Your **Average Hourly Rate** is under **Content → Profile → Services**. It's one of the most consequential fields on your profile.

## What it does

Three things:

1. Shows as **AVERAGE RATE** at the top of your profile
2. Filters search results — clients set a maximum hourly rate and you appear or don't
3. Feeds the **Estimated Cost** a client sees before sending a request

## It's an average, not a fixed price

The rate on your profile is what you typically charge. Your actual price for a booking is set per proposal, and can be higher or lower. See [Setting Your Rate, Deposit, and Travel Cost](/hc/djs/articles/1786139293-setting-your-rate-deposit-and-travel-cost).

So this field is a positioning decision more than a pricing one.

## Setting it too low

The obvious risk is being underpaid. The less obvious one is that a rate well below comparable DJs reads as inexperience to a client planning something important. People hiring for a wedding are not looking for the cheapest option.

## Setting it too high

You disappear from searches with a lower maximum. Because the filter is a hard cut rather than a ranking, a rate above someone's slider means they never see you — no chance to be persuaded by your mixes.

## A reasonable approach

Set it at what you actually charge for a typical booking — a standard-length event, in your usual area, without unusual demands. Not your best-ever fee, not your favour rate.

Then adjust per proposal. That's what the proposal builder is for.

## The Negotiable switch

Beside the rate. When it's off, your profile shows **(Non-negotiable)** next to your rate.

**Turn it on** if you'd genuinely flex — for a longer booking, a quiet week, or an event you want. It invites the conversation.

**Turn it off** if your rate is your rate. Fewer enquiries, but the ones you get are from clients who've accepted your price. Plenty of established DJs prefer this.

Neither is better. What costs you is marking it non-negotiable and then discounting anyway, or marking it negotiable and refusing to move.

## Reviewing it

Worth revisiting when you're consistently booked out — that's the signal your rate is below market. Also worth checking against your **Profile Views** in analytics: lots of views and no requests can mean the rate is landing wrong.