Has anybody here ever used one of those "find a freelancer" sites?

[budbiss]

I have a project posted on one right now. But, I am kinda leary about if I should go ahead with it or not. I'm not sure how trustworthy these people are and if the quality will be up to par. I am begining to wonder if I should go with someone local instead. Anyone have any comments about this?

[boomtown123]

My advice would be to find a freelancer site that doesn't require payment up front. That way, if their work is subpar, you can withhold payment. The only thing you have to lose is time.

I'm not that bright when it comes to technical website issues, so I live and die by these types of sites.

The website I use holds the money in escrow and doesn't release the funds to the coder until I give consent. This type of arrangement has worked great for me.

Good luck!

[old_expat]

I've used them with mixed results. Everything from a neat javascript gemstone weight calculator for $30 to projects where the coder never delivered a line of code .. nor ever bothered to communicate again after he won the bid.

Be prepared for LOTS of frustration and wasted time ..

.. being scolded by nerds who are insensed that you dare suggest that you can intrude on their area of expertise with less than $10,000 in your jeans ..

.. plus bids of $6,000 and $225 on the same project.

[txbakers]

I used guru for a while and was always disappointed with the results.

[old_expat]

I was forced to leave Rentacoder, after spending $2,000+ there on about 20 projects, because I used ^&*%$# in an email to support.

I *really* needed to log on and their (self admitted) SQL database problem kept hanging (7 times) at 2 - 4 minutes per try.

Ian is a dictator and tried to make me promise to "refrain from unprofessional ..." and I refused.

The situation cost me a lot of project delay and wasted time, and cost 2 coders some $$ and ratings.

So if you are using, or plan to use, Rentacoder; don't get crosswise with Ian.:)

[vincevincevince]

old_expat, I have used that site (from both sides) in the past. Out of all the freelancing sites it is the one I recommend - even if you have to be polite! :)

[red_gorilla]

I work on one of this site's (GAF) :-). My advice don't select $5 bids. You get what you pay for... And also use escrow deposit that you will release upon project delivery.

[vincevincevince]

red_gorilla - that is frequently true - but - if you have plenty of time then I suggest picking the lowest bids - even if they have no reviews or portfolio.

If the work is not done correctly then you do not have to release payment, and you can pick someone else. If you find someone who has a very low fee and does good work then you have found an asset of tremendous worth.

[red_gorilla]

Maybe you are right(My first bid at freelancer site was very low cause i have no reviews) but in 99% lowest bids came from people that didn't even understand what they should do. So i think it's waste of time and oyu will never get what you need.

[Essex_boy]

Ive used rentacoder often and Id say go ahead with it, they coders having a rating similar to ebays.

Its good

[Rightz]

elance do a similar sort of thing - with ratings, info on past projects and samples of their work.

[vincevincevince]

I wish ebay would adopt rentacoder's feedback system in which the feedback is invisible until both parties have left feedback or the deadline has expired for feedback.

[mack]

I have used a few of these services in the past and had had good experiences with them. Just make sure you read the feedback and communicate with potential coders to make 100% sure they know what you require.

Mack.

[old_expat]

Vince, were you the coder who bid $6000 on my script or the one who bid $225?;)

[old_expat]

old_expat, ... even if you have to be polite! :)

For the record, what I used in the email was *literally* a ^&%$#*! type of representation .. no actual epithets or profanity.

I think one thing that tweeked II's nose it that I reminded him that ^&%$#*! is a representation which is open to interpretation by the reader .. and any "profanity" had to be in the mind of the reader.:)

[old_expat]

I had one problem with S'lance on script requirement. The coder offered me the script at a fair price. I was about ready to close the transaction and asked about testing the script.

He pointed to a demo. Seems he was just selling 1 time, 1 site rights to a script he had developed for a previous project.

Those places can get pretty slimey.

[vincevincevince]

Vince, were you the coder who bid $6000 on my script or the one who bid $225?

Probably the former, but we're not allowed to go into specifics here.

Regarding one-time-one-site rights, you may wish to rewrite the additional terms which are posted with projects on rac and add them to your projects on other sites - other sites don't tend to post them - but they cover issues such as ownership (you own it unless explicitly stated otherwise), inclusion of open-source components (not unless you agreed in advance), etc.

[Tapolyai]

I have hired work from several of the mentioned sites and indeed it is a gamble what you will get.

Even resources with the most accolades and paid jobs can have serious problems, like communication or timeless.

Right now I am waiting for someone to re-appear since they won the bid for authoring. Great name, good references, but seems to be impossible to get a hold of. :(

Good luck, and as many have said - no payment till job is complete and in your "hands"!

[jake66]

i've used scriptlance for my first time in march. very pleased with the results... the programmer is currently working on a few other projects for me at this very moment.

[Cakkie]

I'm a periodic coder at RAC, I just take on projects every now and then, just to keep busy and earn a few buck (to later on spend on ebay or so :p ). I've tried other sites as well, but keep returning to RAC. I find it offers protection for both coder and buyer, and the rating system is quite a good tool to determine if a coder or buyer is trustworthy.