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Handle clients who buy your sourced items themselves
Clients who take your carefully sourced selections and buy them elsewhere cut out your income. A clear policy charges for the time either way. Agreeing it at the start, and having a tactful message ready, keeps the relationship intact if it happens.
Time: 15 minutesTool cost: you can start with a free AI tool
Steps
- Decide how sourcing time is paid: an hourly rate, a fixed sourcing fee, or part of the design fee. Decide how trade discounts and any mark-up are handled, and how you show them to the client.
- Decide what happens if the client buys a sourced item elsewhere: for example, sourcing time is still charged, and you do not handle delivery, returns or damage for items you did not order.
- Example (made up, for illustration only): a designer sources a sofa, two lamps and a rug, and the client buys the sofa from another shop. Under the policy, sourcing time is charged at the agreed rate either way, and the message reminds the client of that and that delivery and returns for the sofa are now theirs.
- Run the prompt below. It writes the policy and the message together.
- Put the policy in your proposal and contract so the client sees it before agreeing, and apply it the same way to every client.
- If it happens, check the message against what the client signed before you send it.
The exact prompt
Write two things for an interior designer. (1) A friendly sourcing policy (under 150 words) for my proposal and contract: sourcing time is charged at [RATE] or covered by [DESIGN FEE / SOURCING FEE], whoever buys the items. Trade discounts and mark-ups: [HOW I HANDLE THEM]. If the client buys a sourced item elsewhere: [WHAT I STILL CHARGE] and [WHAT I DO NOT HANDLE, FOR EXAMPLE DELIVERY, RETURNS, DAMAGE]. (2) A short, tactful message (under 100 words) for a client who has bought sourced items directly, reminding them of the policy without accusing them. Use only my terms. Do not add fees, penalties or legal wording.
✓ Check before you send
- The policy was in the contract the client agreed before sourcing started.
- How trade discounts and mark-ups are handled is stated honestly.
- The message explains without accusing anyone.
- It is the same for every client.
UK notes extra
- UK: if your client is a consumer, a fee that applies whoever buys the items is a term of a consumer contract, so it must be fair and shown before the client agrees. Read it against the CMA guidance. CMA: unfair contract terms guidance (CMA37).
- UK: show the full price, including any charge the client has to pay. If a fee depends on hours, say clearly how it will be worked out. CMA: providing clear and accurate information about prices (summary, UK).
Last reviewed Oct 2026. Free tools change. If a screen looks different, the steps still apply.Back to top ↑