others so drastically. It isn't right for anyone concerned, especially you.