Tried raising my rate by $10 and got ghosted by a regular client

I bumped my hourly from $60 to $70 for a design client in Seattle who I've been working with for 2 years. They didn't even reply to my email, just stopped sending projects. Kinda stings but now I realize I was probably undercharging them the whole time based on what other freelancers charge. Anybody else lose a client after a rate hike and find it was actually a good thing in the end?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_thomas1mo ago

Yeah that sucks, I feel you. Lost a client last year when I went from $50 to $65 an hour for web dev work. They just went silent, no goodbye, nothing. But honestly six months later I was making more money with fewer clients because I had room for better paying ones. Sounds like your old rate was too low for Seattle anyway.

lopez.simon1mo ago

idk maybe this is just me but I bet that client was looking for an excuse to leave anyway. Like when someone flakes on you after a price change it usually means they were already unhappy or shopping around. The rate hike just gave them a reason to bail without having to actually talk to you about it. It's easy to blame the price but sometimes the relationship was already on its last legs.

jamesm481d ago

Ha! At least they ghosted you instead of giving you that "we'll think about it" answer and stringing you along for another year. Maybe we should start charging a "coward's fee" upfront for clients who can't handle a simple conversation.