Asking for lower membership fee without access to job board

Bernhard Sulzer wrote:

I'm a professional translator. I expect professional services. I'll pay for what I consider professional.
Let Proz.com make me an offer.

Lieven Malaise wrote:

If you're interested in the services of this website, then pay for it. If you're not, then don't. I agree with Christopher above that 120 dollars a year is not expensive at all.

Lieven Malaise wrote:

And if you really think it's a good idea to try to change Proz's business model through a forum, then I would suggest you change your tone of voice, which is rather arrogant. If a potential client would talk to me like this, our conversation would be over after 2 messages.

Robert Rietvelt wrote:

I don't see it going to happen. Technically impossible. Sorry, but on what base should they give you a discount? On your 'ruby blue eyes'? What about people with another colour eyes? (figuratively speaking of course)

Jared Tabor wrote:

Hello Bernhard,

For those interested in new work, showing up in the first layer of the directories and that greater visibility to potential new clients is the main thing within paying membership, leaving aside for the moment things like the Blue Board and all the rest. Is that worth 120 a year (in the case of the Standard membership)? I think so, and then some. If you get just one new client out of it, with all that entails, it's going to lead to more than 120 USD in work.

ProZ.com membership has always been what we call a "self-serve" model: there are a bunch of services included, and each person gets to use what they want, when they want, and how they want. This is what allows the site to provide as many services as it does, and at the continually low pricing that it has maintained. And it also avoids complex pricing schemes and packaging that would come from offering a separate membership package for the directories, for posted jobs, for the Blue Board, for Invoicing, and so on and so forth. For the people who benefit from those services, they are worth 10 bucks a month, and they are not limited to just one service if they don't want to be.

This self-serve model has changed a bit recently, with the new premium monthly option, which includes everything in the Plus package and also website/hosting and AI, with one-on-one help and consultation from the ProZ.com team, and costs 25 a month. https://go.proz.com/premium

Discounts on the first year of membership are occasionally offered, as an added incentive for those who are not yet members and are on the fence. This is the case now for the Standard and Plus packages, until the end of December. https://www.proz.com/professional-membership


By the way, even though a member may not be interested in the posted jobs in general, the occasional interesting job post does come along and one can just quote on it (and receive greater visibility within the quoting system to the job poster), rather than paying 1 USD each time that happens.

Bernhard Sulzer wrote:



I'm not more special, but I'm not paying for something I don't use or that doesn't produce any results for me.
I actually paid for quite a few years. And as writeaway mentions, there used to be several levels of paid membership.

Also, it's our profiles that Proz.com offers to prospective clients. We then have to convince the prospective client to actually use our services. But without the information we provide in our profiles, Proz.com wouldn't exist and couldn't charge for the services. And this isn't the only expense I consider for marketing my services. I already pay fees to put myself out there. What I'm looking for is something that does something for me on a continuous basis, which is to simply come up in the search by prospective clients within the pool of all paid members.
Make me a reasonable offer.

[Edited at 2023-12-19 17:43 GMT]