Total waste of time for anyone who isn't an off-shore, fly by night group trying to pass themselves off as professionals who are willing to work for peanuts.

I am fairly new to Elance and so far have no complaints with the site itself. I do have complaints with the low bidding practices and for employers who want to pay 3-4.00 per hour (or less) for high level work. I'm not sure what type of professionals will work for that level of pay but I know I won't. I find it insulting and not worth my time. I can make more money freelancing on my own. And, I think employers should be ashamed of themselves for requesting employees work for less than minimum wage.

Hello every one!
i wanted to hire virtual employees for web designing and SEO. Actually i am looking for whole virtual team. Because now it's become very expensive for our organization to recruit employees :( And we need reliable and quality virtual employees.
We were prepared to post our requisite on freelancers site. But we have observed that it's very time as well as money consuming process. So, what next?
Our team comes out with conclusion to directly contact companies who are providing virtual employee services. But the question is "RELIABILITY and Hiring charges".
We have got replies from some forums and communities. So, now we have one option company www.marketraise.com. it's nice.
But we want best service provider with better package.

Thanks in advance
Sophia

Really mediocre. I've been using Elance for about a month and I find the charges outrageous. Elance takes huge cuts out of any projects you win, and I think most buyers are contacting the providers directly. Many sites like rent a coder just take a cut of your profits. But Elance, on top of this also strangles the number of jobs you can bid for to ten, until you pay them subscription fees. I'd advise any freelancer to go to another site with less overheads if you want jobs.

I found Elance to be a competent and the best outsourcing website to give me an exposure of 40 international freelance projects. From September 2007-December 2008, the buyers used to be very good and even used to pay without being asked for. I got almost Rs 75000/- for the first 20 projects. But after wards, when they changed their bidding structure, there are bitter experiences only. Once the project is awarded and the buyer delays/refuses to fund the escrow, he is free to give any type of alibi and all the documentation fee to the tune of 8.75% are landed on the provider. They should refund the number of bids if the buyer cancels the project or declines the offer. I have at least 50 such cases and not even a single bid was refunded. I think majority of buyers and providers out there are using elance to get connected over a petty sum and then deal directly avoid making payment to elance. I even reported their security and reputation flaws but they were thankless and even deleted my report in the forum. They even refunded the money I deserved back to the buyer. Now, they are just concerned about absorbing as many providers as they can and since it is an internet industry, they should do it. But they should not forget their old providers too who are their backbone. I have seen many talented providers are actually leaving elance and going to other sites. Elance should take action against those buyers who are contacting the providers directly. It should not disclose contact details and make it mandatory for all the conversation via PMB.

I've been using Elance for close to a month. I bid on several projects and continued to develop my portfolio. Last week I won two bids, and then I won another. I made the mistake of not requesting a portion of an assignment up front and got burned by a buyer who asked me to do her resume. It was $50 but hey, $50 bucks is $50. Her name is Kathy Dodd, avoid her or request your money in thirds. The second assignment I was paid on time and had no problems. I am working on a 3rd project and have bid on a few others as well. There is work here, you just have to be good at what you do and persistent. Always request a portion of the fee up front. If the buyer isn't willing, chances are, they don't want to pay you anyway. I am trying to recover my $50!!

Completely awful. Elance was worth using years ago at its inception, before it charged outrageous subscription fees and took unreasonable cuts from any of the projects you managed to win. When they realized they were really the only site out there like it with a growing base of freelancers, they took advantage of this and began charging monthly fees. Then they began charging a project percentage in addition to the subscription, which went from unreasonable to ridiculous, given the lack of quality control in the marketplace. They additionally placed a limit on number of bids allotted. Elance tailored itself from the get go to lowballers willing to design logos and websites for under $100. Elance has favored its buyers over its providers from the get go in order to woo businesses in to post their projects, most of which went unawarded. The feedback system is unfair and unbalanced, leaving professionals wide open to feedback extortion. Elance consistently disregards legally binding contracts and does not protect its providers--the very ones who generate income for the site. I jumped shipped over a year ago and abandoned that mess of a site for Guru.com, which is far superior to Elance in quality. I would advise any true professional to steer clear from Elance if they value their livelihood and their sanity.

I was a first time buyer on Elance and hired Rich Morgan at Heavysystems.com to create a database driven website for my business. It was supposed to be just like a dating site except it was to connect seniors with self-employed caregivers with online applications, viewable profiles, shopping cart, etc. I used Elance's "Escrow Services" believing that it offered me protection against internet fraud. Rich sounded extrememly professional and seemed very competent. To make a long story short, he was paid $2,500 and convinced me to write up a review for him before theall the pages of the site were actually uploaded to my hosting company. He had assured me that the code was working perfectly and that the site would be finished uploaded "any day now". I, foolishly, believed him when he said that he was almost finished with the site, and that a review needed to be written before Elance closes the window to do so, since Elance had written me an email saying the same thing. Well, once payment and review were completed, I never did get the website I paid for (go to www.caregiversdirect.net to see the incomplete site he provided). He refuses to refund my money since the "review" and full payment were proof that I was a very satisfied customer! I contacted Elance and told them what happened. They told me that even though I used their Escrow Services, there were NO REFUNDS but that I could use their "mediation services" in order to get us working together again. As if! I'm already sore and never did get kissed. In my opinion, I wouldn't use Elance or any other site like it until there were assurances that a buyer could get their money back if the service provider fails to complete the contract. I'll admit that I was completely guileless, but whenever I had doubts about the progress of the work being done before sending in final payment, Rich Morgan convinced me that it was all written in code and would merely show me separate files of the template uploaded to his own server. Little did I know that it's very easy to create a fake template which looks as if work is being accomplished. And I was made to feel as if I was paranoid and a distrustful person as if it was a character flaw. He is the smoothest talker and the most convincing person I've ever encountered. I may never get my money back, but if I can help prevent more victims of internet fraud by Rich Morgan and Heavysystems.com, at least I'll feel as if I've done my part to lessen such abuse.. For the entire, torrid, story see my Elance review at www.MouthShut.com.

If it was an option, Elance would receive zero stars from me. They don't go after non-paying buyers and claim they can't "get involved." I'm sure if a writer failed to provide the good for the buyer they'd "get involved." Freelancers--you can do better on your own!