Why clients expect Indian freelancers to be cheap

Some clients abroad do expect Indian freelancers to be cheap, and for many of them price is the reason they looked at India in the first place. Starting at a low price is a fair way in, and there is nothing shameful about it. The cost comes later, because a client who met you at a low rate tends to keep you at that rate. So use the low price to get your first clients abroad, raise it with every new client, and aim for a fair middle before you ask for the rates local freelancers charge.

What the client is thinking

When small businesses in the US or Europe hire a freelancer abroad, they often look at India, Pakistan and the Philippines, and price is a large part of why. Why US clients hire freelancers from India explains what those businesses need and why they come back.

On Upwork (opens in a new tab), in the kind of work I do, many clients come looking for someone at $5 or $10 an hour. To be honest, for a client in the US a low rate may be cheap labour. For someone in India, the same rate may not be cheap at all.

Clients have never said this to my face. But people I know in India who do the same work as me have found it. Some clients expected Indians to charge far less, and that low price was the main reason those clients came to India. Other clients were only looking for the skill, and the country hardly mattered to them. A copywriter I know, who was paid $40 an hour by the people he subcontracted for, still expects to meet both kinds.

The trap: a price that starts low tends to stay low

The first price a client hears becomes the number they measure every later price against. People who study pricing call this anchoring, and in my experience, when you anchor low, you tend to stay low.

In my own case, I started at $5 an hour, and I was still at $15 to $18 an hour before I moved to $150. At least two clients who knew me at the old rate could not pay the new one, and How to say no to a client without losing them tells how I handled that.

Clients abroad are not the only ones who start from a low number. About five years ago, when I still took work from clients in India, I usually charged ₹30,000 to ₹50,000 for a website. A doctor wanted one for ₹5,000, with a logo design included. His budget and my price did not meet, and after that I stopped working with clients in India and chose to focus on clients abroad.

How to climb out of it

Start where you need to. With no clients abroad yet, a low price is a fair way to get the first few. Even a low rate from a client abroad can double or triple what many people earn in India.

Raise the price with each new client, not the current one. How to raise your rates as a freelancer shows how, in small steps.

Aim for a fair middle before local rates. A rate between what India pays and what a local expert in the US charges is still very good pay in India and still a saving for the client. The fair ranges at each stage are in How to charge international clients from India.

When a client asks you to come down from your price, you do not have to. Client asking for a discount? What to say has the replies I use.

Keep the three old rates and the new one on the same page, with today's date. When the next rate goes up, add it underneath. The other steps for this stage are on the finding clients page, and the rate calculator gives you your floor.