I am posting this hoping to get some insight from the veterans out there, and possibly help out anyone else in a similar situation. My gut is telling me not to go through with it, but I can't rationally see where the scam part about it is. And this is not just about this project. I'm just trying to understand if there are scams out there that I haven't come across, so we can all be more educated in the future.
Anyway, I got a request to build a website, which was odd since I hadn't freelanced in years. But I assumed it was from a referral. Here is the email exchange so far. I left out the unnecessary details.
From: R
Subject: Web
Hi,
Good Morning, Do you do website design ?
Thanks
Me:
Hi R, I can do front end design. But I don't do the development side (coding). Let me know if you're still interested in discussing further. Can I ask where you got my contact information? Thanks
R:
Thanks for your responds, below is my project details
Here is the job details I have small scale business which i want to turn into large scale business now it located in [STATE] and the company is based on importing and exporting of [PRODUCT DETAILS]. Can you handle that for me ? The site would only be informational, so i need you to give me an estimate based on my want below, the estimate should include hosting and i have a private project consultant, he has the text content and the logos for the site.
WHAT I WANT-
I need a very simple informational website that shows the products that I sell.
(4 main pages)
HOME PAGE
ABOUT US
OUR PRODUCTS (gallery) - about 25 products for now and adding 5-10 new products every month. I want the product to be classified into 4 pages , which are
Male : Adult and chidren , Female : Adult and children. so that the customers can get full details.
CONTACT US - with a form to fill out so that they can get in contact with me.
Domain Name i want- [DOMAIN].us or anything along that line.
TIMELINE- this should go “live” in 2 months.
Note:
-
I want only English language
-
You will be updating the site for me.
-
I will be proving the images, logos and content for the site.
-
I want the site up and running before ending of next two month.
-
My budget is $3000 to $6000
-
No shopping ability
-
The site will be mobile friendly
-
I don't want sitemap
-
I have 25 product to be on it.
Kindly get back to me with:
(1) an estimate
(2) your cell phone number
(3) And will like to know if you are the owner ??
(4) Do you accept credit cards as payment ?
Regards R
Me:
I will review and get back to you tonight. How did you find me? We're you referred by someone or did you find me online?
R:
Get to know you through a website designer, he's busy so he referred you to me but mention you both have not work together before.
I'll be expecting your feedback.
Thanks
Me:
Hi Robert, here are the answers to your questions:
(1) I can't give you an estimate right now, but I can work within your budget. Can you send me an example of one of your product photographs? I want to meet a certain quality in the photography, and if I feel more work has to be put into the photography, then that will affect the estimate.
(2) [PHONE NUMBER]. Although, I don't usually pick up my phone. I respond to email best.
(3) I am a freelancer (working alone) so yes I would be the owner.
(4) I do accept credit cards.
Just so you understand, I will not be building a website from scratch. I will be using a service called SquareSpace to build the site from. That way, you can make updates yourself if you need to, and the entire site will be mobile friendly.
[STRICT PAYMENT DETAILS, OUTLINING DEPOSIT AND MILESTONE PAYMENTS]
And once the site is up and running, I will continue to fix and update the site for free up until an agreed upon timeframe. Afterwards, I charge an hourly fee of [RATE].
If you are comfortable with everything above, and wish to proceed, then please confirm. I will then write up a contract for you to review and sign.
Thank you
R:
Thanks for your response, I am okay with the estimate everything sounds good and I'm ready to move forward.
Looking forward to hear back from you.
Regards
Me:
Ok great. Please send over the product images when you can. Thanks
R:
Good Morning,
Currently the content and logo are still Under construction but the consultant I hired are still working on it but they should be done before the end of next week. I don't want that to delay us you can start working on draft and layout.
I want you to use this site below as an example also because I want the same color theme and something simple like that.
Supply-demo.squarespace.com
I'm also ready to make down deposit so you can secured the domain name and hosting services.
Looking forward to hear back from you.
Thanks
Me:
Ok sounds good. I won't be able to officially start until next Monday, but I should be able to send you the contract and deposit details this week, to secure the domain/hosting. Thanks
And who was the person that referred you? I would just like to make note of it on file.
R:
Okay. I'll be expecting your feedback on the contract.
[NAME, SIMILAR TO A FAMOUS ACTOR] from Interactive design was the referral
Thanks
Me:
I'm actually not familiar with Daniel. Sorry, would you mind sending me his contact information? I just want to make sure I am giving credit to the right person. And I also have a policy of making sure I have credible referrals before starting a project. Thank you.
R:
[EMAIL, WHICH IS LITERALLY INTERACTIVEDESIGN AND A NUMBER]
At this point, I reached out to that other "designer" whom I've never heard of. Still haven't gotten a response back. I wanted to give this person the benefit of the doubt. I had met a lot of freelancers in the past. It's possible that I could have met this person and forgot. And I could overlook R's broken english, since I had worked with non native english speakers in the past (and R's name is not American).
So is there a scam here? Could this be part of some credit card fraud? Sorry for the long post. I feel like I'm missing something, but I just dont see it at the moment. I greatly appreciate any insight.
Great design resource
100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People (Voices That Matter)
Submitted September 07, 2017 at 01:54AM by TheRandomArtist http://ift.tt/2wJDTnl
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