On the internet, which is kinda global, not everybody is paid US/Western EU salary rates, you know right?
If he raises prices: is he actually going to get "better" clients? He'll have to compete with other high end'ers. What if there competition is too fierce at that price point? What if his skill/quality doesn't match up to that price point?
euro 20k/8 = 2.5k /month 1200/8 = 150 hours /month ~= 40 hours/week
That's actually not that bad for being a programmer in, say, Eastern Europe, but it's rapidly becoming a rather bad wage even there.
* The clients expect insane amount of work at a very cheap rate.
* People in developing countries are always ready to charge a lesser amount.
* The Signal : Noise ratio is low on both sides.
* The commissions taken by site and payment services also offer a blow to the amount earned.
IMO, its tough to imagine a situation where a sane client who expects quality would be willing to shuffle through 100s of bids submitted on each project.
YMMV etc.
Is that your normal business practice? To spam but actually add no real value?