Price and terms

"How much should I charge" scares people more than filming does. There won't be rates here: markets and currencies vary too much, and any rate table is out of date within six months. What you'll get is the logic.

What goes into the price

Format. An integration in your account, a standalone review, a UGC video for the brand's channels and a set of stories all cost differently. The more expensive formats are usually the ones that give the brand more: an integration on an account with a big audience, or a video with ad usage rights.

Reach and engagement. The brand pays for people who'll see it and respond. Bigger real reach and a livelier audience mean a higher price.

Usage rights. If the brand wants to post the video on its own channels, run it in ads or keep it on the website for a year, that's a separate line. Ad usage and long terms can add a lot to the base fee, sometimes several times over. There's no single standard, but the rule is simple: the more the brand gets, the more it costs.

Exclusivity. If you commit to not working with competitors for a month or six months, you're giving up jobs, and that should be paid for.

Urgency. "We need it the day after tomorrow" costs more than "in two weeks".

Revisions. One or two rounds included, the rest is paid separately.

Working out your rate

Two approaches that you combine.

From time: how many hours go into the script, filming, editing, approvals and revisions, multiplied by the hourly rate you're willing to work for. That's your floor.

From audience: how many real views you deliver and what that audience would cost the brand in an ad manager. That's a reference point, not a ceiling: trust and a precise audience match are worth more than impressions.

Your price sits between the two. Name a figure, watch how three or four brands react, adjust. Plenty of people do it that way. Just start a little above the price you'd accept: a discount is easy to give, a raise is hard to get.

Mistake. Quoting before you know the format, the rights and the timeline. "How much for a video?" without details has no answer.

Gifting

Gifting, meaning product instead of payment, makes sense when the product is worth as much as your work and you'd have bought it anyway. Or early on, when you have no case studies and the brand is well known: that's a line in your media kit.

It doesn't make sense when the product is worth less than a day of your work, when the brand wants ad usage rights "for product", or when it's the third gifted deal in a row from the same brand. Product doesn't pay rent. Two more things. In many countries a free product received for a post has to be labelled as an ad too, and it counts as taxable income. Any income, money included, has to be declared under your own country's rules. Check yours.

A good reply: "Thanks, gifting works for a review in stories. A video with ad usage rights is paid work, here are the terms."

What to put in writing

Before you start, in an email or a message both sides have confirmed:

1. Format, number of deliverables, length.
2. Deadlines for draft, approval and posting, and how many days the post stays up.
3. Number of revision rounds.
4. Rights: where, for how long, for what.
5. Exclusivity: against whom and for how long.
6. Disclosure: who labels the ad and how.
7. Price and payment schedule: deposit, balance, payment term. Many brands pay 30–45 days after posting, so write the term in.
8. What happens if the brand cancels after filming: which part of the fee you keep.

If the brand or agency sends a contract, read it, and check rights, payment term, cancellation and how long the post stays up. The terms email is for when there's no contract, and as a confirmation alongside one. In a dispute, that email with a reply saying "confirmed" can settle it.

A deposit is normal, and sensible when you're new: a third or half up front, the balance after posting. If the brand refuses, ask for at least a partial one, check the brand more carefully and pin down the payment term. Big companies often pay only after posting, through their own process, and that on its own isn't a warning sign.

The agency model

If you work through an agency, it usually takes a flat fee or a percentage of the brand's budget, and the creator gets the rest. In return it handles negotiation, the brief, approvals and payment. The one thing that matters is transparency: you know your amount before the work starts.

Do this now

• Work out how many hours one video takes you from script to posting, and multiply by the hourly rate below which you won't work.
• Write an eight-line terms email template and save it.
• Write your two-sentence reply to a gifting offer.