And was it a positive experience? Or a negative one?
I’ve long tossed around the idea of trying it out, but sort of got the impression (erroneous, maybe?) that it’s largely a cesspool of the lowest-common-denominator, and few are offering jobs at anything approaching a reasonable rate that would be worth my time to take on. I created an account on Writer.ly, for example, and was extremely disappointed with the results (or non-results) I got, and I don’t want to burn another few hours fleshing out yet another online profile to make it marketable and awesome if all I can find are jobs that propose working at below-minimum-wage rates (yes, I’ve seen some).
I’d also like to know if the platform itself is up to snuff – any issues with receiving payments, submitting proposals, or getting feedback that accurately reflects my work? Any technical issues with the work tracker apps? Anything I need to know?
Opinions on other similar freelancer online marketplaces are welcome too… I don’t know what all is out there, and would love to find a place with a good track record.
If it matters, I’d be looking to do digital graphic design and email marketing services.
I found it kind of frustrating, myself. A bunch of lowball “jobs” and you have to bid on them. They had some qualifying tests you could take, but those seemed not to have helped my odds at all, even though I did well on them. I think they’ve stopped using them, not sure.
At any rate, I only got one contact, there was some back and forth, and then the “job” never happened.
The good thing is that the pay goes through elance and the funds have to be in place before the job starts, and can be paid in increments as you complete parts of the job.
Assuming you get a job.
Now maybe I was bidding too much, but I was bidding what it was worth to me to do the job. A lot of time and trouble for nothing whatsoever IMO.
I’ve got several friends who use Elance as their primary writing/editing job bank. True, you have to wade through the cesspool of the lowest common denominator, but there are legitimate decent-paying jobs there. The other thing is that once you establish yourself, you can demand higher prices for certain jobs when you bid. That also weeds out the cesspool.
All of my friends did “little” jobs elsewhere online as a portfolio of sorts before applying to Elance because many of the higher-paying jobs demand some kind of previous experience. They also all have LinkedIn profiles to show that they’re serious about which jobs they pursue there.
A couple of them have established relationships with certain vendors so that they now are the vendor’s first choice in that the vendor doesn’t even bother advertising certain jobs anymore. The rate goes up with every project. These two particular friends now freelance full time and obviously can support themselves. Others pick up whatever work they can as extra money.
I have used it to hire help a few times. Always worked out well.
I never took the lowest bid. I look for someone who seems articulate and understands the issue or project and is reasonably priced. That usually means they are priced in the middle.
I have then re-used some of these same contacts multiple times.
Any experience with the dispute resolution process? I googled for reviews and what I found was nightmarish. While I know the angry tend to be more vitriolic than the satisfied, I haven’t seen such a glut of bad reviews, even on review platforms like Yelp. Apparently it’s common to get your account suspended (making your money now irretrievable) for spurious or absolutely no reason at all, with basically no recourse. Yikes.
I have over a decade of experience and an existing portfolio, LinkedIn, etc. I’m wondering if actually being qualified is enough to keep the scam clients at bay, and attract real ones who know the worth of what they’re buying.
I didn’t get the impression that Mechanical Turk HAD any skilled consulting work. Aren’t they another marketplace where basically everything offered is below minimum wage? I have no idea how that’s legal, but it’s not something I’d waste my time on in any case.
I just looked up the going rates for Mechanical Turk. 4 cents for 2 hours? Fuck NO. I don’t even get out of bed for minimum wage, I sure as hell won’t for 2 cents an hour.
I’ve heard bad things about Mechanical Turk through my freelancing friends.
But yeah, the bidding process on Elance…I’ve personally never done it, so I can’t tell you the ins and outs. One of my freelance friends gets hired to correct stuff that had originally been bidded on and is returned to the vendor riddled with grammatical mistakes and such. It makes her think that a lot of ESL people use Elance as a job bank too. She also stays away from postings that don’t originate in the USA/Canada or Western Europe. They pay not only better, but are by and large legitimate.
It’s amazing, though, what people think is a paying wage. There’s no way I’d get out of bed for $.02/hour either. People who would accept that must be desperate.