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 the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- Most of it landed at once — the busiest month was September 2026, with 13 people.
- This comes up 77.1× more often in r/Bookkeeping than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Firing the client or dropping themDid this help you?
- 2Raising prices to weed out cheap clientsDid this help you?
- 3Charging by value instead of by the hourDid this help you?
- 4Walking away from the low-paying client entirelyDid this help you?
- 5Reducing the scope of services delivered to match the client's lower budgetDid this help you?
- 6Insisting on strict hourly billing instead of fixed monthly retainersDid this help you?
- 7Raising rates annually according to a schedule outlined in the contractDid this help you?
- 8Researching industry market rates to build a case for an adjustmentDid this help you?
- 9Pushing back and framing the rate increase directly around the newly added expenses or contract clauses rather than asking for a general raiseDid this help you?
- 10Firing the client and making a clean breakDid this help you?
- 11Setting strict boundaries and refusing to do unpaid workDid this help you?
- 12Completing the current contract before walking awayDid this help you?
- 13Sending summary emails reiterating scope and boundariesDid this help you?
- 14omitting prices from the website entirelyDid this help you?
- 15requiring direct consultations or custom quotes for events and cateringDid this help you?
- 16only publishing prices if online ordering is supportedDid this help you?
- 17Rejecting the low-ball offer and walking away from the clientDid this help you?
- 18Leveraging AI tools to speed up development so a low-budget project fits into fewer hoursDid this help you?
- 19Cutting down the project scope to match the offered budgetDid this help you?
- 20firing or dropping the difficult clientsDid this help you?
- 21raising prices to force them to leave or pay more for the hassleDid this help you?
- 22calling them directly to confront the gossip and address issuesDid this help you?
- 23Setting firm boundaries and stating the process up frontDid this help you?
- 24Rejecting commission-based or contingency offers and moving onDid this help you?
- 25Kindly explaining why such payment structures do not workDid this help you?
- 26negotiating and offering a small discount for un-actioned items while explaining the value and unexpected costs absorbedDid this help you?
- 27ignoring competitors and continuing current business practicesDid this help you?
- 28considering whether to raise pricesDid this help you?
- 29Setting up an auto-text or voicemail that states minimum rates or emergency pricing to filter out cheap prospects before speaking to them.Did this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“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 ↗
“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 ↗
“Just did this and they came back with, "Insurance is your cost not ours." 😂”source ↗
“She said to me "you're the most expensive bookkeeper" they've ever worked with”source ↗
“Am I insanely overcharging my client?”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 ↗
“So many clients hate to pay for accounting which is an essential part of running their businesses!”source ↗
“It's so frustrating when organizations ask me to do grant writing for them on a commission basis or money back guarantee, it's like they forget they're hiring a person who has to pay rent and buy food instead of a corporation with pits of money.”source ↗
“no I can't put off getting paid for 9 months while you wait for a million dollars to come in, my landlord says I have to pay this month, not next year.”source ↗
“I also can't give you back the money you spent on a grant you didn't win 6 months ago, I spent that on rent and groceries back when you paid me the amount.”source ↗
“Anyone else have that customer that complains about you behind your back often enough that you catch wind of it and yet they keep coming back to you every time they have a problem?”source ↗
“I have one, the old man in charge doesn't trust us, but has us on auto-pay every month and continues to have us chasing our tail on things that don't matter.... every time a ticket comes in I lose at least 3 months off my life.”source ↗
“Can't convince executives to fire the customers, because their mindset is any paying customer is a good customer.”source ↗
“I still get a lot of low quality people calling and contacting even in the middle of the night looking to get something done for a very cheap price and then getting upset when I dont match the price their friend who apparently is also a plumber gave them.”source ↗
“calling to haggle for 50 or 100 bucks at night is something I don't get.”source ↗
“Recently I got told I was creating a lot of enemies because they said I was giving away my jobs.”source ↗
“They want to charge for a simple mounting 14kyg that cost is about $650 with everything including labor $3500 … same ring I sell at $1650-$1700. I am okay with that margin they say I’m too cheap and I’m giving away my jobs.”source ↗
“i feel you, it's like they think you're sitting by the phone at 2am dying to knock $100 off a job”source ↗
“so my question is did u ever have a customer push back on price and if so how di you deal with it?and how did it go?”source ↗
“I never put prices on my website. Somebody takes a look at my website on September 1 and then on December 30 they are ready to place a BEO and if the price doesnt match up...it's always some hurt feelings”source ↗
“800 sounds super low to me tbh but since you don't want the "it depends answer" then I'll say this: If you can build it all in 1 day (start to finish), go for it, otherwise it's a bad deal.”source ↗
“At $50/hr, that budget gets used in 2 work days. And that's a low rate for a specialized consultant.”source ↗
“I quoted $1800–$2200. They said **$800 is the max**.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2Client disputing billing terms and rates after receiving the invoice
- 5Why do old clients expect the same discount for new projects?
- 3Why does customer service just recommend apps instead of helping?
- 5Clients who refuse to fix underlying problems before repairs
- 28How to handle clients who demand refunds and bully you
- 5How to follow up with a client who picked a cheaper vendor