I have a potential client. He would like for me to answer his ebay emails. I do not know if I should charge per hour or per email. What type of billing do you use for answering emails? If I do not know the correct response for the email I will have to contact him for the correct response. My first thought would be to use the 'pay as you go' hourly billing in case the email requires research.

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Shante'

Glad to hear about the potential client Shante! I will be interested to see what responses you get. Right now I have just one client and am not charging them for e-mails as that is only a minimal part of the job. But, I have wondered if I should. I charge a min of 15min for phone calls........why not for e-mails too?

Denise

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Denise
www.officeassistancepro.com

Hi there,

Yes, congrats on the potential client! I bill in 15-min increments using hourly billing. If you only deal with one email every few hours or more, I would bill 15mins for ea instance. If you're dealing with a constant stream, then it would probably be just however long it took overall @ your hourly rate.

It's more cost effective for someone to have me work on a large chunk of tasks at a time rather than send me blips of things throughout the day... but that's just how I've always billed. I know there are big opinions on this!

HTH & hope it works out!

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shana
www.shanafore.com

I don't know how busy the client is or how many e-mails, but could you check the email x number of times a day, block it out of your schedule and bill for that time? Maybe 4 times a day at 15 mins each. If you go over the 15 mins, bill accordingly, but at least you won't be a slave to the "ding-dong" of the email notification.

I would bill for emails - time is time and it is part of what you are asked to do.

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Joanne Matheson
JEM Office Solutions

I agree with Joanne. You should charge per hour. If you try and bill the client in 6 minute increments (which is what I've seen several VAs charge), you could earn some decent billing time.

Hope that helps!

Sincerely,
Kathya
Emerald Virtual Solutions

Hi,
Congrats on the client. I agree both with Amanda D and Joanne, definitely charge by the hour. However, responding to e-mail all day would annoy me. I would let it build up and only check and respond X number of times a day, then bill at your hourly rate for however long it takes each time.

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www.lloydbusinesssolutions.com
"Getting you back to what you do best"

Hi Shante,

Congrats on potential client!!I have a set price I charge my clients for their emails monthly. I dont have to do research but need to liaise with different parties involved.

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Truida

I would charge hourly and have a minimum charge per day. for instance 15 mintues minimum per day or 5 minute minimum per email.

The way I have billed for e-mail management is my client purchased a retainer block of hours and I managed the account 2 times per day (Morning and end of work day) until the time ran out which averaged about 6 hours per month. Obviously, each case will be different depending on volume.

Best wishes,
Dawn

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Dawn Lawson | At Your Service
http://freelanceadminsupport.com