"mates rates"

Danger_Mouse

Danger_Mouse

Suspended / Banned
Messages
636
Name
wayne
Edit My Images
Yes
Bit of a rant really,

but i just recieved a message for a friend of a friend asking if i would do the photography for a mutual "friends" wedding.

the friend in question isnt actual a friend, but was going out with a mate of mine a few years ago.

I said, it all depends on what she is paying...


she said..... £50 :lol:

so i explained that i would usually charge more and adding a extra 0 would make the price more realistic and she has taken offense saying that its only taking some pictures and putting them on a CD.

I havent even seen the girl in about 2 years!!

Im not saying im the best or even close to being the best (yet ;)) but i wish people would understand our pricing. if you went to a mechanic and asked them to fix your car and offered £50 and they explained that to do that job it would cost more you would try and agree a price, not just slate what they do.

RANT OVER :D
 
Should say to them to give the £50 to a 12 year old with a point and snap camera... Will she be happy with the results then!?
 
the extra 0 is good but still not enought for a wedding shoot ..........mates rates or not
 
Take the £50, and give them a load of out of focus wonky images. When they question it, say "You pay peanuts, you get monkeys."
 
Dangermouse1964 said:
the extra 0 is good but still not enought for a wedding shoot ..........mates rates or not
Click to expand...

Im still at uni so not got the overheads or experience of a pro yet, so price accordingly.

but its a hell of a lot of work, for some one i dont know i wouldnt be charging less then £700 and would rather be charging more for all the work involved!
 
Tell them £50 is the rate for attending, another £450 and i'll bring a camera
 
The short answer is she isn't a mate is she. Mates rates are just that for your good mates, they don't apply for friends of mates mates, or their milkmen, hairdresser etc etc etc.
Give her your normal price but tell her as she's sort of a friend you'll throw in some extra time at the wedding and a few prints.
 
That is laughable. What does your friend do for a living?

Did your mutual friend go into the wedding dress shop and say 'but's only a bit of material and some thread?'
 
What's the problem? If you don't want to do it, don't do it. Simple.
 
A friend of mine recently got married and being a bit of a tight ass he didnt want to pay out for a tog, he was even kind enough to offer me £100 cash to do it for him. Needless to say I explained that my equipment was not suitable for weddings and it would cost me about £750 to rent the required equipment (well he's not to know).

He finally recovered from the shock and said he had it covered so I thought no more about it, what he did was to buy himself a fairly cheap compact and got a relative to take some pictures in the church and at the reception they put a few disposable cameras on each table for the guests to all take pictures with..
 
My wife is my biggest enemy when it comes to pricing.
Someone at work (we work in the same place) will ask for a kiddie portrait or a pet portrait and when I tell her the price to ask she'll say "but they are our friends" and I end up with a bottle of whisky!!
 
Friends and relatives are the worst people to to business with if you are self employed or have a skill "for sale". You either feel awkward charging a fair price or they expect you to do "it" for next to nothing.I used to work in IT and have lost count of teh amount of hours i spent repairing family PC's etc for free. Generally the anonymity of dealing with strangers enquiries makes it so much easier to state your price without the need to fully explain why they will percieve it as expensive.

If i were good enough to do pro photography i would state my going rate and then a percentage discount to the family/friend. That way they will realise how much of a favor you are doing them.
 
You certainly know who your mates are when it comes to something like this don't you?
The problem is, if you had agreed to doing this one at £50, you could have got yourself stuck in a rut as this mate's rate could have done the circuit! Then you would have had "mates" saying "well you did it for her?"
I can also bet that she was expecting an unlimited amount of pictures too! All the way from getting ready to first dance!
 
Pretty much the same in all walks of like. I constantly get asked to fix peoples computers for nothing. Whilst I don't mind doing it for family that's were it stops.

It's not the money that gets to me it's the sheer cheek of them thinking I want to spend all my spare time outside of work fixing their computer instead of spending time with my family...
 
gingerweasel said:
Pretty much the same in all walks of like. I constantly get asked to fix peoples computers for nothing. Whilst I don't mind doing it for family that's were it stops.

It's not the money that gets to me it's the sheer cheek of them thinking I want to spend all my spare time outside of work fixing their computer instead of spending time with my family...
Click to expand...

I agree with you there, everyone thinks that you have got nothing better to do than sit at their computer fixing it for hours and hours.

To the OP, like has been said if you do it for this "mate" for £50 then I'm sure you'll get loads more saying you did if for them why not us.
 
I think you need to simply educate your friends to the work involved, and the expense involved. Don't forget to remind her about Insurance costs for your day, and the cost of all the kit you are using. Explain that regardless of what she wants, ALL photos need personally processed, and this takes time. Then tell her, for 3 hours, and 20 of the best photos on a disk, £500 :)

Gary.
 
Danger_Mouse said:
Im not completely sure what the bride does? but the friend works in a hotel some sort of management.
Click to expand...

Then you would think he had come across wedding togs before and know what kind of prices they charge. Maybe not I suppose, depending on the sort of hotels he has worked, but even so, as everyone has said, just say no. There's an extra zero involved or not at all.
 
I'm not sure what the fuss is about. Go to the wedding and take photos for £50. Then when she comes looking for them just say

"oh, you actually wanted to see the photos too? That wasn't part of the deal. I charge £20 per photo if you want them"
 
EdinburghGary said:
I think you need to simply educate your friends to the work involved, and the expense involved. Don't forget to remind her about Insurance costs for your day, and the cost of all the kit you are using. Explain that regardless of what she wants, ALL photos need personally processed, and this takes time. Then tell her, for 3 hours, and 20 of the best photos on a disk, £500 :)

Gary.
Click to expand...

:thumbs:

Some of the hard-bitten pro's on another list I frequent are VERY despondent about the state of the business at the moment. By saying no to this sort of thing you are doing your little bit to prevent it going to the dogs completely.
 
The thing i dont get is, if i was invited to the wedding i would have took my camera anyway because i enjoy taking photos.

they wouldnt have been pro or even thought out, just some shots of friends having a laugh.

but i know im not going to be invited, and if im not being invited im not going to do it of £50

I wouldnt let a photo im not happy with go out into the public, its my name for future business that will be attached to it. so i would be editing them all and that build up time....time that i dont have as its coming up to time to hand in all my uni work for the first part of this year.

I will try and see what she is going to do and let you know the results. wonder if it will be no pro tog, and just get all the pics off facebook or they will find some money.
 
I'd politely decline, explain that for your time it's going to end up costing you money not being able to attend a proper paying job. Give them a price and then a % discount on what you would feel comfortable as a mate of a mates-rate :)

At least that way they can see your giving them a better deal then if they hired you out normally. If you bump up the price before showing them the % discount is up to you :bonk:
 
Just explain that IF she was a friend she wouldn't try to screw you over so blatantly. Simple as!
 
James Pardon said:
If you bump up the price before showing them the % discount is up to you :bonk:
Click to expand...

Sounds alot like the "nice car in the drive-way tax" and the "no cup of tea tax" that tradesmen use ;) lol.


I am curious though, has she actually been to a pro tog to find out the price before deciding that £50 is fine? She may be in for a shock when she goes elsewhere.
 
Why not just send her an email listing your overheads with an approx cost?

Insurance
Time (3 Hours minimum?)
Travel Costs
Time costs to process around a minimum of 100 Images and select the one's you're happy with
Hire of decent Equipment (assuming you don't already have any decent lenses and a spare body)

Tell her you'd have been happy to waive the Travel Costs if you were invited to the wedding in the first place, but 'mates rates' don't apply as you can't be that good of a friend or you'd have been invited in the first place.



In fact scrap all that, and just tell her as you said, you'd have brought your camera along anyway if you'd been invited, but as you weren't.....
 
Perhaps suggest that you are very pleased to be invited ;). And you would rather just enjoy the day, rather than have all the stress of taking pictures. But you are prepared to take some informal portraits along the way for her budget.

But she must employ a professional in order to have a professional record of the day - if she so wishes.

Graham
 
grey.squirrel said:
I am curious though, has she actually been to a pro tog to find out the price before deciding that £50 is fine? She may be in for a shock when she goes elsewhere.
Click to expand...

You could be right here, if you've not asked anyone else / professional you might think 50 quid is ok or maybe she need to find a student as i'm sure they be more then happy to do it for that much and a few units of alcohol
 
the main issue being they're not mates are they, i'll never/rarely have to pay for an accountant or tattoo's or the electric's in the house doing because that's what my close mates do for a living and because we actually care for each other and genuinely want to help each other we look out for each other and wouldn't take the **** (i.e i'm going to genuinely offer to pay just like they offer to pay and be happy to do so)

some cheap plonker who's seen me out and about or said hi to at the pub gets maybe 20% off after i've hiked the prices up by 20%

it's the old thing of if you charge nothing you're worth nothing and that's the difference, to your "mates" you already mean (are worth) something
 
alexkidd said:
...it's the old thing of if you charge nothing you're worth nothing and that's the difference, to your "mates" you already mean (are worth) something
Click to expand...

:clap:

Nicely put.

Your mates should rather pay you the correct sum, rather than someone with similar talents who they don't even know. That’s true mates, funnily, as an actual mechanic, I know this only too well. ;)
 
Forbiddenbiker said:
Your mates should rather pay you the correct sum, rather than someone with similar talents who they don't even know. That’s true mates, funnily, as an actual mechanic, I know this only too well. ;)
Click to expand...

Post of the week :thumbs:
 
I wouldn't enter into a dialogue with them over it, quite simply I would politely decline.
If you have time to go to lengths to justify the how's and why's then maybe you have time to take a few snaps and just pop it on a CD for a nifty ;)

They will find out soon enough 2 things:
1) the real cost involved
2) the real value of friendship
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top