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[MSE Lawrence]

This is a special discussion as part of the

Boost Your Income

article, all about

Working for Getfreelancer

which is part of the Work part-time from home section

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[beccie]

Hi,

Does anyone know if this is a good company?

Also, does anyone understand how this site works? I'm finding their FAQ quite unhelpful! (or being a bit stupid, which is quite likely!!!)

Thanks

[Anthony2oo5]

Hey, yes it is a well known site iv been there a couple of times but never used it myself.

It works by you stating what you need. Then freelance people from all over bid on your statement, saying they will do it for X amount, in X amount of time. You then pick the best and proceed.

Not sure if you have to pay (but i don't think you do) but just remember that getafreelancer.com is not doing the work for you, you are hiring someone you found through them.

Hope this helps.

[Boo131]

what does the average bid mean?

It is a bit confusing - I'd love to hear from someone who has used it too

[rainbow_carnage]

I've looked at this site before. The pay for what I do is appalling. I could make better money sitting on the street with a paper cup in my hand. One reason is that you're competing with people from around the world (including the developing world). Another reason is that payment is in dollars.

[Boo131]

does anyone know of any other websites that are like this (but pays in £'s) that are good to have a go on?

Has anyone had any experiences with these sites?

[uphillstruggle]

I have just been assigned a job and I'm really chuffed

I'm just wondering though how can ensure I am paid for this work at the end of it and what happens if I am not!?

Also what do I do about tax?

[briona]

Originally Posted by rainbow_carnage

I've looked at this site before. The pay for what I do is appalling. I could make better money sitting on the street with a paper cup in my hand. One reason is that you're competing with people from around the world (including the developing world). Another reason is that payment is in dollars.

You're not a Graphic Designer by any chance are you? I am, and I've just had a look at some of what's on offer! OMFG! Two days work on a few pages for a magazine – average bid working out at £25!!! I would not touch these people with a barge pole! All I can say is some people must be REALLY desperate for the extra cash!

Briona

[briona]

Originally Posted by Love Nicky Wire

does anyone know of any other websites that are like this (but pays in £'s) that are good to have a go on?

Has anyone had any experiences with these sites?

The sites I was looking at (but haven't yet signed up to) are:

http://www.freelancers.net/
you appear to be able to bid on specific projects (under "find a project") but there's no indication of what anyone else has bid...

http://www.creativepool.co.uk/
more use for actual jobs rather than freelancing though there are some freelance jobs on offer

http://www.viewcreatives.com/
you can register as a freelancer and upload your portfolio to this site (click on your area of expertise under the "view creatives" heading on the left hand side to see how others have advertised themselves)

Hope that helps

Briona

[uphillstruggle]

Originally Posted by briona

You're not a Graphic Designer by any chance are you? I am, and I've just had a look at some of what's on offer! OMFG! Two days work on a few pages for a magazine – average bid working out at £25!!! I would not touch these people with a barge pole! All I can say is some people must be REALLY desperate for the extra cash!

Briona

As a matter of fact the money Im being offered isnt too bad and I could do with it. Just a case of writing a few 500 word articles which I can do! You specify how much you will accept to be paid so I guess if you are depserate you bid low if not you bid realistically!

[wornoutmumoftwo]

I joined this freelance site last April and although I haven't made my fortune I do earn a little extra to pay of the debts.

It is a free site and not a scam. There are many categories, from Web design to Data Entry, Copy Writing to Programming, so the work you could do would depend on your own skills. I mainly do data entry but have just started writing articles.

What you do is go to a category of work that you are interested in and look at the projects on offer. They are all paid in dollars which is double our sterling at the moment.

If you like the look of a project then click on bid, you can then write a little bit about why you should get the project over the other bidders.

Each project has it's own pricing i.e between $30-£100, $100-£300 etc

If you want you can just write "refer to PMB" and send them a private message.

The only drawback with GAF is that you are competing against countries where the cost of living is lower and they may be happy to do a large project for $30 whereas I won't. I do charge less then I would if I had a day job but I need to make it worth my time.

I have won a couple of projects that haven't been the lowest bid, I always put that I live in the UK, especially if they state they want people good at English skills.

There are other sites if you're interested but they tend to charge. This one is free to bid on.

If you are not upgraded you will be charged a project fee when you get paid for a job (about $5). Upgraded members do not pay any fees apart from the monthly upgrade fee.

Upgrade is $12, and you get about 250 bids and no fees are deducted, so it would be worth upgrading if you were getting in regular work.

If you are worried about being paid then they have an escrow system where you can ask the buyer to pay into that and you can see this from your member area, then when you have completed the work they pay it through to you.

You can get paid via paypal, moneybookers and a new system is that they have a debit card (I haven't got one of these as I like pp).

Let me know if there's anything I can help with.

It is a good way of earning a little extra and it isn't one of those get paid to type scams where you have to part with money.

[SeaMonkey]

Hi there! Thanks for this info. I am looking into doing a bit of part time freelance - I remember looking at this site some time ago - it's encouraging to know that you have won a couple of bids and that they pay up.

[wornoutmumoftwo]

If you are woried about doing a lot of work and not getting paid you can use the escorw facility.

I have done about 5 pojects on here and now have a regular project writing articles, not a lot but i'm learning so I don't mind too much at the moment.

[wornoutmumoftwo]

I have used getafreelancer and yes some of the pay is poor for the amount of work but I won't do those pojects. I have been fortunate to get quite well paid work (I do data entry and article writing), and just before christmas someone I worked for in the summer came back with a big job for me, paid in advance.

It doesn't cost a penny to sign up and bid, fees are applied when you are paid for a job (approx $5).

If you're worried about doing wok and not getting paid then simply ask for an escrow payment before you start as this will be lodged in your payment area, then they send it through when the job is done.

I'd recomend the site, but then I'm only doing it for a bit of money to pay debts off, I couldn't rely on it full time.

[rainbow_carnage]

Originally Posted by uphillstruggle

As a matter of fact the money Im being offered isnt too bad and I could do with it. Just a case of writing a few 500 word articles which I can do! You specify how much you will accept to be paid so I guess if you are depserate you bid low if not you bid realistically!

I do a bit of freelance copywriting to supplement my income. I've looked at this site a few times. $2 per 400-word article? You've got to be kidding! I will never be that desperate.

I do some translation work as well. As a non-professional translator without translation qualifications, I charge around £65/1000 words. A professional in the UK would charge £80+. That's for literary translation. Technical usually pays better. I've just looked at an couple ads under the translation section. The average bid for 4,600-word piece is $187. Depending on the subject, that's 2-3 days' work.

[Sazzyukrafc]

I'm a fully qualified writer and I used to freelance on the side (no longer have time). I occasionally used getafreelancer.com for quick and easy jobs.

There are quite a lot on there, but the pay is usually bad. I found that there were many people on there not qualified and with no experience happy to do lots of work for a couple of quid. So, I only used it when I saw small projects.

I also recommend elance.com. There are more professionals with experience like myself on there, so remember that if you do not have that.

[The Edible Dormouse]

I've had a couple of disappointing experiences on here where my bid has (supposedly) been accepted, and then I've had a message to the effect of "oh, we had bids at such and such - we're only prepared to pay that", and they've tried to knock me down to a lower fee, usually well below minimum wage when it comes down to it. Needless to say, at that point, I've politely declined.

I've had a great experience with www.virtualassistants.co.uk, and like www.elance.com as well, as mentioned above.