[NEED ADVICE] What is the ballpark price range for getting a map designed?

[ThomasR]

You are never stupid Sue.

My point of view on this is that the Guild is not for advertising. For that, I have other means. The Guild is a place for enthusiast first and before all. When I post a new map, even if I also hope to catch the eye of a potential client, that's primarily to share it with the community, to help the forum live and, most of all, to give back what I get from all the marvelous maps that talented artists post here. There are ways to advertise, through our signatures, with ads appearing on the site if you are a sponsor AND if you want to (I hate advertising banners but I completely understand their necessity and the ones that chose to use that system).

[Wired]

The pricing question isn't something I'd just answer in such a way, Sue, as those are very broad ballpark quotes that can variate WILDLY depending on the details. I'm afraid it might even be counterproductive to post the prices since it raises expectations that most likely cannot be met, ie. "But your price quote there says €350, and now you're telling me it's €500!?! Are you trying to rip me off!!!?!"

[Mouse]

Oh indeed, I would never want this site to become an open market place!

I love it just the way it is

EDIT: nijad by Wired

I see your point there, Wired. Not being a pro myself I hadn't thought of it that way. But surely even the least graphically inclined client can understand that there will be a difference in price of several degrees in magnitude if you have to do 4 x as much detail for them as you would normally do?

[Voolf]

Mouse suggestion is actually good in a sense. It would be nice to write additional info in Please read me section of Mapmaking requests where newcomers could read the "avarage" price range they may expect.

Of course everyone will be asking diferent rates, that must be highlighted...., but some people starts off with 30$ to spend and they will think twice before posting anything after reading that for full colour map of a complex city they may be charged more than 500$ + additional costs of copyrights, if any are needed.

It is hard to find any informations how much a client suppose to pay for that kind of a job and i dont blame them. Instead of repeating ourself over and over again for everyone, we should just post this in the please read me thread for them to read before they actually post they request.

[Blaidd Drwg]

But surely even the least graphically inclined client can understand that there will be a difference in price of several degrees in magnitude if you have to do 4 x as much detail for them as you would normally do?

Oooh, I don't know about that. I think you're underestimating how unreasonable some people can be Now, to be fair, I haven't had any trouble with my clients myself. But I'm friends with several artists/graphic designers in real life, and they all seem to have some horror stories to tell. Quite often along the lines of "But you have a really nice hobby here that you love! You might as well work for free!"
Then again, such ballpark quotes might be educational in the sense that they show potential clients that good art doesn't come for free, either. The more I think about this, the more unsure I become on where I stand on this xD

Anyways, I'll just leave this link here, purely for its entertainment value https://clientsfromhell.net/

Edit #1: also got ninja'd, by Voolf
Edit #2: and ninja'd Straf below me!

[Straf]

You'd be surprised Mouse. I often see tales of people expecting things for free from artists saying things like "I'll put it on my website with your name on it. It'll be good exposure for you!" Not just artists but web developers too. On an extreme level I know someone who was asked by a 'client' to build them a website similar to some huge company's, complete with database back end. When they mentioned that sort of undertaking runs into tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars and would take a team of developers a year to complete they replied with the sort of language you wouldn't like your mother to hear you using. A lot of people seem to think there's a creative tap that just needs to be turned on to produce results. On a smaller scale artists on Twitter often share their experiences with clients' unrealistic experiences. They say things like "it's just a hobby, so why are you charging at all?" They don't seem to realise they're paying for someone's time, time they aren't spending doing something else for someone else.

[DanielHasenbos]

I think adding a small line in the Read Me section would be a good idea. Nothing too detailed, probably just something along the lines of

"Map Making takes a lot of time. Prices may vary from map to map and from artist to artist, but $300,- (or any other number wed like to put here) is a reasonable price. Depending on size, details, deadlines, copyrights and artist prices may be even higher."

This way it's clear what prices people can expect, while still making it clear that prices may vary greatly between artists.

[Falconius]

You know what we should do... we should form a guild.

Bah dum da!

[Wired]

That sounds like a good idea, Daniel.

[Mouse]

If you do go ahead and post a basic price list, maybe it would also be wise to say something along the lines of mappers being human, and that every so often special circumstances might arise where the list is waived, or something along those lines, so that if we get a children's charity asking for help to set up some kind of adventure for a bunch of hard done by kids they won't immediately turn tail and flee the Guild at the sight of the price list?

I mean - that assumes that you are sweet enough to consider doing stuff that's for a charity for a reduced price