Here’s a little insider information about the transcription industry: The rate advertised by most companies is not the rate you’ll actually pay for your transcribed documents. The reason? It usually comes down to fees.
How Transcription Pricing Works
Transcription is charged per page, word, or audio minute. But many companies will even charge per line or by volume for their services.
The various pricing structures make comparison shopping pretty difficult. But lost in all the math is the difference between advertised prices and actual costs when the bill comes. Consider some of these common fees that inflate costs:
- Setup Fees
- Verbatim Upcharges
- Minimum Order Fees
- Poor Audio Quality
- Accents Fees
- Specialized Terminology
- Corrected Grammar
- Rushes
- Closed Captioning
- Timestamping etc.
Not only can fees like these drastically change the real rate of your transcription, but they can be tough to avoid: What is considered “extra” is likely needed for your transcripts.
How to Avoid Fees
Avoiding fees comes down to selecting a transcription company that fits your industry or business.
Upcharges and fees represent a “value-added service” from how a transcription company normally operates. If a service requires more time or expertise than usual, then it makes sense to charge more for it.
But when you’re charged fee after fee, it’s probably a sign that your needs are out of scope with the company you’re choosing. This is why it’s important to look beyond the baseline advertised rate to pick the right transcription firm for you.
Many general transcription companies, for instance, do well to transcribe lectures, sermons or podcasts while gawking at the Greek and Latin prefixes of medical transcription. In this sense, spelling “pericarditis” from a doctor’s dictation might very well be extra!
All this is to say, the burden is largely on you, the client, to look beyond baseline rates and find a company that truly meets your needs — without fees to make it happen.
Why E-Typist Doesn’t Charge Extra Fees
E-Typist is setup to convert audio to text for many different industries. Our typists, for instance, have legal secretary backgrounds. There is no flinching, then, at legal jargon or court transcription standards. It’s what we do.
Additionally, while many companies offer a wide array of services, such as translation or live captions, E-Typist keeps a focus on being the best in the industry at transcription. This means we can charge affordable rates, without the fees.