What should a UGC rate card include?
A UGC rate card lists one base video and every add-on a brand can choose, each with a plain description of what it includes. Put the base video first, then extra hooks, raw footage, usage and rush delivery as separate lines, and finish with the terms: revisions, turnaround and how you get paid.
What is a rate card for, if you already quote each job?
A rate card is the menu you send before a quote, so a brand can see every option and pick without a long back and forth.
A quote answers one brief. A rate card answers the question a brand asks first: what can I buy from you? Writing it once also forces you to decide what each thing costs before someone is waiting on a reply, which is when it is easiest to undercharge. If you have not settled your numbers yet, do that first with working out what to charge for a UGC video, then come back and lay the result out here.
Which line items belong on a UGC rate card?
Give the base video its own line, then list each add-on separately so the brand can see exactly what it is adding and why it costs more.
| Line item | What it includes | Your price |
|---|---|---|
| Base video | One edited video from one script, with one hook, captions and one round of revisions | [AMOUNT] |
| Extra hook | A new opening line and first shot, cut onto the same body of the video | [AMOUNT] each |
| Raw footage | Every usable take from the shoot, unedited, sent as separate files | [AMOUNT] |
| Paid usage | Permission for the brand to run the video as an ad, for a period you agree in writing | [AMOUNT] per period |
| Rush delivery | Delivery sooner than your standard turnaround | [AMOUNT] on top of the order |
Keep the column called your price filled with your own figures, not a range. A range invites the brand to pick the bottom of it. If the extra hooks line raises questions, point the brand to how many hooks to film for one video so it can see what each one gives it.
How should you describe each line so nobody misreads it?
Describe each line by what the brand receives, in files and permissions, so the price is tied to something it can check.
- Say what is delivered, not how hard it was: one edited video with captions is clearer than a fully produced piece.
- Name the limits inside the base line, such as one script and one round of revisions, because anything not written there will be read as included.
- Describe raw footage by what is in the folder, and link your note on charging for raw footage if a brand pushes back on paying for it.
- Keep usage as its own line and say what it covers in plain words, because a brand can only agree to a permission it understands.
- Write rush delivery against your standard turnaround, so the brand can see what it is paying to skip.
What terms should sit under the prices?
Under the prices, list the few terms that decide whether a job stays the size you priced it: revisions, turnaround, usage and payment.
Write each term as one short line. Revisions: one round included, further rounds priced per round. Turnaround: your standard time from receiving the product and the approved script. Usage: organic posting is included unless the brand adds paid usage, and every permission is agreed in writing before you film, which the guide to usage rights in UGC explains in more depth. Payment: how and when you invoice, agreed with the brand in writing before work starts. Leave the legal wording to the agreement itself; the rate card only has to make the terms easy to see.
How do you send a rate card without it reading like a price list?
Send the rate card after a brand shows interest, with a short note that suggests one combination for its brief, so it has a starting point.
A bare table makes the brand do the maths. A suggested package does it for them. You could write: Thanks for sending the brief, [NAME]. My rate card is attached. For [PRODUCT], I would suggest the base video with two extra hooks, so you can test openings against each other, delivered by [DATE]. That comes to [AMOUNT]. Happy to adjust if you need raw footage or paid usage as well.
Keep the card to one page, export it as a file that opens on a phone, and put the date you last updated it in the footer. When you change a price, change the card first, so the next brand never sees an old figure.
What should you leave off a UGC rate card?
Leave off anything that is not a choice the brand makes, because every extra line is another thing to question before it says yes.
- Your hours or costs: the brand is buying a result, and showing the working invites it to negotiate each part.
- Discount lines you have not decided to offer, because once a discount is printed it becomes the price.
- Services you would rather not do. If a line is on the card, expect a brand to order it.
- Your follower count. A UGC job sells the video you make, not a post to your audience, so keep the card about the work.
Write your next UGC script with lynxr
Paste a public TikTok or Instagram link on the homepage and lynxr works out the format — hook, beats, turn, close — and writes it as a script for the brand you make content for. How lynxr writes scripts shows each step. Free to start: 3 scripts a week, no card.
More questions about UGC rates, pay and usage rights
- Should you charge extra for raw footage in UGC? — Charge for raw footage as its own line, separate from the edited video, because the unedited clips let a brand cut new ads from your work without booking you again.
- What is whitelisting in UGC? — Whitelisting in UGC means a brand runs paid ads through your own account, so the ad shows your handle instead of theirs.
- How do you work out what to charge for a UGC video? — Work out a UGC rate from what the job takes, not from a number you saw online.
- All questions about UGC rates, pay and usage rights — getting paid and pricing your work.
Keep reading
- How to turn a brand brief into a script
- A UGC script template that holds up
- Questions and answers — about lynxr, and every topic UGC creators ask about.