Yeah we have used Canva, but the artworks we created are very basic and not very professional hence looking for leads if any.

not to argue but it does create very high-quality creatives. Even check out canva version 2.
And yes graphic designer makes the work easy but the rates can vary person to person

Yeah, Nikhil Jain, I get it. I don't doubt the specs of the tool, we aren't designers hence we weren't able to create good artworks. I'll check out version 2 as well

When you are working with an agency or even a freelancer for that matter, have clear contracts in place where deliverables and fees are agreed on beforehand.

Yeah, we will. But are these numbers justified? What are the industry standards?

Costs are highly variable now-a-days. Banner design costs can range from Rs.5000 to Rs.500 based on who you work with and the experience they bring on board. In your case you clearly now have a trust issue with your agency. Till the time you find a resource you can trust, if you have the bandwidth, develop your own content.

AMC is generally 10% of the overall project charges.

Okay. That helps. They are charging close to 17 percent. And are these below items covered in AMC ?

content changes, server crash problems, hack problems, categories updating, regular db backups

I'm asking as when I had to buy a server for hosting, I bought a 10k server as they warned me about security, hacking etc. If I have to pay them AMC for hacking then what's the point of buying server from them!

I understand your concerns. I run a web development firm myself.

All these charges are included in the contract which you must have signed before the project started. If they haven't mentioned it, then you can negotiate or ask them to transfer everything to you and tell them you don't require their services. You can get this done via some other agency.

Ahaan Pandit I'll try to negotiate the AMC part of it. Thanks for your inputs everyone😉

They quoted Only Rs 2 to 3k per month for maintenance? The company will go bankrupt:)if you can't afford even Rs 2000 per month for a vendor when an in-house person will be at least Rs 20k, I don't see the point of having a website unless you learn yourself

We are at the pilot stage where we are validating our model, hence the urge to keep lower costs. We aren't confident about the quality as their work was sub standard. We had to do a lot of hammering to get to where we are now after a delay of so many months.

I say this with a experience and humility, if you keep looking at cost as the only metric to evaluate a vendor in technology, no way you will succeed. That is why you had to hammer it down. Let us be realistic here, even the maid earns more than what your budget is for the work. My suggestion is that you can go IIT powai, sometimes the students work on projects for experience, they can deliver quality too

yeah I get your point, no hard feelings. I have got some leads here, will reach out to them and will look for students/interns as well

I dont think the costs are too high. As Abhishek Vermma rightly says, below certain costs, the company cannot sustain. They might not be able to provide you good quality services. Learning tools yourself also has a cost associated to it. If you have time, go ahead and learn the tools else focus on business development.

You throw peanuts you get monkeys.

If their work quality is good, I think the costs are right. Plus for a product, you will need funds to market and maintain. Its not a one time cost. All the best.

I think pricing is not much, also if they did good job in creating your product then go for them, since you have already developed some trust such as delivery in time, accountability etc.
Searching freelancers, then sharing your vision, perspective everything will take lot of time and resources.

My 2 cents. I have been involved in the software development for more than a decade. Pricing is subjective. You would find a designer charging $50 hourly and someone doing at $3, if we talk about the time and material. It depends what you get in the said price. 

For your project, the key would be to consider each tiny details about what you would need get developed over the course of time and get mentioned clearly in the contract to set expectations beforehand so that you can control the cost. 

Also check their portfolio to get idea on the quality. If everything is documented and you are satisfied with the delivery, you can say price is justified. If you didn't get what was expected, then go escalate it. However, if your requirement specs is not detailed and documented and you get it developed/ designed in a agile fashion, there would be less control over the cost.

2-3K per month which includes database backups, hacking, security, content changes, server migrations if any.
Seems all right, depending on traffic - data you are consuming etc. Generally I try to throw this in with hosting I provide.

Issues is, these things need to be sorted out when you start a project. Was that done or was that sprung on you?

We are just starting off, I don't anticipate much traffic right now. Even we thought since we are buying the server/hosting from them, it will be inclusive of the hacking etc. It has kind off sprung now, as it was verbal initially and we discussed only dev cost and not AMC.

Being in this business myself, I feel very conscious of not coming out as slandering other businesses or bragging how we're better than them but I'd suggest you give this a deep thought before going forward. Please make sure people who host/manage it for you have earned your trust and contract is bulletproof. If you need further advice, I can connect with someone who can provide you the same.

And most importantly, make sure you always have right access and credentials. I've witnessed many unsavory incidences, it'd make a great precautionary post here, come to think of it.

I think we might need some advice around the contract part and credentials. We will PM you

We recently got an agency develop a marketplace solution for around 2 lac rupees. Now that we are moving closer to go live, the companies have quoted about maintenance costs as well which is about 2-3K per month which includes database backups, hacking, security, content changes, server migrations if any. 

Additionally, they have quoted around 1.2k for every banner image that's designed. They will post it on social media as well. I'm not sure if the amount is justified and if there is anyway to cut it down further. Normally what are the charges for such services and can I get the banners made cheaper?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Pushstarter/permalink/1976680985725845/

How much to pay for simple banner designs?