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LiveItUp
Love my babies!
Member since 8/11 4096 total posts
Name:
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Opinions please - vendor doubling price for repeat customer?
We found an ad posted by a photography student to do pictures for any type of occasion for $50/hour. The deal is you get all the pics on a disk and she can use them in her portfolio, and online, Facebook, etc to promote herself and gain experience. So we booked her for a family photo shoot that lasted about 40 min and paid the $50. We haven't seen the pictures yet but we liked her and have seen other work of hers online, and while its not stellar its acceptable, so we asked her if she could come to DDs bday party for about 45 min to take some pics with close family and DD with her cake. She agreed and said the price will be double due to the location being farther away and there being more people involved.
We were surprised because
1: the location is no more than 2 min away from the 1st location and 2: shouldn't the price be the same per hour, regardless of how many people she is shooting?
We're not sure if we want to book her now, not that the extra $50 is that much money, but its just rubbing us the wrong way. It just seems like doubling her price doesn't seem like a great way to promote herself and get us to recommend her. Also she's not a pro yet, still a student, so we have no guarantee we'll love the pics. And we're giving her an opportunity to build her portfolio. Does it seem reasonable for her to ask for more money given the circumstances? If according to her ad she even does weddings for $50 an hour why would it be $100 for 45 min at a birthday party?
The only other time I've ever booked a photographer was for my wedding so I'm not sure what the going rate for something like that would be for a professional photographer, let alone a student.
Thanks for the opinions!
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Posted 10/5/13 12:31 PM  |
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Long Island Weddings
Long Island's Largest Bridal Resource |
Paramount
Sweet!
Member since 7/12 4287 total posts
Name:
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Opinions please - vendor doubling price for repeat customer?
The fact is she is allowed to charge whatever she wants. For whatever reason.
I think she is stupid for what it's worth. If you came back to her a year later and she has a year more experience I would expect it. However it sounds like its what , 1 month later? I would say thank you but no and cancel.
Sounds to me she has no idea how to run a business. I would be very soured to her also.
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| Posted 10/5/13 12:44 PM |
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LiveItUp
Love my babies!
Member since 8/11 4096 total posts
Name:
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Re: Opinions please - vendor doubling price for repeat customer?
Posted by Paramount
The fact is she is allowed to charge whatever she wants. For whatever reason.
I think she is stupid for what it's worth. If you came back to her a year later and she has a year more experience I would expect it. However it sounds like its what , 1 month later? I would say thank you but no and cancel.
Sounds to me she has no idea how to run a business. I would be very soured to her also.
It's a week later. We thought she'd be happy for an extra opportunity to build her skills and portfolio. I would also understand if it was a good amount of time later and she had gained a significant amount of skill.
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| Posted 10/5/13 12:55 PM |
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adeline27
LIF Adult
Member since 5/06 3121 total posts
Name:
Angela
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Re: Opinions please - vendor doubling price for repeat customer?
MPO I think $ 50 is way cheap even for a photography student. I'm sure your getting much better quality than just picking a family or friend to take pics for you. She knows she made herself too cheap and I don't blame her for wanting more. Ive paid $350 for an hour and a half and she was experienced. For what you are getting including a cd with all those pics she is worth at least $100 in my opinion. You really got her for nothing first time around.
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| Posted 10/5/13 2:02 PM |
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Opinions please - vendor doubling price for repeat customer?
I wouldn't book her on the fact that you haven't seen the first pics yet.
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| Posted 10/5/13 2:06 PM |
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adeline27
LIF Adult
Member since 5/06 3121 total posts
Name:
Angela
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Re: Opinions please - vendor doubling price for repeat customer?
I just want to add her response shows her inexperience and she should include exclusions to her ad like good for one time occasion or something. If you want good quality pics and not have to worry about doing them yourself just pay the extra or just be like thank but unfortunately we can not afford the additional expense. There might be a good chance she will do it again for $50. Either way I don't think you overpaid for what your getting.
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| Posted 10/5/13 2:22 PM |
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LiveItUp
Love my babies!
Member since 8/11 4096 total posts
Name:
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Re: Opinions please - vendor doubling price for repeat customer?
Posted by adeline27
I just want to add her response shows her inexperience and she should include exclusions to her ad like good for one time occasion or something. If you want good quality pics and not have to worry about doing them yourself just pay the extra or just be like thank but unfortunately we can not afford the additional expense. There might be a good chance she will do it again for $50. Either way I don't think you overpaid for what your getting.
Yes we definitely know we got a great price, but she is the one who offered that price in her ad and on her website. If she wasn't comfortable with that amount she should have listed higher to begin with, or like you said, wrote something about it being a one time offer. At least she should have mentioned the higher price when we first asked her if she was available for dds party. We asked her in person at the first photo shoot and she said yes and to email her the info. No mention of the price. Two emails later back and forth about the details and still no mention of price. It was only in the third email back to her that I asked if its the same price and then she said its more. I just think it was unprofessional of her to do it that way.
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| Posted 10/5/13 2:54 PM |
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adeline27
LIF Adult
Member since 5/06 3121 total posts
Name:
Angela
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Re: Opinions please - vendor doubling price for repeat customer?
I 100% agree about the unprofessional part and she probably was going to charge you the same right until you cracked the door open by asking if it was going to be the same price. It gave her the opportunity to ask for more, not saying that's right at all because of her ad. I would if I were you say no thanks giving her the reason it is out of budget. I think she will absolutely cave in and do it for the $50 for you.
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| Posted 10/5/13 3:17 PM |
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LiveItUp
Love my babies!
Member since 8/11 4096 total posts
Name:
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Re: Opinions please - vendor doubling price for repeat customer?
Posted by adeline27
I 100% agree about the unprofessional part and she probably was going to charge you the same right until you cracked the door open by asking if it was going to be the same price. It gave her the opportunity to ask for more, not saying that's right at all because of her ad. I would if I were you say no thanks giving her the reason it is out of budget. I think she will absolutely cave in and do it for the $50 for you.
I was thinking that too, probably shouldn't have asked  just didn't want to be surprised afterwards with a higher bill. Oh well.
We have a DSLR camera and a few photography students in the family who will be at the party anyway. So if anything we'll just ask them to take a few shots. We had just figured that for $50 it was worth it so we wouldn't have to bother them.
At least we got one shoot at that price!
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| Posted 10/5/13 3:20 PM |
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Little-J-Mommy
I'm a Big Brother
Member since 5/06 8041 total posts
Name:
D
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Re: Opinions please - vendor doubling price for repeat customer?
Posted by LiveItUp
Posted by adeline27
I 100% agree about the unprofessional part and she probably was going to charge you the same right until you cracked the door open by asking if it was going to be the same price. It gave her the opportunity to ask for more, not saying that's right at all because of her ad. I would if I were you say no thanks giving her the reason it is out of budget. I think she will absolutely cave in and do it for the $50 for you.
I was thinking that too, probably shouldn't have asked just didn't want to be surprised afterwards with a higher bill. Oh well.
We have a DSLR camera and a few photography students in the family who will be at the party anyway. So if anything we'll just ask them to take a few shots. We had just figured that for $50 it was worth it so we wouldn't have to bother them.
At least we got one shoot at that price!
a week later??? That's pretty nervy. I'd tell her thanks but no thanks unless she wants to honor the price in her ad. I bet she'll jump at the chance to do it.
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| Posted 10/5/13 3:35 PM |
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Opinions please - vendor doubling price for repeat customer?
She's free to do what she wants. But I actually give repeat customers a small discount.
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| Posted 10/5/13 4:40 PM |
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AllyMally
LIF Adolescent
Member since 1/13 881 total posts
Name:
Alyson
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Re: Opinions please - vendor doubling price for repeat customer?
Posted by EatingMyVeggies
I wouldn't book her on the fact that you haven't seen the first pics yet.
This. If you like the 1st set of pics I would hire her again. When you get the 2nd set of pics I would just ask why such an increase in price? Did she find she needed to raise the price since it was more the she thought? Is this her new rate? I would want to know, but again I wouldn't rehire her until I saw the 1st set of pics.
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| Posted 10/5/13 5:18 PM |
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nrthshgrl
It goes fast. Pay attention.
Member since 7/05 57538 total posts
Name:
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Re: Opinions please - vendor doubling price for repeat customer?
I think she hasn't figured out the real cost of having a photography business but I'm not surprised that she'd want $100 to photograph a private party.
I can't see how she'd even start a sustainable business with a $50 photoshoot but you aren't doing her a favor by letting her photograph your party & build her portfolio. I'm sure there are plenty of people that would jump at a $100 decent photographer.
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| Posted 10/5/13 5:40 PM |
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