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My $600 website redesign project just fell apart because I skipped the deposit
Trusted a repeat client when they said they'd pay after I finished the homepage mockups. Six hours of work and three ghosted emails later, I'm back to square one with an empty inbox and a sore lesson about repeating mistakes.
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fisher.jessica2h agoMost Upvoted
Ugh, that is a rough way to learn it for sure. Just one tiny thing I'd gently push back on though - a $50 deposit might not have told you much either. Some people will happily throw $50 at something and still ghost you later, you know? In my experience, a deposit needs to be enough that it actually stings a little if they walk away, like 25-30% of the total. Otherwise it's just another promise with a small price tag attached.
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garcia.wren2h ago
Ugh, that sucks. I read a thing once about how even good clients forget to pay if there's no money on the line. It's like their brain just moves on to the next fire. A $50 deposit would have at least told you if they were serious. Now you're out real hours for a promise. Hard way to learn it, but a cheap lesson compared to a bigger project.
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