WAHM Forums

I just came across this and looks pretty interesting. I took the pretest and signed up but failed the test.. Guess I have to study more about the company.. I seen some data entry etc on there.. Curious if anyone else has done or worked from here..
Thanks a bunch
misty

Hi, Misty,

I signed up with Elance (and oDesk, Freelancer, Peopleperhour), but not for data entry. Thing is, these are all very similar in that there are people competing globally. There are people ("providers") who will work for as little as a couple dollars per hour because they live in a place which has an ecomony where a buck or two goes further! Then there are those who will work for very little by way of getting experience/ratings so they'll appear more attractive to future employers. In all cases I've bid on jobs in a particular capacity in which I have 9+ years experience, I was never chosen because I bid too high. I'm not going to work for peanuts. If I didn't need to earn an income, I'd do volunteer work!

Anyway, what happens is, Employers in most cases go there w/ the expectation of cheap labor. I've almost given up on applying to these types of outlets. I managed to get one interview during which time, I realized the guy interviewing me had no intention to hire anyone (and didn't), but was picking my brain to do an academic paper.

Recently, someone who is bidding on jobs in the same capacity as me, plagiarized my profile (well, she paraphrased it a bit, but still).

If you didn't pass the test, you could always go through the material again, take notes, then do the test over. Apparently they change the questions every so often, but you can search for the answers online, BTW.

Good luck!

Hey Leaf:

I KNOW EXACTLY all too well how you feel. I have been on eLance since 1999 when they were still in the BETA stage and were NOT charging anything and were pretty decent then.

I will even ONE up you regarding the plagiarizing the profiles bit:

I had an Indian individual/company copy and plagiarize my profile WORD FOR WORD, INCLUDING MY CREDENTIALS!!!! I don't think you can beat that, lol! :) They had the nerve to copy my profile word for word, including my credentials of which I have OVER 20 years of data entry experience, including working/doing data entry for the State in which I live!!!!

Can you believe this?! This is how I remedied the situation. I created a job and invited them to bid on it in order to confront them only to have them say, oh I'm sorry, one of our other workers did that and shouldn't have and made a mistake. Not to mention, I told them that I'm sure that MY BOSS and COMPANY of whom I worked for would like to know how they would explain that they worked there ALL the way from INDIA!!!!

After I confronted them with it, I then started putting a little disclaimer at the bottom of my bids, because they were even copying my bids word for word, because I was winning projects left and right. I can even take you to the person's profile, because they are STILL on there! ;) They are from India!

The people from eLance do NOT care, because they too are from India themselves and they run eLance out of an apartment!!!! ;) I know a lot of you probably do NOT even know this, but it is true.

I gave eLance up a LONG time ago, because it just got too ridiculous and they wouldn't do anything about it. They just don't care!!!! The ONLY thing that they care about now is MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!!!!

Anyhow, for those of you that want to try it, I wish you much luck and success and hope that you have a lot of success with it! :)

Although I have a profile on Elance, I rarely use it because when I'm needing work there are other places that wind up grabbing me faster. I find the best way for me to work this is to horribly underbid everybody and bid on my paid limit (20 last I knew). That way a) I'll get plenty of work and b) have enough $ to work with.

Auburn, I'm sitting here "LOL" -- not about what you went through, but how you handled it. I *love* it! You've also made me feel a bit better (because let me tell you I was *beyond* ticked when this person plagiarized my profile), since I was wondering if this occured often that people have no authentic "voice" or experience of their own so they grab someone else's. I can imagine how you felt when he/she did that, having built up your portfolio over that many years. Good for you in doing that! In my case, I'd bid on a job, my first one, then of course perused to see who else had bid and what competition I was up against. I read this person's profile a first time, then when I noticed she was applying for everything else I applied for in the same capacity, I read it again, only to find she'd expanded on it, fleshing it out w/ stuff I'd spend a great deal of time putting together. Okay, so I admit -- I'm still irked. LOL

Oh! You raise another point which I'd forgotten to mention to Misty -- the fact that they take quite the steep fees off of your earnings. I'd completely forgotten that. So there are perhaps those, when all is factored in, who are working for a mere .50 per hour. Honestly I saw one bid $1.55 per hour! Ridiculous.

I had no idea the owners are from India and run this out of their home!

Well! Live and learn. Thanks for enlightening me. I think I'll look elsewhere in future!

I never bothered much with elance for a few reasons.
1. The pay is generally way too low to be worth my time (or anyone's for that matter).
2. The fees eat up even more of your pay. AND
3. The competition on there is fierce because there are so many workers from other countries willing to work for practically nothing.

If I were you, I'd check out the writing section of the forum because there are some great gigs to be found out there if you digg deep enough. Good luck!

I work regularly from Elance. I find them to be fair. I have had great experiences and success as a freelance writer. When I have had issues, I have contacted them and found resolution.

Note: If bids are not sealed, place your bid with the note that your proposal will be detailed on the private message board. This prevents others from seeing it. I also don't maintain an online portfolio. I upload items for each proposal.

Give it a try. They are really the best of the best.

Hey Leaf:

I KNOW EXACTLY all too well how you feel. I have been on eLance since 1999 when they were still in the BETA stage and were NOT charging anything and were pretty decent then.

I will even ONE up you regarding the plagiarizing the profiles bit:

I had an Indian individual/company copy and plagiarize my profile WORD FOR WORD, INCLUDING MY CREDENTIALS!!!! I don't think you can beat that, lol! :) They had the nerve to copy my profile word for word, including my credentials of which I have OVER 20 years of data entry experience, including working/doing data entry for the State in which I live!!!!

Can you believe this?! This is how I remedied the situation. I created a job and invited them to bid on it in order to confront them only to have them say, oh I'm sorry, one of our other workers did that and shouldn't have and made a mistake. Not to mention, I told them that I'm sure that MY BOSS and COMPANY of whom I worked for would like to know how they would explain that they worked there ALL the way from INDIA!!!!

After I confronted them with it, I then started putting a little disclaimer at the bottom of my bids, because they were even copying my bids word for word, because I was winning projects left and right. I can even take you to the person's profile, because they are STILL on there! ;) They are from India!

The people from eLance do NOT care, because they too are from India themselves and they run eLance out of an apartment!!!! ;) I know a lot of you probably do NOT even know this, but it is true.

I gave eLance up a LONG time ago, because it just got too ridiculous and they wouldn't do anything about it. They just don't care!!!! The ONLY thing that they care about now is MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!!!!

Anyhow, for those of you that want to try it, I wish you much luck and success and hope that you have a lot of success with it! :)


Wow that is terrible. How can ppl be that blatant in stealing someone's credentials?
Jan

Wow that is terrible. How can ppl be that blatant in stealing someone's credentials?
Jan

You'd be surprised then because it happens quite often unfortunately.

What about Odesk? I'm thinking about starting with them, but I see the competition is stiff there, too. Are people as ruthless there as well?

Oh yeah, one other thing that I forgot to mention is that eLance used MY profile as an example for how others should write their profiles and I believe it may still be there as the example that they give when creating a profile for the secretarial/data entry category. :)

I haven't looked in a while to see if it is still there. They did ask for my permission to use it. I have also done some work for them as well. :)

I haven't been on there in a LONG time though, because I got sick of them NOT doing anything about the low ball bids and profile and bid copying. ;)

Again though, I started on eLance when they first started and they were in the BETA stage and they were only taking just a small percentage from the winning bids.

What about Odesk? I'm thinking about starting with them, but I see the competition is stiff there, too. Are people as ruthless there as well?

Not sure as to the degree of ruthlessness, but at this point, nothing would surprise me. Odesk practices the technopaternalism/Big Brother thing in all cases. With Elance it's optional. I don't take a job if I don't intend to give it my best. That said, I find it creepy to be monitored!

Auburnwahm, I'd have told them that just because you approved their use of your profile it did not give license to someone *else* to use it when bidding. No wonder you want nothing further to do with them. I'm very put off now, and don't intend to poke around there looking for jobs in future. There are also far too many who post jobs and hire 1 in 10.

Leaf:

I actually did tell them and let them know that. :) However, I guess that they didn't really seem to care when people started copying it and/or my bids. I was making them a TON of money to say the least. ;)

I don't mean to discourage you in any way, but I'm just letting you know of my experiences. ;)

Auburnwahm, I'd have told them that just because you approved their use of your profile it did not give license to someone *else* to use it when bidding. No wonder you want nothing further to do with them. I'm very put off now, and don't intend to poke around there looking for jobs in future. There are also far too many who post jobs and hire 1 in 10.

Leaf:

I actually did tell them and let them know that. :) However, I guess that they didn't really seem to care when people started copying it and/or my bids. I was making them a TON of money to say the least. ;)

I don't mean to discourage you in any way, but I'm just letting you know of my experiences. ;)

It's great that you're posting your experiences. We all need to band together with the amount of jobs there are out there now wanting people to work for pennies...yes, I said pennies, I've seen numerous bid sites just like elance that have been taken over by outsourcers overseas. It's a shame.

I don't do work from those sites, but I do contract people from there. A lot of it may depend on the type of work you are seeking. The bids I receive are always within industry standards, no cheap laborers. However, I also include in my job listing "native English speaking" and "located within the US." I also don't hire for data entry.

It seems companies are always looking to pay little-to-nothing for data entry. Assess your skills and see if there are some more difficult tasks you can do.

Best of luck!

What about Odesk? I'm thinking about starting with them, but I see the competition is stiff there, too. Are people as ruthless there as well?

I gave oDesk a shot.

I applied for a few positions.

I noticed something funny. The others that were applying were averaging very, very low wages. Low as in, an average was something like $2.42 per hour of work on one of the jobs I applied to. I thought something must be wrong with the website and applied anyway--only to get the notification the next day that the person didn't want to hire me because my bid was too high. I felt my bid was already on the low side.

How am I going to compete with someone who is willing to work for nothing? oDesk still has fees when processing your money so these people are ridiculous for bidding so incredibly low. I'm having a really hard time "making it" and I still cannot see myself working for $1 something per hour. I just can't do that and feel okay.

They say you get what you pay for in this type of situation. If that is really true then why do people still hire from these sites? Somebody, somewhere that is qualified must be stooping to earning pennies for good work, I guess. I just don't know what is going on.

Youngster you're not in a minority -- I can't fathom why/how people can bid so low, have the fees deducted and still deem it worthwhile. I know many people bid low in an effort to build up some positive feedback, but that still would not account for the vast numbers who do so on a continuum. It's very exploitative but I guess by definition exploitation can't occur if you submit to it voluntarily.

Auburnwahm you have not put me off in the least. I valued your feedback. I'm most put off by the plagiarism that occurs. Oh, let's be honest. I'm put off by all of it! LOL I was finding the Employer ads a bit entertaining at first -- "must be a stellar this, an experienced that", then offering $5.00 per hour, but now it's just tedious/ridiculous.

I've noticed, too, that lately there is a spate of women posting suggestive pics of themselves beside their profile (i.e. showing a lot of cleavage, or typically glamour shots) and that's a bit "out there" too.

*shakes head*

I have several clients on Elance. I make $25/hour which isn't bad, and am paid between $15-125 for articles. It is completely worth the cost of using it.

I haven't been on there in a LONG time though, because I got sick of them NOT doing anything about the low ball bids and profile and bid copying. ;)

The comments here really make me grateful for vWorker. Not only does vWorker hide quotes from others to prevent underbidding, it also hosts employers who ignore the lowest bid for the most part. I've freelanced through vWorker for 5 years and have never (let me repeat: never) been in a situation where I didn't earn enough to support my family. Sure, I had repeat buyers, but had it not been for this resource, I don't know where else I would have found them.

I went to this site to check it out, only to find out that it is a MASKED site for Rent-A-Coder. Very interesting.... ;)

The things that these companies will come up with in order just to try to get people to sign up, etc. ;)

Just by way of an update -- I checked back w/ Elance and under my "Watch List" noted the job I'd applied for had been awarded. To Ms. Plagiarism. Submitted a memb'ship (free, so no loss there, really) cancellation and chose for the reason "Too much competition". Expanded on that to read "Too much competition, particularly when the competition awarded the job had plagiarized my profile".

Live and learn. And get Po'd in the process!

I went to this site to check it out, only to find out that it is a MASKED site for Rent-A-Coder. Very interesting.... ;)

The things that these companies will come up with in order just to try to get people to sign up, etc. ;)

Hi auburnwahm,

You aren't referring to vWorker as being a "masked" Rentacoder, are you? If you are, vWorker is the new Rentacoder. :) The service changed to reflect the diversity of its workers as explained here: The vWorker Blog: About our upcoming name change from RentaCoder.com to vWorker.com (http://blog.vworker.com/2010/04/about-our-name-change-from-rent-coder.html)

I have been on odesk for a few years, I set up a profile and did some jobs just so I could write a tutorial book on it which I have sold to some people over the last couple years. I personally do not like it for all of the reasons mentioned above.

As a writer primarily, I am not willing to work for $2-$3 an article when I have so many years experience. The lowest I usually take a job for is $10. The data entry jobs are scams or they want like $1 an hour. I understand that it is pretty well a simple enough job but still, minimum wage here in Ontario, Canada is $9/hr.

Most reception and office work jobs which would be where data entry is done here hire at like $12/hr. So, $1/hr just to stay home and work? Not worth the effort, regardless of saving on babysitting and transportation costs. I would make enough money each day for a pack of cigarettes and that is it.

And it is true. Most people that go there are looking for cheap/affordable labor. But for some jobs like writing, you usually end up getting something back that needs so much editing, it would have been better to fork out the extra $7 or whatever to get an article you can use right off.

Just by way of an update -- I checked back w/ Elance and under my "Watch List" noted the job I'd applied for had been awarded. To Ms. Plagiarism. Submitted a memb'ship (free, so no loss there, really) cancellation and chose for the reason "Too much competition". Expanded on that to read "Too much competition, particularly when the competition awarded the job had plagiarized my profile".

Live and learn. And get Po'd in the process!

Ugh, that is just not right. Plagiarize and get rewarded for it?

Ugh, that is just not right. Plagiarize and get rewarded for it?

Exactly. Remember in school if a student was caught plagiarising they'd get, and rightly so, an "F" and be branded going forward. Sigh. What can you do? I think I'll blog about it. That might be cathartic!

Elance doesn't post bids unless the buyer chooses open bidding. All you can see is the range of bids. There are lowballers on ALL freelance sites and there will always be providers who plagiarize and who provide low quality work.

Elance has tons of safeguards and you can keep portfolio work safe by only submitting samples with bids. I have investigated several sites. Seriously, Elance is the most professional and best around.

Elance doesn't post bids unless the buyer chooses open bidding. All you can see is the range of bids. There are lowballers on ALL freelance sites and there will always be providers who plagiarize and who provide low quality work.

Elance has tons of safeguards and you can keep portfolio work safe by only submitting samples with bids. I have investigated several sites. Seriously, Elance is the most professional and best around.


The bid was closed. Bidding wasn't the issue to me. Lowballing is an issue to me, and others, but whom bid what amount was closed, yes. We know there are plagiarists everywhere. This doesn't make it right, nor does it negate the impact when you've been a victim of it.

Ideally, if plagiarism wasn't an issue, you would not obscure your profile or portfolio so others could then see it and discern based upon it, whether or not they want to invite you to bid.

I'm glad you've had a positive experience. Others have not. We who had not, "weighed in", put it out there for the record and then whomever's contemplating can practice due dilligence, and make up their own mind based on all the feedback. I'd hardly say, though, based upon Auburnwahm's experience that Elance is the most professional. What is professional about asking her permission to use her profile as an example of an ideal model, a learning tool for others, then not taking action when she complained it had been purloined? That wouldn't meet the criteria for professional IMHO.