Freelancer.com looks great at first glance

[Adam Cox]

Hi, just about to use Freelancer.com for the 1st time. I've already posted the job and had loads of freelancer bids (some within the first 5 microseconds which is curious).

Any advice or warnings before I take someone on? If it is safe and easy then I've been missing a trick not using it earlier for the odd job here and there. Anybody ever used it for PR/marketing type tasks?

Thanks

 

[Faevilangel]

Most of the members are based in the developing countries (India, Thailand etc) and will literally do the jobs for peanuts.

For menial tasks like data inputting it's worth it but for marketing, don't bother, you're not likely to get an English speaker and the job will be done quickly and badly.

For PR use a site like this (look in the tenders forum) where you can request members contact you in regards to doing the work.

You will get a better calibre of work (imho) but you will pay more for it.

 

[Adam Cox]

nice one, thanks for the advice. This time I'm using freelancer for a bit of website work and they seem good for it.

 

[fisicx]

Don't expect much for your money. Freelancer is a race to the bottom with everyone promising to do the job for the lowest price. What you will probably get either won't work or be of such low quality it's not worth using.

Don't let themn anywhere near your website.

 

[Moneyman]

I have used a couple of guys from the site. yes a lot are foreign and very cheap.
what you have to do is be very very precise as to what you want. Many have no design sense and often the work they show is not their own or original. Always check.
I have had good and bad people. some very clever coders that I have used over and over again some who had no idea of what the concept was. Check exactly what it produced. I had some 3d work done and it was absolutely obvious that nobody had checked their work for even a second.
break the job down into sub parts and pay as each bit is done.

 

[simonswords]

Freelancer is okay - I'd also check out odesk.com which we've used for a bunch of things (PPC ad review, copywriting)

 

[10032012]

Freelancer.com I do not recommend:-

1. Someone auto-bids for your project through a script (i.e. not read your project description)
2. You enter preliminary discussion before accepting bid (you ask if they understand the project)
3. They say "Yes" (a little more than just yes of course; usually copy and paste your project description)
4. You accept their bid, usually paying part upfront
5. They then "for clarification" ask you all questions about your project in precise details (its not that they want to make sure they get it right to your requirements, they really have no idea, they woke up this morning with 6 accepted bids to projects they don't have a clue about)
6. You answer them, ask if they understand?
7. They say "yes sir" and begin work
8. You then chase it up as its almost deadline, no updates
9. They say they have made progress, still working on one part
10. You chase it up, as its now well past the deadline
11. They make guarantees that it will be done, before saying its done, requesting milestone payment, apologising for the "slight" delay
12. You pay the milestone
13. They send the files
14. You realise its rather poorly done, and will take you a bit of time to sort out - it might work it might not

I had have success on freelancer but most were complete disappointment. I can recommend a few people on there but the majority I don't. Its not a price thing, a lot of newbies on there do autobids for sky high prices - they never get picked but I am sure some fool for it.

its fully corrupt, they all get "friends" to pass the English and other competency tests, so these are not a gauge of communication or competence.

freelancer also rarely refunds you. you have to be careful what you say. I started on there pretty much with praise (but not specifying whether the work was done well or not) and politeness; for example by doing this you get files quicker and their english improves.... but it backfired when on one occasion the freelancer claimed to freelancer.com that by me thanking him for sending the file (i.e. before I had seen) that it was me saying it was a good job. freelancer.com sided with him! I then had to be very careful how I approached further freelancers, the politeness went, no praise, some demands, stubborn and very assertive (to me felt like i was abusing the poor guy) - this scenario I managed to get a partial refund.

I avoided freelancer in the past, I only had to use them a year back or so, as they have purchased most of its competitors... one site I used to use was excellent.

So its a very unprofessional website, I suggest people avoid it.

 

[Adam Cox]

Ouch! Nasty experience. Sorry you went through all that, sounds like you got a real bad egg. I hate getting stung like that in business, happens so often when you're venturing into new territory and taking little risks. That's why forums like this are so ruddy useful. I've just accepted a freelancer for my little web task (i read your post after I accepted but would prob still have gone ahead anyway, it's not megabucks). So I'll let you know how it goes with him.

I contacted the dude beforehand to strike up a convo/check his English and competence. He was quick and clear and precise so put my mind at rest, also his customer feedback is good and he agreed payment on completion.

I'm getting the impression that freelancer is best used for smaller engineery type tasks rather than judgement-based design work or big jobs. I'll check out odesk in more detail when it comes to marketing then.

One last question then if anyone's stuck with this thread, have you ever used fiverrrrr? £5 max to freelancers for little tasks (e.g review my product, get me 5Billion facebook followers, video blog my site). I bet that's got some stories surrounding it.

 

[Adam Cox]

Also Groupon, bet there's some horror stories there but also loads of success stories too.

 

[10032012]

Fiverr is a good concept but it works out that people roughly get £2 or so.

A lot of decent people on there will charge $5 (£2) for doing something with time scales of 30 days (typically shorter), then will charge an additional sum for a fast track service.

Its low-cost, low-risk; but I wouldn't expect too much from it. More hobby based and make some pocket money, than a business thing. Although there are some really good voice over artists (for instance) on there... you pay $5 for certain amount of words, and its basically practice for them, and can earn them a tidy sum on the side.

 

[zigojacko]

One last question then if anyone's stuck with this thread, have you ever used fiverrrrr? £5 max to freelancers for little tasks (e.g review my product, get me 5Billion facebook followers, video blog my site). I bet that's got some stories surrounding it.

It's all low quality garbage that more often than not, will do more harm than good.

There are some exceptions but certainly not when it comes to anything to do with social media, websites, design or marketing.

 

[toastking]

I have a uni friend who wanted to know a few sites and I pointed him to this and people per hour, fiverr etc. as he assumed I'd know some good ones but I had to be honest and say I didn't know anywhere that a good living could be made.

Its a lot of low quality, cheap services.
If what you need is cheap, then these things are ideal (either as buyer or less likely as seller). Interested to know if anyone has any really solid examples of websites to use as a seller.

 

[zigojacko]

Its a lot of low quality, cheap services.
If what you need is cheap, then these things are ideal (either as buyer or less likely as seller). Interested to know if anyone has any really solid examples of websites to use as a seller.

Even many of the web designer freelancers that have hundreds of positive reviews just purchase off-the-shelf Wordpress themes and couldn't be labelled a web designer by any stretch of the imagination.

I've seen some good flyer designers and logo designers but I'm really struggling to recall any amazing web design project that was via a freelancer on networks such as these.

 

[MatthewH]

I second most of the opinions above regarding websites like Freelancer and PeoplePerHour. I often bid on web developments projects there, but it's made hard by a) other freelancers with lower cost-of-living submitting bids that you can never hope to match, and b) clients who want the world for nothing.

I recently had a guy asking me for www.wonga.com for £500. It wasn't great stuff (I quoted him more like £15-20k), but the rise in popularity of these sites (and the subsequent burns suffered by genuine business owners later on by using unscrupulous freelancers) means it's hard to (initially) get clients away from the site, and then when you do, they're concerned that you're going to rip them off as well.

 

[10032012]

I second most of the opinions above regarding websites like Freelancer and PeoplePerHour. I often bid on web developments projects there, but it's made hard by a) other freelancers with lower cost-of-living submitting bids that you can never hope to match, and b) clients who want the world for nothing.

I recently had a guy asking me for www.wonga.com for £500. It wasn't great stuff (I quoted him more like £15-20k), but the rise in popularity of these sites (and the subsequent burns suffered by genuine business owners later on by using unscrupulous freelancers) means it's hard to (initially) get clients away from the site, and then when you do, they're concerned that you're going to rip them off as well.

I am sure wonga would offer him a loan to be able to afford your design services. Perhaps he did, £500 loan would end up costing £15k lol

One other issue with wonga is they have patented the cash sliders - not sure they can enforce it though.

 

[MatthewH]

I am sure wonga would offer him a loan to be able to afford your design services. Perhaps he did, £500 loan would end up costing £15k lol

One other issue with wonga is they have patented the cash sliders - not sure they can enforce it though.

LOL! Perhaps! I could understand a basic site being around £500, but not one that was all automated and had integrations with lenders and banks and such. If they have patented the cash sliders, then I wouldn't implement them ... even if they can't enforce it, it's not worth the legal hassle to the client (and the stuff they'd throw in anger my way).

I've found that word-of-mouth referrals tend to work best -- that way you're getting something you know is good, and they're getting paid a decent amount to provide it.

 

[10032012]

£15k seems a good price for the set up of wonga to be fair. I am sure wonga spent hundreds of thousands getting the automation set up.

+1 for word of mouth

 

[zigojacko]

Came across this good piece on the problem with freelancer websites such as Odesk and Elance today that thought might be useful for both buyers and sellers (or newcomers to these types of website models).

 

[a1anm]

I've used Freelancer in the past with quite good success. It has always been for really small jobs like a javascript fix or for a script that I would use internally for updating things. I recently hired one guy to write a php script that I use as an internal tool. He was based in the UK and I was really impressed with him.

As others have mentioned I would be wary of using it for large/important jobs, design work or marketing work. A lot of peoples portfolios are fake.

Only accept people who talk about your project in their reply and seem to have a good understanding of it. Avoid the copy/paste replies.

 

[SnappyJen]

I have had good and bad experiences from People Per Hour. I had a freelancer do some writing for me which was just copied off the net. I also had some fantastic coding done and found someone who virtually saved my business in the very early stages. It's all a matter of checking and making sure that you don't pay our before you have seen some work.

 

[Lynette]

I find PeoplePerHour is the best resource. I have used it to find jobs myself but I've also used it to look for outsourced help. Always provide a detailed brief and don't go for the cheapest bid, you do get what you pay for. Visit the website of any candidates you're thinking of using, assess how they respond to your messages and if you ask for a sample do offer to pay for it to get the best work. If you're careful and fair you can find some excellent help in the short and long term. Alternatively, decide on your budget and start asking for recommendations on your social networks and hunting online yourself.

 

[Lynette]

I've also used Fiverr and I wasn't disappointed but it was for a video. I think it depends on what you need really, not sure I would go there for coding work.

 

[NickGrogan]

Used elance a view times, logo design from Argentina and writing from the USA. Having worked for an offshore software company, I wouldn't recommend the coders unless you can specify the job exactly in every detail. Imagination and creativity are in short supply.

 

[Eina26]

I don't have an experience on freelancer.com but I worked part time on odesk. My advice is, if it's too good to be true, it's a scam. Make it a habit to check on the comments about the employer before you apply for the job and also if you're in an interview, it's okay to ask if you have questions.

 

[10032012]

Some really good voice over artists on fiverr... obviously you aren't actually paying just $5 for the work but its great quality.