Friends & Discounts for Web Design

Another pricing thread! My old co-worker/friend is interested in a website for his clothing business. I didn't mention my price (lowest is $600), but he said people will sell them for $200-300, and I think that's the kind of price he's willing to pay. I'm willing to give a discount, but not at the prices he was hinting at. Tell me some of your friends/family discount stories and how you dealt with it .

He knows well-made sites can cost thousands but he's a bit cheap and on top of that his business isn't turning up much of a profit at the moment. He also said he could refer me to his friends. He hasn't done any advertising but the business has a Facebook and Twitter (not really being updated). I suggested I make the website and he could advertise in a local newspaper on his own that's distributed for free to thousands of people daily to start and if he wants more I'll offer other services.

under $300 for a website... lol, I charged more when I was 14 years old.

My advice, don't take on a friends project, especially not a cheap friend. It's okay for him to get help, but not compensate you? F*** that $hit. Really this kinda stuff is insulting.

3 Problems I already see:

--> Wants to enter ecommerce, has no money
--> He's cheap
--> His business isn't profitable

Don't waste your time, this guy doesn't know how to run a business in the first place and or is a free loader, move on. Tell him you're too busy and recommend he find someone else.

I guess I should mention it won't be an online store (he has a physical location and is planning on moving it to a mall or opening another location in one). In any case I think I'll just make a quick mockup and show it to him and hope he sees the value. He also asked me to work on it in his store because his son has the pictures or something...

Anyone else have stories or suggestions?

Go ahead and do it if the heart says so, nothing's stopping you!

Everything for a great friend -- that's how it should be. Someday (s)he will return the complement with interest!

A friend in need is...

P.S.: Shoot him your best price. A good friend will not feel embarrassed if he can't pay.

P.P.S.:

or let him shoot you his first, and go ahead and do it without letting any pain coming on later. lol


P.P.S.:

If you believe you and he are true buddies, then it (your help) is priceless! You're investing in a lifetime friendship project. I think that one of his FB friends is a multimillionaire in great need! lol

Good luck.

I did a website, SEO, Facebook page and a bunch of other shit for a dude I know and it's not really been the best idea. I did it for trade for his services which is fine, but something about that makes him not really get what he's getting in return.


I ask for photos (before and after for his service), and for him to collect customer reviews and all kinds of other shit and it never gets done. If he was paying me it would get done.


I'm not saying it will suck, but don't be surprised if it does.

It may have been a mistake to allow him to tell you what he'd like to pay without (in the same conversation) making it known that you're not used to taking anything under $600.

And he's right, he can get it for $200-$300 bucks or less - obv. not the level of quality and attention you would be giving it but it sounds like maybe that's all he needs/wants.

I'm doing a close friend's medium-size ecommerce site right now and just to give you some perspective I offered to do it for free but she insisted on paying me so she could maintain control over the project and issue deadlines so she tried to pay me $1,200 but I know that's a lot for her so we agreed on $800....if this was not a friend I would likely charge $1.5k - $3k for the site.

I recently solicited a fake quote for this type of med sized ecomm site from a very small (but probably popular) design/dev agency based in manhattan, they quoted me a five page-template ecommerce design with ONE round of revisions (inc a few custom graphics and a logo) built on magento (which is SERIOUS overkill for this type of project would likely have been a recipe for disaster in the long term)...oh but you have to load all your products and data yourself into the database but they will spend 1 Hour training you on magento.....total price: USD $14,000.00

I'd start by showing him what $200 will buy.


(if anyone wants the PDF I was sent quoting $14k PM me - at the very least its a fascinating read, lol)

Time waster, trust me, move on and thank me later Tell him you got really busy but if he comes up with the $600 you can fit him in (I still think $600 is low)

I would analyze how much of a friend this person is and how likely they are to do you favors.

I've sometimes done some work for cheap or free for certain friends and in the end, it paid off as they reciprocated their help when I've needed it so you can't be a scrooge all the time. At the same time, don't get taken advantage of either. I think since this person has a physical store that could help you if maybe they were willing to put your business cards out there or something depending on the demographic of his clients.