Thread: undercutting in every niche

From Southern Illinios Craigslist browsing this evening:

Free Personal Trainer: "Is your New Year's resolution to drop a few extra pounds? Maybe to get in better shape to improve your quality of life? Well, I can help; I recently graduated with my Bachelor's in Exercise Science and I'm trying to get a few professional references on my resume. I do not believe in charging the outrageous fees that gyms charge for personal training service, so I'm doing this 100% free. "

Band for weddings: "we charge $100 an hour which is worth it due to the quickly rising popularity and the ability to draw a large crowd. " $100/hr really? REALLY??

..c::

Honestly, the free "personal trainer" is probably some pervert.

The band, however, has no excuse.

agreed. the personal trainer one REALLY cuts me deep. the band thing, though I'm not in a band, I am still appalled.

yikes.

Originally Posted by ssipes

From Southern Illinios Craigslist browsing this evening:

..c::

But ..... but ...... isn't Illinois the Capital of Suckage, USA??? Undercutting should be consistent with its hafla-sucking practices -- no?

willing to bet that free trainer has some supplements to sell you.

Originally Posted by naiyahayal

But ..... but ...... isn't Illinois the Capital of Suckage, USA??? Undercutting should be consistent with its hafla-sucking practices -- no?

.w.:.w.:.w.:.w.:..l;,.w.:.w.:.w.:.w.:.w.:..c::

Maybe the economy is making people desperate.

Originally Posted by anthea

Maybe the economy is making people desperate.

i think they just have no clue, have no guidance and think it's quick money.....if you're desparate, i would think they would market themselves as 'i have the best training, best education, and worth every cent of your hard earned money' to guarantee the best pay so they don't burn themselves out.....

the personal trainer? i have to wonder if where he's training has classes in marketing and business ethics....he likely missed 'em

I found this lovely posting on our local Craigslist.

I posted this once before and got a million responses. Most people wanted to be paid hundreds of dollars. We are NOT interested in paying more than $50 for your service, so if the post below interests you, please respond.

My daughter will be 6 months old in a few weeks and I would like to get pictures of her and of the three of us taken. We are a fun loving couple and want to capture the love and bond that the three of us share. We like creative pictures not the kind that Sears takes. We would like to capture images of her tiny features (hands, feet, smile, eyes, etc) and just of her personality and then of the three of us. We will sign a waiver for you to use them in your portfolio and we would be willing to pay $50 at most for your time or we could sign a waiver so you could use the images in your portfolio. In return we would like a copy of the disc of all of the pictures with permission to print them at our place of choice. Please email me if interested. We can do the pictures in our home or the location of your choice.

Wow - $50 whole dollars, and all the photographer has do is spend a bunch of time creatively posing and photographing a small infant and her clueless parents, and give up all revenue from print ordering. I'm surprised there aren't photographers breaking down her door. [/sarcasm]

I'm pretty naive about personal training since I've never even been to a gym, but my sister took a fitness instructor training program from a local college and one of the requirements to graduate was to have completed a certain number of hours practicing personal training. As students who were not certified yet, her class was encouraged to do these sessions for free. My sister got her hours in by teaching friends and family so she never put out an ad, but perhaps the advertisement is not as strange as it appears to us. There aren't really any bellydance-instructor certification programs that are widely required so this seems like undercutting to us, but maybe this case is an exception. Or maybe it is some creep after all...

Oh wait - a local "person" who is just a little better than a six week wonder advertises dancing at parties for $70!!! I never liked this person much anyway because she was always whining that nobody would help her learn (when she would never practice anyway), then she pulls a stunt like this.

Originally Posted by laura 2

I found this lovely posting on our local Craigslist.

I posted this once before and got a million responses. Most people wanted to be paid hundreds of dollars. We are NOT interested in paying more than $50 for your service, so if the post below interests you, please respond.

My daughter will be 6 months old in a few weeks and I would like to get pictures of her and of the three of us taken. We are a fun loving couple and want to capture the love and bond that the three of us share. We like creative pictures not the kind that Sears takes. We would like to capture images of her tiny features (hands, feet, smile, eyes, etc) and just of her personality and then of the three of us. We will sign a waiver for you to use them in your portfolio and we would be willing to pay $50 at most for your time or we could sign a waiver so you could use the images in your portfolio. In return we would like a copy of the disc of all of the pictures with permission to print them at our place of choice. Please email me if interested. We can do the pictures in our home or the location of your choice.

Wow - $50 whole dollars, and all the photographer has do is spend a bunch of time creatively posing and photographing a small infant and her clueless parents, and give up all revenue from print ordering. I'm surprised there aren't photographers breaking down her door. [/sarcasm]

I'm a photographer/artist in the Baltimore/DC area, and as you may have noticed (I imagine most of you have experienced a photo session), rates here are about $300 per hour, on the lower end.

Temporary thread detour: If I'm doing a photo shoot for reference shots for a commissioned portrait, I usually give 'em a break and charge $200 for the shoot, but they don't get to keep the pictures/negs/whatever. This is to prevent abuse of my time. I'm currently doing a commission (painting) for my friend's mother of her other son, and not only did I give her an enormous break on the price, but I waived the reference photo shoot fee. She's a nightmare to work with. Mind you, one shoot usually produces 75-100 shots. I ended up doing FOUR shoots. She still didn't like any of the pictures, so she gave me an absolutely HIDEOUS snapshot to work with, and she hated the underpainting that resulted. I told her flat out that I could spray perfume on a turd, but it's still a turd. So finally, after all that time, she picked the FIRST photo I took, that everyone was telling her was "the one" in the first place.

Ahem. Back to business.

Originally Posted by laura 2

I found this lovely posting on our local Craigslist.

I posted this once before and got a million responses. Most people wanted to be paid hundreds of dollars. We are NOT interested in paying more than $50 for your service, so if the post below interests you, please respond.

My daughter will be 6 months old in a few weeks and I would like to get pictures of her and of the three of us taken. We are a fun loving couple and want to capture the love and bond that the three of us share. We like creative pictures not the kind that Sears takes. We would like to capture images of her tiny features (hands, feet, smile, eyes, etc) and just of her personality and then of the three of us. We will sign a waiver for you to use them in your portfolio and we would be willing to pay $50 at most for your time or we could sign a waiver so you could use the images in your portfolio. In return we would like a copy of the disc of all of the pictures with permission to print them at our place of choice. Please email me if interested. We can do the pictures in our home or the location of your choice.

If I were independently wealthy and had all the time in the world, I would love to find and take jobs like this. I have some disposable cameras laying about the house and I've taken all kinds of pictures of my cats and dog, so I have experience! I would truly give people what they paid (in advance) for

Kidding of course, but it brings me great comfort.

Originally Posted by laura 2

Wow - $50 whole dollars, and all the photographer has do is spend a bunch of time creatively posing and photographing a small infant and her clueless parents, and give up all revenue from print ordering. I'm surprised there aren't photographers breaking down her door. [/sarcasm]

I love the list of demands. That would turn me off of photographing them more than the price. But then, my friends pay for my photography and design services in beer and food.