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The internet is a wonderful place. In theory, it should be a ripe wonderland for freelancers. But have you taken a look at some of the freelancing sites lately? Due to foreign competition, there are some ridiculously low bids on freelancing jobs on many of the bidding-based freelancing boards.
Freelance writers especially find a lot of competition on these boards. On Scriptlance.com , for example, I've seen bids for well under a $1 per original article (one person even bid $30 to write 100 articles) and I saw a bid today to write an entire ebook for $100. Given the amount of time required to write versus the amount of payment, what adult American could afford to work for that much less than minimum wage? Bear in mind that the freelancer also has to pay a commission to Scriptlance for the job.
Some bidding-based freelancing boards require both a fee (monthly, quarterly, or annual) and a commision. For example, the rates in the bidding at Elance.com are a little more reasonable but this is one of those boards that has a fee plus commission requirement.
I know one freelancer who has given up on these boards and instead mines Craigslist for opportunities. Still, there are some options out there if you are dilligent and aren't looking to get rich or even necessarily solvent.
A partial list of Freelance Job Boards
- WriterLance
Targeted to writers. No fee to join. No monthly fee. Required to pay a 3% commission on each winning project bid.
- Freelance Jobs for All
UK-based blog-like listing of opportunities with no registration and no fees. Application for jobs is done through email.
- Guru.com
Free for employers. Freelance bidding board which also includes tests to "certify" skill levels of freelancers. There are several membership levels for freelancers. The free level requires project fees of 10%. The other levels require fees from $30-$130 per quarter plus a 5% project fee. According to the site, "56% of our Freelancers are located within the United States and 44% are international, mainly from India, Canada and the Ukraine. "
- ScriptLance.com
No registrtion fees for freelancers are required. Registrants bid on jobs. Buyers pay a flat fee of $5 per project.
- TheFreelanceNation
This is a new job board with local, national, and international job subboards.
- eLance
Elance charges freelancers (providers) with service fees which are based on the last 6 month earnings plus a payment processor fee plus a monthly fee depending on membership level. (Fee Schedule) All new providers to Elance must pass the Elance Admissions Test before they can start submitting proposals to posted jobs.
- Freelance Local Tech
This is a directory service. Freelancers can get listed in one local area for free. Listing in multiple geographic areas requires a fee.
- SavvyLance
Freelancers pay 5% of their winning bid or $5, whichever is greater. Those who purchase freelancer services are charged a flat $5 fee per project.
- GetAFreelancer
For regular projects, Service Buyers will have to pay 3% or $3 commission(whichever is greater) and Freelancers will have to pay 10% or $5(whichever is greater). Sometimes, a project will be featured for a fee of $25 upfront, paid by the Service Buyer. On these featured projects, there is no fee to the freelancer with the winning bid. If a freelancer pays $12 a month to become a Gold Member, no commissions are required on completed projects.
- Joomlancers
This board is for freelance projects relating to the popular Content Management System, Joomla. It is also for other Php/MySQL based open source systems like Drupal, OScommerce, Vbulletin, Wordpress, Magento, etc. Joomlancers with winning bids must pay 10% of the bid amount or $5, whichever is higher. Buyers pay a flat $5 fee per project.There are also fee-based membership levels.
- iFreelance
iFreelance has no commissions for either buyers or freelancers. There is a monthly membership fee for freelancers depending on membership level ($4.69-$9).
- RentACoder
Buyers do not have to pay a fee. Freelancers may pay up to 15% commission depending on the type of project auction.
- GetACoder
Freelancers are charged a 10% commission on each winning bid plus a transaction fee of $5. If you pay to become a premium member, the transaction fee is waived.
- ProjectSpring
Buyers post for free. Freelancers pay $12 per quarter - no transaction fees.
- FreelanceJobSearch
Clients pay nothing to list their projects. While freelancers aren't required to pay a subscription fee or commission per se, they must pay for leads. When a freelancer sees a project of interest, he/she must pay for the lead before submitting a proposal directly to the client.
- ContractedWork
There is no cost for Buyers to list projects. Freelancers must pay a subscription fee for one of the levels of membership (starts at $15 a month).
- FreelanceAuction
Buyers pay a 5% commission on the amount of the winning bid when they award the project bid. Freelancers pay $10 commission on the winning bid plus a one time setup fee.
- PowerLance
After the project is awarded, a Service Fee of $3 or 5% (whichever is greater) of the Project Cost is deducted from the Freelancers account. Buyers pay nothing to post a project. It doesn't look like any projects are actually purchased there.
- Freelancers.net
UK-based
- Project4Hire
Buyers post for free. Freelancers pay a commission on winning project bids.
- Mac Freelancer
Buyers pay nothing to post projects. Freelancers pay $10.50 to accept projects.
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