Product Descriptions- How Much Should I Charge?

[Lumara]

I applied for a freelance position writing product descriptions and received a reply asking for my rates. I've never established any, and I've always bypassed job ads that asked for my bid or rates.

Here is the job description:

We have requirement thru out the year as we add 1000-2000 new items every month. Please let me know your charges on per item description basis. Each item description will be close to 150 words.

Imp Instructions:

1. Title 65 Words

2. Description: 150 words ( Size and material should be in bullet point in the end)

Title and descriptions should be unique and fresh.

I won't work for a paltry .01/word, so what would be a fair price for both me and the client? Would $3.00 per description be fair, or is that too much? Another site last year wanted me to write short product descriptions for $2.50 each, but I was too busy and couldn't do it. Thanks!

[megank]

Base it on your desired hourly rate - figure out how many you think you could do in an hour and come up with a number that way. It wouldn't hurt to be conservative about how many you can do, that way you will have room for slower ones. Product descriptions are mind-numbing to me, so I would add a charge for that too.

[ErinHill226]

It depends on how fast you can go. For one company I do 40 word descriptions for $1.50 per item. I can do up to 30 an hour, however. For a certain comparison shopping engine many of us were writing for recently, I got $4 per description and often averaged about $60+ per hour once I got used to it.

What types of products are these? Will you have to actually look them up? Or will they provide links to the product page where you can just read through and write? That has made a big difference for me in terms of how fast I can write.

I wouldn't charge LESS than $3 per for that length. I would consider charging more if lots of reading is involved.

On another note... are they hiring multiple writers by chance?

[Lumara]

It's for a website that sells home decor. I responded to an ad at a telecommuting jobs site, and I have no idea how many writers they want to hire. I enjoy home decorating and writing about it, but I still haven't responded to their query since I'm stumped. I don't want to set an amount higher than other contenders, but I want to earn a decent amount for my writing.

[Kiernansmom]

I'd say $3-4 per description would be fair, depending on how easy it is to find the info you need. I wouldn't do it for less, personally. I once wrote 100-word descriptions for $3 each and it was enough that it was worth my time, but still not fantastic money or anything.

[AG1976]

What stinks is that you know someone will answer the ad and say that they'll write them for 10 cents each. Hopefully the client will weigh quality over cheap rates.

[ErinHill226]

Originally Posted by AG1976

What stinks is that you know someone will answer the ad and say that they'll write them for 10 cents each. Hopefully the client will weigh quality over cheap rates.

Yes, it's hard to price product descriptions for this reason. People think "Or it's short, not worth much" without realizing that to make them GOOD, they do take a little time.

More than likely, unless you go unbelievably low, you will be outbid by someone. I usually try and highlight what the client gets for the price, and that seems to help. If you can stomach going as low as $2, that might help...and assuming they didn't require much searching, it might still equal an okay houly rate.

I think $3 is perfectly fair, and would possibly bid more like $4 or $5 if you will have to look the items up yourself. Any lower than that, and it's just not worth the effort and headache.

[Lumara]

Originally Posted by AG1976

What stinks is that you know someone will answer the ad and say that they'll write them for 10 cents each. Hopefully the client will weigh quality over cheap rates.

That's what I'm afraid of. I just sent a reply quoting $4.50 per item if there's no research involved. That's $.03 a word which is fair IMO.

[maryalene]

Originally Posted by ErinHill226

I usually try and highlight what the client gets for the price, and that seems to help.

With so many people low-balling bids, I think this is so important. I always include some standard language in my bids stressing I am a native English speaker with excellent punctuation, spelling and grammar skills. In addition, I tell them my work is always 100% original and designed to grab their customers' attention and lead them to the sale. Once I started including this little pitch in my bids, my positive response rate went up significantly.

Hope this helps!

Maryalene