10
Rant: The 'always take a deposit' advice that backfired on me
An older freelancer told me to always ask for half up front. I did that with a new client in Seattle for a $2,000 project. They paid the deposit, then strung me along for 3 months on tiny changes before disappearing. I ended up keeping the money but wasted all that time. Has anyone else found that deposits scare off good clients or attract bad ones?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
waderamirez4d agoMost Upvoted
Well I read this interesting piece from a small business lawyer saying deposits basically let you filter clients into two groups. The ones who pay and then slow-walk you are just bad clients who would have wasted your time anyway, while pros don't blink at a deposit because they value their own time too. That $1,000 you kept was probably fair pay for three months of headaches and revisions. I think you dodged a bigger bullet than you realize because a client who drags things out that long would have found some way to short you on the final payment too. Next time maybe try a smaller deposit like 25 percent and set a clear timeline with a deadline for final decisions.
10
joseph483d ago
Yeah so I'm basically the king of picking the wrong clients apparently. I took a deposit once for a logo redesign and the guy paid it then sent me 47 different font suggestions over six weeks before ghosting. I kept the money but my brain still feels like it's recovering from that experience. Honestly I think deposits are like a weird personality test for clients and I keep attracting the ones who want to play games. I should probably just take the hint and start charging by the hour instead of trusting anyone with a credit card again.
1
jamesc793d ago
waderamirez makes a good point about the lawyer's take, but that 25 percent deposit idea isn't always a silver bullet. I had a client who paid 25 percent on a $1,500 web design job and then kept asking for "just one more revision" on the homepage for two months. I kept that $375, but the hourly rate worked out to like five bucks after all that back and forth. Smaller deposits don't stop the slow-walking problem, they just lower the price you get for your patience. So yeah, maybe the filter works both ways, but the coin flip on which type you get still feels brutal.
0