Personally, I think they’re crap. Coming from the perspective of a software developer, most of the people posting to these bidding websites are hack-job programmers that just barely know enough to get by, so I can’t compete with their low-ball rates. Additionally, the best sales are *always* sales made in person. Trolling web sites like these have never provided me with high-quality work, and isn’t worth the time.

I’ve never bid on a job although I do occasionally watch such sites. Usually if a project remotely interests me there is mass underbidding or there is some catch to doing the project. I get the impression that a lot of these sites attract the kind of client that expects both low prices or basically wants to push you around as a designer. I honestly don’t think anyone serious enough to spend the money on projects would go to these sites.

What you guys are doing on the job board here is great, btw!

I have used guru but I don’t really like it, it doesn’t seem to really work well because most of the times their isn’t enough client-freelancer communication to be able to give a proper bid on a job. Plus it seems like most of the people on the sites are looking for super cheap not quality.

I never use bidding sites. When I first started freelancing, I visited a few of these sites, as well as some others that allow you to submit your articles and then connect your work with paying clients. Every time I examined the pay scale for these types of services, I realized that I would be looking at making about $5 to $10 per hour, plus the administrative handling (registration, account management, etc.). I imagine the quality of the work found on these sites is relatively low because I can’t imagine a decent writer providing a truly professional skill level at those rates.

As an aside, I’ve had some work offers that were downright insulting, such as an offer to rewrite twenty 500 word articles for $100, and they have to pass through some software that checks to see if a written piece is a duplicate. I believe the clients who have sent such inquiries think they can get work at these rates as a result of those bidding sites.

-Melissa Donovan
Writing FORWARD

I’m having problems with the width of the radio buttons in the poll.
It seems to be an CSS problem width: 300px;
I’m using Firefox version 2.0.0.10 under Ubuntu Linux

By the way Freelance Switch it’s a great site, congratulations!

One amusing thing that I once saw was an ad for someone to build a site like FlashDen for $1500. This is amusing because I project managed FlashDen and we’ve worked on it for 1 1/2 years now with a developer full time!

But having said that, I guess you could just ignore silly ads like that, I don’t know…

I only use them when I need to find sub-contractors to do work for me, never to get work myself. The people I have worked with have all been overseas, in Thailand, China or India. They can afford to work for the incredibly low rates for American and UK employers, because it’s still plenty of money to them. That’s how the economy works.
However, the timeframes they quote often lead to poor quality work being done by multiple workers in order to meet the deadline.
I see the postings for “site clones” with outrageously low costs, and impossible deadlines, and I wonder how they turn out in the end.

Freelancing sites were my entry to the freelancing business

I am based in Egypt… where clients never pay more than 500 LE ( less than $100 ) for a full powerfull website.. Design,Coding … everything.

With sites like Getafreelancer I built a good reputition and work keeps coming to me. I dont have to bid anymore on any project cause I already have a list of project managers and clients who keep sending me projects all the time. Now I am getting more money than I used to get when I worked on the local market. I dont have to worry cause they just keep coming!

Bidding sites may not be suitable for a lot of people … but they help alot other

Thank you

The poll should be all fixed up now! Boy it’s been a while since I’ve used a Poll on the site evidently, the skin was all out of whack

I agree with the comments made about low prices, low quality projects and results, etc… However, there are also many skilful people working through these sites.

The rates are low for two main reasons: low quality and exchange rates. If you try to compete in those sites at US rates, Australian or UK rates, it will be almost impossible to get a gig (at least at the beginning). Good professionals from around the world bid for projects.

For example, let’s say that you charge USD 70 an hour for the development of an application. You will compete with professionals from Argentina (my home country) that charge AR 70 (USD 21) an hour. It doesn’t mean that the quality of their work is low, the exchange rate favours them.

You also have trillions of students and unqualified people bidding in those sites. So, if you are looking for somebody to help you out with your work, look carefully the background of the bidders, ask for portfolios, CVs, etc. You have to follow the same steps that you would follow in a normal tender.

These sites answer the demand of people that for several reasons can’t start out through normal networking. That was my case.

I worked too many years in “corporate” Argentina as a programmer. I developed mostly backend applications. Because of it I don’t have a portfolio of applications to show in my website or in job interviews. Then, these kinds of sites help me to increase my credibility as freelancer and establish contacts.

Of course I had very bad experiences as well.

I think freelance job bidding sites are more suitable for programmers. Once you developed one application you can tweak it for a new client with a similar project. Therefore the second, third, fourth… time you do practically nothing and really earn money.

For designers is more difficult to reuse work. “Reusability” is a key word in the Software Engineering world.

Pablo hit on something important.

If you only work on intranet or otherwise non-public sites you won’t have a very good portfolio. I spent several years doing a lot of internal applications and had a harder time selling my services when I went out on my own.

Probably the best way to get good work is to have a public blog about your field, and even better, to build and release a web app.

Those job bidding sites and the big job boards are junk. Instead, try job boards by bloggers and developers like 37signals, AuthenticBoredom, Joel on Software, and Freelance Switch.

I’ve done enough work through Guru.com that I’m in their top 100 ranked gurus for Web design and marketing which, in turn, makes it easier for new clients to award me projects. I have heard many, many times from others about how much trouble they’ve had trying to break in, though. While these gigs are definitely not among the most lucrative ones that I do, my Guru work lets me find and work on exactly the kinds of projects that I want — in my case, I look for either quick turnaround projects that I can complete within hours or days, or for projects that use the skills I especially love (e.g., Photoshopping or designing a WordPress theme). So even a $50 project is worthwhile when I know I can do the work in 15 minutes. I did one of these at lunchtime today: $50 for setting up a mySQL database and installing WordPress.

I enjoy using Guru to find a variety of clients who never would have crossed my path otherwise. Some of these clients have led to monthly, ongoing retainer work. I wouldn’t rely on this as my sole source of finding new clients, but it can be a very versatile option.

Personally I think they suck. When I first started freelancing I used these sites because that’s what I found trying to Google search freelance jobs. I would always get outbid by someone that was willing to work for cheap. Some people were willing to bid $100 for a job that is clearly worth at least $1500. I thought that clients would realized that it would be a mistake hiring someone that’s willing to work for pennies but it didn’t matter the low price would still win the bids.

I love visiting bidding websites but I dont bid- Im a freelancer to but I have my own clients- coz Im not sure if the bidding website are good.

This is nice article Collis

Thanks

I’m gratified to read that others share my disdain for these sites. I actually made the mistake a couple years ago of paying to be a gold bidder or whatever at Guru. It was truly the worst investment I’ve ever made in my business — I didn’t get any work and I know it’s because I priced myself out. I sometimes feel insulted that we designers have to justify the expense of our work. If you want a logo, $100 is ridiculous. I think those sites encourage bad design and simple, easy solutions. Rather than, say, focusing on designing a logo to be the springboard for building a brand identity, the project becomes about tossing off a few generic logos.

Sites like those mentioned above are just horrible. I have tried scriptlance, rent a coder, yada yada. I have been both the developer and employer and always seem to get screwed on those sites. Honestly the only good site I found that can even be the slightest reliable is Guru.com I have used that site for a few years, only once did i have an issue with a client not paying me. I have never had an issue finding competent people to do work either.

Sorry if it sounds like a plug but i really have nothing to do with them other than be a user

Like most people it seems, I always found that the “clients” want too much for too little. e.g. I want a large bookstore with good reviewing capabilities like Amazon.Com for

I’ve registered on some of these sites, but I haven’t found a situation where I liked the project enough to consider bidding. Usually, by the time I get around to it the project already has 10 bids on it and half of them are less than $500 for something that seems quite a bit larger to me. So usually I’m just scared away by the whole thing.

I also get the feeling that people there are looking for cheap labor but I don’t have any real proof of this. I wish I knew some freelance programmers that had successfully used those services. It would give me more confidence to try harder. Also, for some of the sites it appears that the more lucrative projects are only accessible to people who use the paid versions of the site. It is sort of a catch-22, because I’m not prepared to pay for a a site when I’m not convinced it will help me find good work.

I’ve just signed up with Guru as a trial. I’ve got regular clients but want to branch out a little and so thought that a network such as this might be the key.

However, after two dozen bids I’m not getting anywhere - except, perhaps, slightly better at selling my services - even though no one appears to be listening!

Right now Im wondering whether I should slash my prices or find a new career

@Baz L,

Jump over to the FSw forums and look around and you’ll get LOTS of great ideas on how to jump-start your freelance business. You’ll also find them in the FSw blog.

Flipping thru the phone book is one tactic, but not a very efficient one unless you live in a really small town. There are definitely better ways to get customers to find you.

I’ve bid and won jobs on an industry-specific job board (proz.com, for translators). I’ve been doing light-duty in-house work in the field for a few years, but it’s never been my bread-and-butter role, so it’s been a good way to break in. The pay rates have been 20-40% lower than what often gets quoted typical base rates by people who have been doing this work for a while, but it’s still a decent payscale if you’re good and efficient. In translation, the globalization possibility is a huge plus, and I have gotten a few outsourcing jobs working in the opposite direction–overseas clients who want a US/UK native speaker.

On the other hand, I’ve never seen an editing/writing job (which is my bread-and-butter role) on a general board like eLance that was worth bidding on.

I have never used a Freelance Job site, personally i do think they can de-value services, with the lowest bidder usually winning the project bid (this does not apply to all job sites as there are some good ones out there but in general).

I think it is much more worthwhile concentrating on marketing yourself and your services through networking (both online and offline), the benefits are longer-lasting and generate more income and clients!

I’ll add to this even though everyone has the same opinion. I would rather not waste my time on trying to outbid unqualified/low paid bids.

Ranked 38 on rentacoder.com (bobocel)

Short: my opinion is that students SHOULD USE these kind of websites (it will teach them how to communicate with the clients and interact with different people all over the world - no matter language or culture). This is really helpful and one shouldn’t consider only the money (although for a student is really important to have an income which doesn’t mean working 9-5) - cause I see most of you bring this on the table. I speak from the perspective of one of the most succesful rentacoder freelancers.

I think companies or adults that freelance (completed studied long time ago), should already be off these websites. The reason is simple - there will always be people bidding less - students, and this won’t help them in any way. ( by now you should already have a network of clients and colegues to generate work )

I’m almost done with my studies and slowly don’t even bid on projects on rentacoder (although I can use my resume to get work and have other people do it, which helps them and keeps my resume on top as well).

———-

My experience: since I did around 400 projects while being a student (on and off rentacoder) I really accumulated soo much experience and clients I don’t need to bid for any jobs. In fact, I only do when I have let’s say a 500$ video player to build ( in which case I adapt one of the many players I built in time - how different can these be? ) or something that’s already done and it means couple of hours of work. (simply because I start on something that was already functional and tested a lot of times before)

I do believe $3000+ per month is something for a student anywhere in the world, so I strongly advice students to give these websites a try.

i personally dont like them because the jobs are like this:
need php,mysql,xhtml website

budget:500$?

w-t-f?

I use Get-a-Freelancer. Initially, I was woefully underpaid, for the most part, but you can be smart. Because I operate in a niche where there are very few providers, my experience commands respect and I can charge acceptable rates, sometimes up to 3 times the advertised budget.

I use Get-a-Freelancer to land small jobs from people that I know have a need for my other services. It works well for me: I get in the door with a client by working on the first step of their project, then gain their trust and take on the whole project. I’m able to charge fees according to my own fee schedule. I used this strategy to succesfully triple my income.

I now have a roster of long term clients, and am happy with how things are going.

I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for these sites. Sure, it was hard going at first, but they are a good way for newbies to build their portfolio. I now have a good business that allows me to operate entirely from home, around looking after my 18 month old son, and it isn’t too strenuous on my pregnant body. Plus, I haven’t paid a single cent for advertising.

I guess these aren’t the go for everyone, but online freelance marketplaces suit me.

I do use RAC (Rent a Coder) regularly. I think that most of the negative comments above can be true, especially being underpaid. However it is a great entry point for any new freelancer. Two of my best customers are people I originally met on RAC. After working with me on RAC they came back, outside of RAC and gave me more work to finish, at normal prices.

In many cases this will probably not happen, but for anyone new to the business it is definately worth checking out. It can give you a very decent starting capital and good contacts.

One thing I noticed above is that most people assume a buyer will always pick the lowest bidder. That is definately not the case. When I first started on RAC I noticed that people never seemed to accept my bids, even if I placed them way under their budget. Nowadays when doing a job on RAC I almost always leave a high bid and I actually get more jobs than before. The rating system allows buyers to see the budget of the projects you worked on before (unless you disable it). This way people can see that you are worth their money.

Nowdays RAC became a lot better than what it used to be - many buyers now dislike the “standard canned responses of a team of 50 Indians” and actually seem to choose more by personality and overall appearance of your bid, even if you charge more than the Indian power team.

Thats just my experiences, overall I am very happy with the money and contacts I made in 2 years of RAC.

Hello everyone,

I think the main concern many freelancers face in these bidding sites is that rates are too low and that clients are unrealistic about how much time it takes to get something done. I think this is definitely a problem in the marketplace. In some cases, it’s just difficult for people to estimate how long a project is going to take, so they low-ball it. In other cases, they’re not thinking about quality.

One place you may want to check out is oDesk (http://www.odesk.com). Disclosure, I work there, so I may be a bit biased But read on: oDesk is different because it offers guaranteed hourly payment for freelance work. The hourly payment system has been very successful for longer-term projects and many freelancers have established great professional relationships on the site. We do offer the Fixed Price option (which we really recommend only for smaller projects), in case you’re comfortable working that way, but you have the option.

Take a look and check out the jobs posted on the site (and the rates. Some freelancers are making $30-$50 an hour, depending on their skills and experience).

- Michelle, oDesk
http://www.odesk.com

rent a coder? more like rent a slave!

Our company (we’re software developers) uses eLance a whole lot, and it’s true, there are a lot of ridiculous/insulting project bids on there. However, some people on there are actually serious about getting quality work. There are two ways we’ve found an American or other Western provider can get a bid. Both ways require a bidder who’s serious and not just a “tire-kicker” (i.e. just posting a speculative bid with the goal of getting the lowest possible quote. Can’t do much about them, you just have to get good at sniffing out who they are and avoid bidding on them).

1. You bid, the guy chooses the $1/hour lowball, gets burned badly, then comes back to you because now he knows how much quality work goes for. This has happened several times and we’ve got some pretty decent work out of it.

2. You bid slightly below your normal rate or bid on a rarer job where there are no takers (we have a wide enough range of experience to accommodate some of the more exotic requests that the Third World won’t touch). The client decides to try you out, discovers that you’re high-quality, and never goes with anyone else. Most clients on these freelancing sites who are serious about getting work done just want someone who can take care of them; they’re willing to pay a higher price if the developer cares about their business and expects a long-term relationship with them. If you show them that you’re such a company, they’ll just give you their next bid request rather than hunting for another provider who may or may not be any good. We got many of our smaller clients this way.

There’s a lot of clients who have been repeatedly hurt on freelance sites by scam-artists and incompetents whose only goal is to finish the project with the minimal amount of work and then run away. But they keep going back to those same sites and trying other providers for their projects because they don’t know where else to go. Find them, get them out of the freelancer hunting business with your initial project, and you’ll have them for life.

As a freelance web-designer I have registered at a few of these sites. It seems that clients are not looking for freelancers that can do the best work. They are all looking for bargain basement designers.
I recently wrote a post on my blog called “ON BEHALF OF ALL FREELANCERS ON CRAIGSLIST!”
(didn’t want to add a link on your site as not to spam your blog) I like this blog pretty cool