What Rick says is true -- it is illegal for US businesses (including individuals who freelance) to discuss rates with members of the same industry. The legal term here is price fixing, and it is taken very seriously, regardless of the intent of the discussion or the context within which the discussion takes place.
The Graphic Artists Guild has excellent information on setting prices -- unfortunately, the website is down for maintenance. :-) In my experience (big city US), freelancers should charge 3-5 times the hourly rate they would get paid as an employee at a design firm. While you're thinking about costs -- I have also read studies that show that freelancers tend to underestimate the amount of time it took to complete a project by 40% or more. -Kat -----Original Messages----- > That's known as price-fixing here in the US and that is illegal. That's not true. Discussing going rates in various countries is not price-fixing. A group of people agreeing to only charge a certain rate is price-fixing. ***************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help *****************************************************
