How to respond when a client says your rates are too high
Clients often compare your professional fees to what they currently spend or assume you are overcharging. This makes it difficult to defend your value without getting dragged into endless price negotiations or second-guessing your pricing.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Firing the client or dropping them
- 2Raising prices to weed out cheap clients
- 3Charging by value instead of by the hour
- 4Walking away from the low-paying client entirely
- 5Reducing the scope of services delivered to match the client's lower budget
- 6Insisting on strict hourly billing instead of fixed monthly retainers
- 7Raising rates annually according to a schedule outlined in the contract
- 8Researching industry market rates to build a case for an adjustment
- 9Pushing back and framing the rate increase directly around the newly added expenses or contract clauses rather than asking for a general raise
- 10Firing the client and making a clean break
- 11Setting strict boundaries and refusing to do unpaid work
- 12Completing the current contract before walking away
- 13Sending summary emails reiterating scope and boundaries
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“She said to me "you're the most expensive bookkeeper" they've ever worked with”source ↗
“Am I insanely overcharging my client?”source ↗
“I'm working for a much larger company, and they sent an updated contractor agreement. A lot of the updated language is to protect them (I get it), but nothing really benefits me. In fact, I have to do more to list them as an insured and such on my general liability insurance.”source ↗
“Would it be fair to ask for a pay increase with the updated contract? They pay me way too little, but have been a good, consistent client as I'm getting established.”source ↗
“She's cheap and cheap people are shite clients. Run away. She'll never value the work you do & there are better clients out there.”source ↗
“Client says her current bookkeeping budget is SGD 300/month; how would you handle this?”source ↗
“her response was basically: she understands the value and agrees that the initial workload will probably be heavier and then decrease, but she currently spends approximately SGD 300/month”source ↗
“Have you ever had a client who understood the scope and agreed to the terms, but still made you feel guilty when you charged for additional work?”source ↗
“So many clients hate to pay for accounting which is an essential part of running their businesses!”source ↗
“Just did this and they came back with, "Insurance is your cost not ours." 😂”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2Client disputing billing terms and rates after receiving the invoice
- 4Why do old clients expect the same discount for new projects?
- 16How to handle clients who demand refunds and bully you
- 5How to follow up with a client who picked a cheaper vendor
- 15Why does Etsy automatically refund buyers without seller approval?
- 2Why are employees still complaining after positive changes?