I quoted $50 for a logo, the client negotiated down to $12 and gave me a gas station hot dog as a bonus

Went to a coffee shop in Portland to meet a guy who needed a logo for his food cart. I threw out $50 thinking that was low enough to be an easy yes. He looked at me like I asked for his kidney and said he could get one on Fiverr for $5. After 20 minutes of back and forth, we landed on $12 and a free hot dog from his cart that day. The hot dog was actually pretty good, but the logo took me 6 hours because I kept second guessing myself. I delivered it, he used it for a week, then told me his cousin's kid redrew it for free. Not sure if I should laugh or be mad, but I did learn to hold my ground with numbers. Has anyone else had a client negotiate below what feels like human dignity?

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xena_hernandez988d ago

My first freelance logo gig taught me the same lesson back in 2019, I quoted $75 and got talked down to $20 because the guy kept saying his nephew could do it for free. What finally worked for me was setting a hard rule that I never drop below half my quote, no matter how awkward the room gets. I also started asking for half payment up front, which weeds out the worst bargain hunters before I waste any time. That hot dog story is wild though, at least you got lunch out of it, but yeah, $12 for 6 hours is basically paying to work.