Comments on: Why Elance Sucks Lately

By: mazola

mazola — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:25:47 +0000

Yep, lately if you look at new jobs offered you’ll see ten or more companies from India offering bids. Word of mouth must have gotten around there and every everybody who knows some HTML is trying to get a piece of the pie.
Their government says they are not in the business of stealing USA jobs but it looks like that’s just not true.
Local americans don’t respond because who wants to bid for peanuts like they do. Some of the job offers come from american idiots who don’t have a clue and think they can get away with cheap work.
It was the British that taught them how to read english so thank the Royal Crown for it. lol

By: Theresa Lane

Theresa Lane — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:53:16 +0000

Thanks for this article. I actually posted a project on elance 2 weeks ago for logo design. The only people that bid were from India. Their references looked great, but when it got into the acutal logo design phase, they delivered pile after pile of useless, disfigured poop. A 5 yr old could have done better. I asked for some local Americans to apply, and they did not respond back. I was offering a good, respectable range as well. My opinion is that eLance is dead.

By: John Lyman

John Lyman — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 18:59:38 +0000

I disagree with Rohan in regards to the statement that writers who will do work dirt cheap (or cheaper than dirt) exist in every country. I’ve been doing this kind of work for years, long before there even was an internet. I’ve also been an Elance member for a while and thankfully, I don’t get most of my work from there and certainly don’t rely on it. Most of the dirt cheap workers are in countries outside of the U.S. I know this because I’m a researcher (that’s what writers are “supposed to do”) and it’s very clear that the lowest of the low bids come from Asia, Africa and the Indian continent. And unfortunately people who want blog content or SEO articles don’t care how they get them. They just want the content (original or not) and they want it cheap. But you can’t fight the Elance system. Instead of banging your head against the wall, it’s best to step back and do thorough prospecting, which means getting work from a variety of sources. My guess is that Elance has allowed such practices and they in the end will be the ones to suffer for it. I’ve noticed recently that a lot more employers have begun to state specifically that they want people who are native English writers and speakers. But the down side to that is people are still getting around the system. I bid on a job recently that required such qualifications, and I noticed comments from contractors such as, “English is my mother native tongue.” No, the person wasn’t from the U.S., and by writing such oddball wording they showed it’s not their “mother native tongue.”

By: John

John — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:19:27 +0000

oDesk appears to be another alternative. Haven’t use it or eLance. Stopped while signing up for eLance due to all the bad experiences people have had with them.

By: Jeff Williams

Jeff Williams — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 09:34:53 +0000

Rohan, I believe the Indian mage issue is the fact the market still believes they can get something for nothing. You always get what you pay for, in India or the USA. I have worked successfully with great teams in India, but I paid for it!

By: Jeff Williams

Jeff Williams — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 09:32:48 +0000

I love that. I am going to tell my marketing folks, this is exactly what we want. I hope you don’t mind if that comment lands on our front page! real work, real professionals, real wages!!!!!!!

By: Rohan

Rohan — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 17:30:05 +0000

Hi,

Your points are, without a shadow of a doubt, valid. But there’s one thing I’d like to add to the ‘think India’ bit. I’m an Indian, and while there a lot of writers who are willing to take on projects at dirt cheap rates, there are just as many quality writers. We ( I say we since I’m a freelance writer myself) are as irked by these ‘I’ll-write-for-anything’ sort of writers as people in Western countries are. But the fact is that the first point of exploitation is initiated by the person who has the audacity to offer such a ridiculous rate to a writer. And as for people willing to do such projects for cheap, they exist in every country. It’s the need to earn, somehow, anyhow, that fuels their desperation. It’s not really their fault. But yes, I do wish that people regarded writing for what it truly is – an art.

Rohan

By: Jeff Williams

Jeff Williams — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 10:55:46 +0000

http://www.weblance.com will be implement standards and addressing this very issue

By: Larry

Larry — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:48:20 +0000

@Joe — well said, thanks for sharing this. I wish you luck as you move forward, be sure to let us know when (and where) you find a professional venue where real work from real professionals is fairly compensated. Thanks again — L.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:39:48 +0000

I searched for “Elance sucks” on Google. I was prompted to do this because I have submitted bids on many, many jobs. The jobs I bid on were across the board. Writing jobs, artwork needed, and programming. I have honed a few good talents over the years, and had the websites to back my work.

What I found so disheartening was seeing not only the pay offered, but that people were willing to work for pennies on the dollar! I live in the US. I am a US citizen, and would bid on jobs only if the employer was also a US citizen. I have nothing against working outside the US. As a matter of fact, many of my friends and colleagues are either Indian or European. There are many great workers around the globe, I was just dumbfounded by how cheap they would sell their skills for.

I quit Elance today. Like you, Larry, I am interested in finding out where these other people went. I know how to drum up business. The key, and what many people who didn’t find success on Elance may not know, is you do business with people. I would write detailed proposals, tell a little about myself, and follow through with emails. Some people were courteous, and replied in kind. The straw that broke my back was a “Not right now” response from a bid I put in. Elance doesn’t allow open communication. It’s “Read a proposal” and “Submit a bid” only.

Screw that. It was enough to send me packing. I’ll just keep doing my own thing. I might not make pennies on the dollar doing it, but at least I will be happy tinkering.