What you need to know about freelance referral fees

Posted on Jun 26th 2021



As long as all sides involved get benefit and no one is being dealt unfairly, paid referrals are an extraordinary way to help customers track down the right skill for their projects – however, things don't generally work out so well.

While you might be used to referrals and paid services, it is imperative to recall that not every person is used to the idea. Thus, you may experience individuals who have never known about referral fees as an idea. Look at tips for setting out referral fees:

How to set referral fees the right way?

Transparency and honesty:

The one surefire approach to set referral fees is to be open about it with both sides. 

Tell both the customer and the freelancer you're charging, and on the off chance that someone disagrees with the deal, they can leave. 

Indeed, the customer and the freelancer you referred can now arrange without giving you a penny. In any case, both realize they are working with you, which is as it should be. Please don't assume that everybody will betray you when they find the opportunity. Honesty is the best arrangement when it comes to paid referrals.

Managing unexpected referral fees: 

There truly is just one essential way to manage individuals who request referral fees after the fact. Stay firm and say no. However long there wasn't total honesty all along, you are not lawfully committed to pay somebody anything they choose to request all of a sudden. 

Individuals who do that will not remain in business for very long. Also, they are not the people that you need to be working with consistently. 

While they might have the option to press out charges from a couple of novice freelancers, eventually, high referral fees will consume all their business connections, which are the absolute most significant things in a plan of action that depends on commissions.

What is a reasonable referral fee? 

Setting the exact referral fee or commission you'd pay somebody who refers you to a freelance project depends on you. 

There are a few subtleties you ought to consider, however: 

Is it true that you are paying a referral fee for a lead or just if you land the position? 

Is the referrer further involved in the project? 

Is the referrer dealing with all client-side of things?

The standard referral fee rate could be around 10% for closed deals. It could begin at 2 – 5% for an email presentation with the customer and go up to 15 – 20% for projects where the referrer manages the customer.