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I used to take any client who emailed, now I ask for a $500 deposit first.

After a client in Tampa ghosted me on a $2k project last year, I got stuck doing all the work with no pay. I started asking for half up front before I even open a design file. Do you think that scares off good clients or just filters out the bad ones?
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3 Comments
drew_west
drew_west3mo agoMost Upvoted
Wait, they ghosted you after you did all the work on a two thousand dollar job? That's brutal. Asking for half up front is just smart business after something like that. It definitely doesn't scare off the good clients, the serious ones get it. It just filters out the people who were never planning to pay you anyway.
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shah.shane
shah.shane1mo ago
Fellow freelancer here, and yeah that kind of thing stings way more than it should. Getting ghosted after that much effort is a special kind of betrayal. At least now you know exactly what to watch out for next time.
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robin_schmidt57
My buddy learned that lesson the hard way too.
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