I know that your blog and post is a little old and I’m really late replying to this, but…

I have been on eLance since they started and were BETA way back in 1998-1999. I left due to this same issue. However, I was NOT bidding in the writing category, but the data entry/secretarial/transcription or whatever category that they classify it now.

In the beginning it was okay and we were able to bid regular/normal prices, such as anywhere from $8.00 per hour to $20.00 per hour and actually GET that price. However, when they started letting people from places like India come in and bid, they started bidding like $2.00 per hour! Now, as we all know, those of us who live in the Good Old USA just CANNOT afford to work or live on $2.00 per hour!

The sad part about all of this is they say that they don’t want people to lowball and they don’t condone it, but yet they allow it to happen anyway. Not to mention, that I even had people (yes, from India) copying my credentials WORD FOR WORD and they didn’t even live here or much less even work here in the U.S.! So, I then started putting a disclaimer at the end of every single bid to discourage them from copying my bids! What can I say, I was winning TONS of projects just because of my credentials and the way that my bids were professionally written, by none other than MYSELF!

I got so tired of it, because nobody seemed to listen to anyone and I thought that you might like to know at the time (I am NOT sure of this now), but the people that run eLance are FOREIGN/INDIANS THEMSELVES AND THEY RUN eLance out of an apartment and are making a killing!

Needless to say, that I finally hung up eLance after being one of the MOST SUCCESSFUL eLancers and bidders on their site! I hung it up because I saw how it was NOT going to get any better and it kept getting worse and worse and worse as the time went on. Not to mention, they now charge you to bid (whereas, I can remember BEFORE they even did that and they just only took a percentage of the bid that you won and that was it!). They now hit you numerous ways (they charge you to bid, PLUS take a percentage of what you make off of the winning bid!).

To me, that just isn’t worth it, especially when you cannot even compete or much less win a bid that even hardly covers the so-called “fees” that eLance charges! Now, you can see the ones that are really making money.

I am NOT afraid of competition, but this is EXACTLY my reasons for no longer being a part of the eLance Community. However, I will admit, that it was good while it lasted.

I just came across your blog in search for some information regarding e-lance bids and budgets. I work as a freelance writer for Demand Studios and after ending up in a disheartening dispute with Paypal, I sought out other venues of making revenue on the web. Browsing through ‘possible’ working assignments to pursue, I must say that the market place looks pretty dim.

I need to disagree with a few other bloggers here however who seem to believe that the marketplace should be restricted to just US providers. It should not matter if a provider is from the US, Europe or what you deem as ‘3rd world countries’. If the provider has the right qualifications and business ethics to do the job right, then what part of the world they are from should not matter. It is unfortunate that many people think this way. There are many talented people from other countries who have great potential to add value to the market place. Selection is key. I happen to live in Jordan, but my mother tongue language is American English. I am usually pretty modest, but compare my credentials to the average Joe, then it would be a pretty sad idea to say that the solution lies in restricting marketplace location. And no, I don’t just happen to live in Jordan, I was born and raised in Jordan.

That said, I do believe that standards should be in place to ensure that quality gets compensated accordingly. I haven’t checked out oDesk or guru.com yet, but I suppose they wouldn’t be that much different in terms of buyers basing their projects on ‘cheapest seller’ concept.

Cheers.

Then have minimum standard hourly wage amounts so no one is really racing to the bottom on price but instead charge more if they offer more or better quality.

I just don’t think I can compete with those types of prices, and have no incentive to even try to land a project on eLance.

I can all too well relate to your frustrations. Though I’m a writer myself, my medium for employment is putting covers on the books people write, or styling the pages themselves. As a professional designer who has been around the block, I can say with surety that sites like ELance are harming my industry, not helping it.

eBay had a good idea with selling people’s unwanted junk using the online bidding system. A fairly unregulated “cheapest bidder gets the job” bidding environment for professional services, however, is not only degrading for those professionals who are in need of work, but threatens the very livelihoods of all in their field. For what will the aggregate impression of the goods and services we professionals provide look like in a culture where talented people have to bend and scrape for pennies just to win a contract?

This is in the end just another example of the deadly paradox of thrift; a paradox, one might say, that is partly responsible for the economic woes we are suffering in our day and age. The ELances and the Walmarts of the world are cheapening our standards of living from both ends, not only in the products we buy, but the services we provide.

If anyone has any respect for a talent or trade, they would avoid places that invite auctioning off hard-earned and hard-honed talent at bargain basement prices. Don’t get me wrong. Getting a deal is one thing. Contributing to a community that encourages virtual slavery is quite another.

I hope Brad Porteus reads this too, though I doubt the gist of my message would ever go over well at the next corporate meeting.

another negative point with elance is about connects and categories . . . plus no guarantee payment! i hope they can improve things a little.