I was just asked by a client to scan and do minor repair on his family photo archive which consists of approximately 1000 photos. He has a bid from a person in Manila who said he'd scan in all the photos to a separate JPG and then send back on a CD ROM. He would do minor enhancements to the photo. The quote was $400.00 +shipping both ways. The client does not want to send his photos out of the country, but he wants me to give him a comparable price.

There is no way I can do it for that price, my question is what should my proposal be?

I've never taken on a scanning job this big, but my estimate is between $1000 & $1500 depending on the restoration needed. I have an Epson 4870 scanner with digital ice, so I'm confident that some of the "restoration" will be taken care of in the scanning process.

Any input would be appreciated!

Thanks...

Do you really want to equate your services to 3rd-world labor?

No I dont!
thats why I'm asking for some constructive input.
How much would you charge for this service?
I would like to give the client a reasonable quote of what he would expect to pay if he kept his work here.

Even charging 10 times the offer from Manilla would only equate to $4.00 an image, far below what many labs here in the U.S.charge to scan. The lab I worked for charged $6.00 a scan and we were considered "cheap", next to many other labs. Doug is right...do you really want to be paid the rates of a third world country? :hat:
Joann

Thanks for your input.

In no way do I equate myself with third world labor, I'm sorry if I gave anyone that impression.

I must admit I was surprised, and a little put off by Doug's curt reply.

I honestly don't know what the average charge for this kind of bulk service is.
I know that $400 is ridiculously low, and I just threw my estimate out there as a starting point, and the only thing he would get for that is scanning, no restoration.

I suppose what I'm really looking for is someone who has been doing this kind of work professionally to give me an estimate of the cost if they were going to bid on the job.

Okay, looks like $6000 was a "resonably cheap" price.

When handing him this quote ask him if his work were to be sent over seas would he be willing to do it for less than 10% of what he makes now.

We had someone come into our shop and propose doing our scanning and "minor retouching" for an absurdly low price. Supposedly freeing up our higher paid employee's to do the more elaborate and intricate work. We decided to test it out, and even though they were using good equipment, the work was deplorable. Had we gone ahead and done this we would have wasted lots of hours and had to also redo the work.
I think that the question of quality is a better pursuit than talking to him about price. I am sure you have verifiable examples of your work. Ask him if he has seen the same from the guy im Manila.

Good Luck

Chris

Hi Elleth,
Please believe me when I say that I think your question was truly legitimate and I hope I didn't make you think that your service was third world rate. There just seems to be far too many places that think our type of work should be done at rediculously low rates. Good luck and hold firm! :wavey:
Joann

If someone brought me something like that, I (assuming all the orginals would fit on a scanner) would ask something like $5.00 per scan, then an hourly charge ($75.00) to do the "minor repair" work.

The customers problem is the amount of orginals. If he had 2 or 3 orginals and you said $5.00 per scan and maybe $75 to fix them up, there would not be near the problem there is when you start with a 1000 orginals and multiply accordingly.

If the customer is shopping totaly on cost, then there is not much you can do. There is always someone that will do the job cheaper. You can ask if he wants cheap or if he wants quaility, one or the other, you cannot have both. Don't be surprized when he picks cheap :tired:

Mike

Give him your qoute, if he refuses, than tell him "good luck with sending them overseas"

People can't demean themselves to the outsourced prices of 3rd world countries, tell him what he would be saving in money, he would lose with the comfort of knowing where his images will be.

Hard to believe this kind of job would be bid overseas.

No way in *(&)$ would I send the only copies of my genealogical photos to some shop thousands of miles away. I wouldn't do that even if the shop were still in the US. In fact it is one of the reasons I bought a scanner and a copy of Photoshop six years ago and spent a *lot* of time learning how to use them.

I say bid your regular rate and watch them go away...and think about it...and then come back.

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!

Thanks for the input everyone!

Kaulike apparently this gent did exactly that...went out and bought himself a scanner, and Photoshop thinking he would do it himself. In very short order he found out what was involved and started looking for someone to do it for him.

After much consideration, I gave him what I consider a fair bid, my regular rate with a bit off for volume. I also told him this estimate doesn't include restoration beyond what my scanner will do. The restoration charge would have to be decided on a case by case basis depending on the photo. I haven't heard back from him, if I do I'll share the reply.

Thanks for the input everyone!

Kaulike apparently this gent did exactly that...went out and bought himself a scanner, and Photoshop thinking he would do it himself. In very short order he found out what was involved and started looking for someone to do it for him.

One would think that if he did that, he would not question a resonable bid too much! But then again he now knows how much work there is to it and he now is trying to find out how low a wage you will work for.

I too am looking foreward to his reply!

Mike

I agree with a few of the posts above, the problem is with your client's perception of cost. As said, if it were a small job with a couple of scans involved then the client would probably have no problem or hesitation.

I think you could change the clients perception by presenting different packages involving different prices.

For example, quote your client a price based upon every 10 photos instead of each individual photo. Besides putting costs in perspective for your client you will also open the possibility of doing the work piecemeal; maybe the client will decide on getting a certain amount scanned each month or however according to affordability.

Another way to structure your package offers is to quote prices based upon different bundles of services and products. For example, the 'Deluxe Family Memories' package could include nice frames for a percentage of the prints, offer to mail copies of prints to family members, CD's, slide-show software, etc . . , all for 'Only $80.00' per 15 photos! Then the next package could be something like your 'Digitize It Now!' offer whereby your offer a basic scan and burn to CD for 'Only $60.00' per 15 photos.

The object is to correct the client's perception of the cost/value you offer by way of contrasting possibilities and to help reduce the percieved high cost of your offering by breaking in down into chunks that the client can handle economically.

First, I would tell him if he really wanted to save some money, to buy a scanner himself and scan all the pictures in himself. Then I would happily spend a half hour showing him how to do minor retouches himself. Then I would offer to do any major retouching for him at my regular fee (offer a bulk rate for quantity). All the while telling him he can call me anytime for advice.

Probably around the 6th image, he'd be calling me to take over. If not, I at least gave him good customer service.

Lowballers don't stay in business long, but while they're around they sure can wreak havoc on legitimate companies.