good % or not?

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if I could get some helpful feedback concerning a proposed renumeration scheme.

I have been approached to do some website optimization/improvement for a business that sells electrotherapy devices. He is proposing that I would get 5% of sales that come through the website.

Is that fair?

Basically, he wants me to think of ways to improve traffic, so he believes the money would be proportional to the effort I put in.

I don't know,....I've never had an arrangement like this before...
What's appropriate?

I've had this same offer many times and it usually turns into no money for you. Get your money upfront, there are too many ways for them to squirm out of paying you.

Hi theDude,

Thank you. I was thinking that it could be crappy. Especially since some people could bypass the shopping cart and just call the 1-800 number to order. If I did agree to it, I would probably need to tell them to take off the 1-800 number.

I could configure it to send every shopping cart transaction to me as well.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

If they removed the 1800 #, and you were copied on every transaction - that would ensure you could track all of the sales. However it does not ensure 1. That he will actually make sales 2. That he will actually pay you for them.

Maybe a partial payment up front + commission would work best so at least you are somewhat covered.

I did a lot of free work on a project for a friend once based on the promise that I would receive a % of the profits. It was a very rewarding experience, not because I got any money, but because I learned a valuable lesson: Don't do it.

Whenever you leave it up to someone else to "calculate" how much you should be paid instead of sending them an invoice for hours worked, there is the potential for conflict.

On the other hand, you might ignore my advice and become a millionaire.

Just my $0.02...

All good points,....I'm starting to think it's a bad idea..


One more question though.
Is "5%" common? He just made up that figure. What's a common percentage for this type of thing? It's just a basic website with a small catalogue, some descriptions, and a shopping cart.

I have this arrangement with a coin e-commerce site I built, and it works very well. (5% of gross sales goes to me)

Of course, the guy that owns it is my brother. . . The way I approached this initially is that it's a fun project to do for a family member, and if I didn't make any money I would be fine with that. A few grand isn't worth ruining a family relationship over. Luckily, it's been working pretty well, and the 5% I get helps keep me involved with the site. This would be the ideal implementation of this idea.

I really DON'T recommend creating this kind of relationship haphazardly, though.

Unless you have a long-standing, positive relationship with the owner of the site and no mistrust issues, I don't think I would enter into this kind of agreement, at least not without very specific contractual obligations and reporting requirements.

I too have to say don't do it unless you are 110% certain that you'll get a fair rub. Even at that, there's one other problem: you're success is as much dependant on how they run THEIR business as much as it is how you run yours. Think about it - even if they do treat YOU fairly, what if they're screwing over and pissing off every other customer? It won't do you much good if they run THEMSELVES out of business in a year. It's usually best, IMHO, not to let yourself get tied down to other people's responsibility... take a lump sum for a job and never look back unless:

1) You need to do support for your work (e.g. bug fixes)
2) They want to give you more work