Comments on: Elance Announces Membership Structure Changes

By: Personal Loans Apply Online Html

Personal Loans Apply Online Html — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 10:50:15 +0000

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By: admin

admin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:56:16 +0000

Thanks Danut,

I’m delighted to hear that Elance is working out for you. I have to admit, most of my high paying jobs also come from Elance and at this stage I think I have definitely gotten used to the new system. I take care to make sure I check out the buyers feedback etc, before I bid on the job. Before I didn’t because I had so many bids available it didn’t matter. I guess now we’re more careful with our connects.

Amanda

By: Danut

Danut — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:07:03 +0000

since Elance got expensive I doubled my income in there connetcs.elance.com

As for all bidders complaining about awarded jobs over Elance I have 2 things:
a) check my last 3projects (1 of them was a repeat business, true)
b) you bid to market yourself primarely, not to get the buyer job(!), I got a project after posting a bid for a project and the buyer remembered by bid after 6months.

Regards,
Danut
http://www.dcrsolutions.biz

By: shaggydogs

shaggydogs — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 02:38:42 +0000

What Elance is doing is appalling! I recently joined up for a year. For my $220 I was told I would get 80 bids per month. With no warning, I now find I will have to pay a minimum of $500 more to get the service I have already paid for, as my monthly bid allotment is now only 25 bids. On top of that, many jobs will now require 3 or 6 bids per job, leaving me the opportunity to bid on about 6 to 10 jobs per month max, rather than the 80 I have, yes, already paid for. If I want more bids, such as the 80 I’ve paid for, I will have to buy them a second time. There is no allowance for jobs that aren’t awarded, which are many, generally 80-90%. I understand that a class action suit is underway. Can’t wait to sign up for it. Run like hell from this sleazy site!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:54:27 +0000

Hi Amanda,
Many freelancers are discovering oDesk (http://www.odesk.com). An online marketplace with over 2,000 jobs (check out these writing jobs: http://www.odesk.com/console/jobs/?search_button.x=1&action=Jobs&reset=1&search=Advanced&filter%5BJobCategory%5D=Writing), oDesk won’t charge you membership fees or fees to bid on projects. Plus, one of oDesk’s advantages is guaranteed payment for hourly work, so it’s a great place for long-term projects.
Looking forward to seeing you on the oDesk network!
~Michelle, oDesk
http://www.odesk.com

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:12:03 +0000

These changes are pretty problematic to a great number of individual freelancers who don’t have the big bucks to spend on extra “connects.” I’ve been working on Elance for years, and I’ve written about my opinion–and that of many other long-time providers–on my blog. Here’s the link if you’re interested in the other side of the argument:

http://catalystblogger.blogspot.com/2007/11/why-im-leaving-elance-and-you-should.html

By: admin

admin — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 20:58:42 +0000

Cyndi,

Many thanks for your clarification on this issue. I am very much in favor of the new changes. Over the past year there has been an influx of new writers marketplaces but credit to Elance who have remained my top of the list. Most of the other marketplaces are packed full of extremely low paying jobs which as a professional writer just aren’t for me. Elance has remained consistent although I have noticed a few of these low paying jobs slipping in lately. I think the new pay plans will allow everyone a fair chance and I look forward to seeing how it rolls out.

Amanda

By: Cyndi

Cyndi — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 20:44:36 +0000

Hi Amanda,

I work at Elance and I wanted to make sure you know we are available for questions about the changes we are making to the site. We reached out to our active members yesterday to make sure they had a heads up on the changes coming, and I’d like to share the reason behind the changes.

Over the last year the volume of activity on Elance has more than doubled and we are updating our membership plans to benefit our community for the long term. The aim is to create a much better dynamic for our members, ultimately resulting in higher quality and more growth. (Just as James commented above).

Our mission is the same, to create the best virtual workplace, with the best talent and projects available online. Short term change can be hard, but we hope our users decide to stick with us. It will all be for the better.

For anyone who doesn’t automatically qualify for the Premier Program, you can apply to join when the program launches on Dec. 4. We created this option specifically for providers who may not have had an opportunity to build a reputation on Elance yet, but who are highly skilled and qualified. All the information to manually apply for the Premier Provider Program is here – http://www.elance.com/p/help/provider/premiermembership.html.

Best,

Cyndi, Elance

By: James Chartrand - JCM Enterprises

James Chartrand - JCM Enterprises — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:24:43 +0000

The new Premier program intends to cut out the riff-raff and wannabes. Elance plans to test freelancers on their skills – a very good thing.

Monthly costs for the Premier plan might be a consideration for smaller freelance writing businesses or individual freelancers. However, you have to spend a buck to make a buck, as they say.