Pricing source code of Flash files

[cocoglo]

I have created a Flash website for a corporate client and have been making all updates to the website upon request at a competitive flat hourly rate.

Currently the client wishes now to have full access and use of all the Flash files created for their website. I.e. they will no longer continue to use my services to udpate their website. Instead they have recently hired an in-house graphic/web designer.

I have suggested to the client that we can do a transfer of copyright ownership if we can agree on a buy-out rate.

My question is how do I price the value of my work? Any tips, feedback, would be great.

Thanksl

[cocoglo]

I have created a Flash website for a corporate client and have been making all updates to the website upon request at a competitive flat hourly rate.

Currently the client wishes now to have full access and use of all the Flash files created for their website. I.e. they will no longer continue to use my services to udpate their website. Instead they have recently hired an in-house graphic/web designer.

I have suggested to the client that we can do a transfer of copyright ownership if we can agree on a buy-out rate.

My question is how do I price the value of my work? Any tips, feedback, would be great.

Thanksl

[Stinger]

While I can't tell you what the value would be since I have not viewed the site, I can tell you that you are holding "all the marbles". I would not suggest "taking them to the cleaners" but be fair to yourself because you have basically been phased out. I am fairly new to selling copyrights myself but from what I have been told (from other developers and business persons who are more familiar to this) there is a variety of solutions for this. One told me to figure what it would cost to build that project (from the ground up as it is today) and multiply that by 4. Another told me to ask for a percentage of the earnings made from your work (I personally think that's a bit crooked if you have been handling this content for a long time). I can't give you any more advise than these tales but can only say "don't sell yourself short". If your work is going to generate $100,000/yr. I don't see anything wrong with asking for a goodchunk of it.

Good luck,

Scott

[pknair]

...is to charge time and a half. what i mean by this is that i usually calculate my wages on an hourly rate. if i'm handing over the .fla's, i generally charge the time i took to create them, plus half. depends on the project, of course, but if handing the .fla's over was not part of the original spec, then this is what i do because i'm basically being screwed. i'll generally give them that quote, then work downwards, though, cuz they'll generally want me to update them from time to time (regardless of whether they have someone in-house), so i make sure that in the end they're still happy with me, and as scott said, i haven't sold myself short, either. still, ask folks on flasher-l and they'll tell you their different methods - that might be a good place for you to post your question...you'll get a wealth of info from the folks on that list.

incidentally, i generally work contracts with the understanding that i'm handing over the .fla's. if i develop something that i can use for multiple contracts, i tend to sell that as a semi-packaged solution as opposed to my services. as a result, i don't run into the issue that often. for semi-packaged solutions, i'd tend to retain the rights to them, or only sell them at an estimation of what sort of revenue i'd be losing over the next two years (which would be a maximum life of the project, anyway).

hopefully this gives you a bit of info on how to handle it...


hth,
Deep (just a guy)
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Pradeep Kumar Nair, B.Math
Interactive Developer
http://www.bluespark.com
ICQ: 39102360
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