Dropping Freelancer.com from My List
By bloggeroo
@bloggeroo (2167)
Philippines
March 25, 2013 9:45am CST
I've been experimenting with online moneymaking for several years now and I have to say that since I started I have gained insights as to what an acceptable moneymaking model looks like. And from what I have seen at (and read about) Freelancer.com (which acquired RentaCoder), I have to say that it's a bad deal for most members.
One particular "red flag" to me is being required to pay for stuff like English tests. These are free in other sites. And not only are the fees they charged complicated and many, I get the impression that they are only interested in collecting money upfront from the members. This is downright suspicious. Frankly, only scammers seemed to be concerned with getting paid immediately because they are preparing to run at a moment's notice.
Anyway, it's probably premature of me to be making such judgement, but like I said, I have acquired insights from years of observations and I'm proud to say, I haven't fallen prey to online scams just yet. (Of course, I've joined many PTC sites that went bust, but still, I never lost my own money on any of them.)
This is my opinion. Everybody's welcome to contradict me on this.
1 person likes this
7 responses
@SpikeTheLobster (6403)
•
25 Mar 13
Freelancer has always been the bottom of the pile in my opinion, but never a scam. They get a lot more crappy jobs, they do stupid things like charging for tests and their site is pretty horrible but they pay out and you can find some work there if you look hard enough.
It's really when you compare them to the other bidding sites that their suckitude becomes so obvious: oDesk, Elance and Guru all knock Freelancer for six.
1 person likes this
@bloggeroo (2167)
• Philippines
25 Mar 13
I'm starting to activate my accounts at the more popular sites like oDesk. And apparently, I have an account at Elance so I'll be activating that as well. Guru.com seems interesting. I don't remember creating an account there so I'll just join and try them out as well.
@SpikeTheLobster (6403)
•
27 Mar 13
In my experience, Elance far outdoes the others. That may be because I like their system and have used it the most but I've found my best-paying jobs and best hires there: their quality level is significantly higher than oDesk or Freelancer.
oDesk's good for general work and there are some really nice people on there - my second choice, definitely.
I haven't used Guru because the system just feels alien to me. My brain won't work with it, so I haven't pursued anything there - though I know several people who put it in the number 1 spot because it's more generous with free bids and stuff.
@dmckenzie (80)
•
25 Mar 13
I would agree. I have not used that site or even really heard of it. I think that any site that wants you to pay them though even at first/upfront would be a scam in a way. I think that if I am trying to make money then why am I wanting to join something that I am supposed to be earning money from and then have to give them money up front and just give them a bunch of money anyways.
@BlackAmaranth (275)
• Romania
25 Mar 13
The fact that you have to pay for any test in freelancer sucks, but i made some money. Now waiting to get my payment and invest all to grow my passive income.
@Laurenlynn (715)
• Canada
25 Mar 13
Hi Bloggeroo this is a very interesting discussion to read. I have read many times to careful of any site that asks for money if it is a site you are suppose to make money from. I do think however if it is something that can teach you how to make money this can be different than paying a site upfront, to only make money from. Also what I have learned as well if there is a money back guarantee this sounds most times a more trust worthy site and if they have a email or phone number this again makes any site more trust worthy hope this helps.
@Scoffield127 (110)
• United States
25 Mar 13
Freelancer.com is one freelance site I can't encourage anyone to join. I have been with them for quite some time now and you don't seem to see reasonable projects from trusted clients. I once bid for a project there and won, the project was half way to completion when the client decided to delist it without informing freelancer. My contract with the client with the client was at the same time terminated by the original owner of the project as it was a third party stuff.
Freelancer never cared to know if I was paid or not and decided to debit my account with the believe that I recieved payment which I never did. I tried contacting them but there was no reasonable feed back. That prompted me to suspend my activities with them. I think I still hold Elance in high esteem.
@internaty (257)
• Chile
25 Mar 13
Yes, I agree with you . I think good sites for Freelancers do not ask for money to start. Try others. I do not have experience with this specific site but it is no good that they charge money.
