If you have thought about having the material from your training sessions, coaching speech, video or audio podcast transcribed, congratulations. Coming up with transcripts, e-books, articles and many others from the golden content is one of he best ways to increase your bank account and build the opt in list.

Most people think that evaluating the quote they get from the professional transcriptionist service provider is easy but this is not the case. This is because different companies use different methods for charging ad you may end up comparing oranges and apples. There are also a number of services that do not reveal ahead of time how their system of charging works. This is where people end up getting surprised once they get the invoice.

Some of the questions that you can ask to ensure that the quote given actually reflects on the understanding you have on the service fees involved include:

1.    What is the structuring of the transcript services?

There are some transcription services that charge per hour, min or even monthly charge.  This can be accompanied with charge for minimum fee or extras fee.

2.    Will you be charged for the length of the content or the time that it will take to transcribe the material?

For instance if the material you have handed in is about an hour will be charged for this or the 4/5 hours that will be used to complete the work.

3.    Are they using voice recognition for the job or a skilled human who has experience with transcription?

There are some companies that make use of voice recognition software for the work and go through it later to ensure it is of high quality.

There is also a possibility that your work may be transported off shore to people who are not familiar with the English language.

4.    Does the company offer any correction or editing service and are these included in the final charge or you have to pay extra?

There are some that will offer the editing services as part of the entire project while others will ask you to pay extra.

5.    Does the company want to know details on your project before they can start working on it?

6.    What will the end product look like?

7.    Does the transcriptionist have all the information they need to give you a quote on the work done

This is so that they do not change their mind in the middle of the project.

More on transcription service rates

A lot of attention has been accorded to online transcription services nowadays mainly because of the rise in the number of people who want to work from their homes since they appear in different persona. Whether it is a company that has a group of professional transcribers, a free lancer, housewife looking for extra money, student looking to make cash from home or an employee who wants more money, they are all working towards the same goal. This is to get money. The main question should be how the transcription services are rated?  Below are some of the price schemes that are used by different transcription service providers online:

PER MINUTE

These are the most common and usual way to charge. This scheme allows both the client and the transcriber to monitor how the work is being done.  It is however important to calculate the rates per minute carefully depending on the speed of the conversation, clarity of sound, presence of other languages and dialects, which are not familiar among many other things. Internet expenses and time used when downloading the source file should also be taken into consideration. transcription rate per minute

PER LINE

This is also a common mode of payment. This is where you pay a number of cents for every line that has been transcribed. The industry standard is normally 65 characters. This also depends on the difficulty and volume of the work and it can also vary indifferent locations. transcription rate per line

PER HOUR

This is mostly used in straight transcription where the client gets the work typed on a template. It is beneficial for the transcribers who are really fast as they end up getting value for money. Most companies however do not use this as the longer it takes the more the client pays thus people who type fast are penalized. transcription rate per hour

PER WORD

This is mostly used for medical transcription as it needs additional skill sets.

PER PAGE

This can also be used but is highly disadvantageous especially when there are a lot of pauses used as you will end up typing less thus getting less pay.

Extra fees can be charged when there is:

• Rush transcription
• Scanning tapes to find the material for transcription
• Mini and micro cassettes used for phone interview transcription
• Lectures, panel discussions and focus groups
• Interviews that are recorded poorly
• Thick accents
• Many interviewees
• Audio quality that is poor

It is vital that you avoid such charges. Keep in mind that “rush transcription” can raise the cost up to 50%. Get value for money and don’t sell yourself short regardless of the scheme used.