How does peopleperhour make money

[Abe2019]

I'm interested in hiring some specific technical help for a small job - but as looking at all the sites out there for the first time - I'm wondering which ones will work for me.

I've narrowing in to peopleperhour.com - but there's no mention of how this company makes it's money / their fees - where's the catch?

Does anyone know or have any experience with them (or any other marketplaces)?

Thanks
A

 

[WaveJumper]

No experience of them but believe they charge around 20% commission last time I did a search on them (about a year ago) they were not getting very good reviews maybe worth doing a little internet search and see what you come up with regarding recommendations.

Hopefully others on UKBF may have more first hand knowledge on them and give a better insight

 

[gpietersz]

They double dip - they charge fees on both the buyer and the seller. Their margin is about 30% of the payment the buyer makes much of the time IIRC.

All these sites are a bit of a lottery. Sometimes you get good work done cheap, sometimes you get poor quality work, sometimes work is not delivered or delivered very late, sometimes you get ripped off.

 

[NickGrogan]

I use upwork.com regularly, I've used them for a while, they used to be called elance.com

It works well, as long as you know exactly what you want, tell the freelancer exactly what you want and they understand.

Spend time planning the job, choose carefully and it's very easy.

 

[japancool]

I did some work on Upwork, until I realised that the people offering work there were expecting to pay peanuts. So I let the monkeys get on with it.

 

[antropy]

I used oDesk which merged in to Upwork over 10 years ago when I started the company. It was great at the time as the 2008 credit crunch meant loads of great developers were available and ready to work.

Now though, we just can't find any decent workers on there and luckily it doesn't matter because I've since fully employed a load of in-house UK staff who actually, believe it or not, work out much better value.

Now I'd avoid those sites really, they're just full of scammers.

Paul.

 

[NickGrogan]

I did some work on Upwork, until I realised that the people offering work there were expecting to pay peanuts. So I let the monkeys get on with it.

Depends on the jobs you bid for / offer. Most show a budget, just avoid the cheap jobs.

 

[antropy]

I did some work on Upwork, until I realised that the people offering work there were expecting to pay peanuts. So I let the monkeys get on with it.

That's because the whole idea is it's for developed countries to outsource their work to "developing" countries. You can't compete with people in countries where the average wage is £300/month or less.

Paul.

 

[gpietersz]

That's because the whole idea is it's for developed countries to outsource their work to "developing" countries.

Its worse than that. You are not going to even get the good developers from those countries at low rates. They are better off staying with a stable job with promotion prospects, or emigrating (which is fairly easy if you are actually good) or starting a business (if they are willing to take the risk).

It was great at the time as the 2008 credit crunch meant loads of great developers were available and ready to work.

Yes. Its quite possible to get people who can do the job when things are bad. This year was a good one to hire Sri Lankans.

I've since fully employed a load of in-house UK staff who actually, believe it or not, work out much better value.

I have no problem believing it.

IMO if you want to save money by offshoring you need to open an office there and hire people full time at good salaries (by local standards)

 

[antropy]

Its worse than that. You are not going to even get the good developers from those countries at low rates. They are better off staying with a stable job with promotion prospects, or emigrating (which is fairly easy if you are actually good) or starting a business (if they are willing to take the risk).

Very good point.

Yes. Its quite possible to get people who can do the job when things are bad. This year was a good one to hire Sri Lankans.

I wasn't aware of that, worth investigating I think.

I have no problem believing it.

IMO if you want to save money by offshoring you need to open an office there and hire people full time at good salaries (by local standards)

Agreed.

Paul.

 

[Bob Morgan]

IMO if you want to save money by offshoring you need to open an office there and hire people full time at good salaries (by local standards)

I did exactly that 10 Yeara ago - No regrets

 

[antropy]

I did exactly that 10 Yeara ago - No regrets

Nice! Where in the world did you do it and was there a lot of paperwork? Was it difficult?

Paul.

 

[Bob Morgan]

Nice! Where in the world did you do it and was there a lot of paperwork? Was it difficult?

Paul.

It's a long story - I will drop you a PM

 

[Ray272]

Nearly forgot about PPH, transitioned to upwork for hires years ago. Much smoother experience was my original reason for trying it out. I recall PPH was a sketchy system for reviewing work and downloads but its been 5 years already.

Good value on upwork. Find decent workers and keep them close.