And the optimal way to do it? Just quote the actual figure that it would cost them for you to agree to it.

Which when taking into account the hassle, the risk of nonpayment, and the not wanting to do it in the first place, is going to be a very large multiple of your normal fee. So what hayksaakian said.

What happens if you quote a large figure and they take you up on it, despite the fact that you never intended to honor the offer? Congratulations, now you're a jerk.

When I wrote it, I had originally written "optimal" as "efficient", but "optimal" has multiple meanings here.

The point is, if you would arrive at a requirement of $x to implement the thing in an exercise where you decide to entertain all requests as a request for a legitimate bid, then don't quote an arbitrary figure of $y. Quoting $x works out the best for everyone in all possible cases, where the approach to quote an arbitrary figure falls down in more than one place.

1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9313659

>Congratulations, now you're a jerk.

What? Why am I a jerk for getting paid well? Or do you suggest that huge pile of money won't change my mind? If I still say no I think that means the quoting instructions were followed incorrectly.

> Quoting $x works out the best for everyone in all possible cases

Quoting $x is much more likely to result in resentment because it's the bare minimum to get me to agree. If I charge triple that or more I'm much less likely to be disappointed later.

And it's no big loss to me if I don't get paid to make this feature. That was my default state of being. So I aim high.

I assume he means that one is a jerk if they quote high with absolutely no intention of doing it at any price. If the bluff is called then you have to go back on your word.

The main idea behind my thread was that everyone has a price.

Hell if you give me 10 million USD to build a random feature on an open source project, I would subcontract to someone happy to do it for 9 million.

> the risk of nonpayment

Charge upfront.