Negotiating is not fighting. It is explaining what your price includes and what it does not. In Costa Rica there is also one conversation no other market has quite so often: the trade deal.
Before the conversation
Set three numbers and do not change them during the call: your ideal price, your acceptable price and your floor, below which you say no.
Without that floor written down, any pressure lowers it. With it, the negotiation becomes a calm conversation.
The four answers that protect your price
"That is a lot for us."
Do not lower the price: lower the scope. "I can do that amount with two videos instead of three."
"The next job will be bigger."
It almost never is. "Great, when that project comes we can look at volume pricing. Let us close this one at list price."
"Another creator charges us half."
Answer with what your delivery includes: three hooks, proofread subtitles in two languages, delivery in five days, a clear licence.
"Can we also use it in ads?"
This is the one that leaves the most money on the table. "Yes, the paid media licence is quoted separately, thirty to a hundred per cent extra depending on duration."
The trade deal conversation
In tourism you will be offered accommodation, tours or meals in exchange for content. It is so common that it is worth having an answer ready.
The rule is simple and can be said out loud without making anyone uncomfortable: a trade works for organic content and for building a relationship. The moment the material goes into paid media, it is advertising, and advertising is paid in money.
A formula that works: "Happy to do two pieces in exchange for the stay, for your own channels. If you also want to run them as ads, I quote that licence separately."
Accepting a trade is not weakness if you know exactly what you are exchanging. Accepting it without limits is.
The currency detail
Quote in dollars and state in writing whether payment will be in dollars or in colones at the exchange rate on the invoice date. It is one line that prevents an awkward conversation a month later.
How to raise your rate
Apply the new price to new clients and wait two or three months. Once demand is stable, tell recurring clients a month in advance.
The best moment to raise is August or September, before the hotels close their high season budget.
When to say no
When they want unlimited rights without paying. When the brief changes three times. When they offer only a trade for advertising material. And when the price falls below your floor.
Where to go next
Negotiating well rests on a portfolio that justifies the price. Our guide on how to become a UGC creator explains how to build one.
