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Elance Etiquitte - Any Elancers?

by wally247
14 replies
Hey All,


I sometimes do some odds and ends on Elance, and have a question. If you are familiar with Elance, they take 8.5% for themselves, which can add up.


So if you are talking to a prospect and tell them you'll do a job for $750 and they submit the official proposal before you do (I never submit dollar amounts until after I have talked with people, and many times once they agree on a price they will then fill in the amounts themselves) you basically lose over $100 right off the bat.


So here's my question.


Is it proper to tell people that you'll do the job for say $750 AFTER Elance fees? I don't want to make the fees their problem, but who the hell wants to lose that much money.


ON a $50 job it's one thing, but for bigger jobs I just feel like I am making Elance richer.


Any ideas appreciated,

Thanks
#elance #elancers #etiquitte
  • Profile picture of the author brutecky
    I have been an freelance programmer for the last several years and I use Elance as well. This year alone I have done just over $25,000 worth of work with a perfect rating,

    http://elitewebsoft.elance.com

    so I think Im qualified to answer.

    1) Your thinking is wrong. Your not loosing 8.5% , your paying a fee for them to find the customer, handle the transaction fees for the payment twice (the customer pays them and then they pay you) and your also paying for the security that comes with the escrow. Your not loosing anything, your paying fair fee for services rendered.

    2) That being said: I normally tell people price+fees, I have never had a problem with doing that. Sometimes however for regular customers I eat the fee.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Vincent
    I do a lot of outsourcing on Odesk which is a similar site to Elancer. Being that Odesk takes 10% of every transaction, it's very common for me to discuss whether or not the final price will include the fees or not. There's nothing wrong with asking if the contractor would be willing to do the job for the proposed price before the fee is added. You'd be surprised how many freelancers will agree to this, especially if you let them know you're considering several other contractors before making a final decision.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jack Gordon
    I have outsourced much work to Elance talent over the last decade.

    If any of them tried to get their fee added on to their bid, that would likely cause me to disqualify them immediately.

    I get why you would want to do that, but it is not my problem. I have my own business to run, and I absorb my own costs of doing business in various areas.

    Accept it as part of your business expenses, and figure that in to your bid.
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  • Profile picture of the author Beverley Boorer
    Yes, as rocket2uranus has said, you add the fees into your bid price without even mentioning it. This is what happens in business all over the world. Shops add their own percentage to the price that they have had to pay for the item. This is no difference.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      I always set my prices so I could cover the fees and still make the profit I needed for the work. To me, the fees are MY overhead.

      I've had several buyers on elance volunteer to pay the fees - I've had several send bonuses to cover the fees but I've never made an issue of it myself.

      I just feel like I am making Elance richer.
      That's not the right way to look at it in my opinion. You are paying a fee to a BUSINESS that is providing you with a service in the form of buyers for your work. Elance runs the platform, attracts the buyers, handles the bid process, provides messaging and escrow service, mediates disputes.

      You aren't giving elance anything - you are paying a fee to use their service Consider it a cost of doing business.
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  • Profile picture of the author Writerdave
    As the worker, it is up to you to discuss with your employer who ought to pay service charges. It is quite normal. Another alternative you can use is to pay the fees but to raise the total project cost by the amount Elance will charge. That way, everybody is happy
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    • Profile picture of the author Cali16
      Always include the fee in your bid. Never expect a client to pay it for you. As Kay said, it's part of YOUR cost of doing business. You could always bypass Elance (and similar sites), set up your own website, spend the time getting traffic and potential clients, and then you won't have to pay the fees (although you will be paying in other ways, primarily with your time, as well as hosting, etc.)
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  • Profile picture of the author seobro
    There is a reason why I am not there anymore.

    MO seems to me. Workers will do this to you.

    1) Take your money.
    2) Wait until the deadline and give you some excuses.
    3) Repeat and rinse.
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  • Profile picture of the author wordpressmania
    Being a freelancer is always a pain and it become worse when you work in a market place as there are a lot of restrictions. Though it is very natural that they will need to get a % from your earning to survive. It is obvious that they spend a lot of money for the marketing and promotion to get clients for you. So actually you are not getting them reach instead you are making them alive to get more clients for you in future.

    But it is TRUE that all market place is client friendly instead of freelancer friendly. Likely I had a oDesk account with 10000+ hours on online working experience as a wprdpress developer. But they closed my account without any reason ( actually, when I asked to their support why they closed my account, they just tell me that their descition is final ). I gave many years to make a good carrier on o Desk butfrom then they just ruined my carrier over night. It happened 2 years ago. From then I am selling wp theme fro my own website. So I would suggest you that make your own website and start offering your. service from there as well so that you do not need to face the similar problem like me. I am really happy. with my current earning and I have more probability to earn more.
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    • Profile picture of the author agmccall
      You do not lose anything, you should be figuring it into your price.

      Example, I have a golf club ecommerce site and we give free shipping on all products. We do not lose that money, it is figured into the price

      al
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  • Profile picture of the author brutecky
    Originally Posted by rocket2uranus View Post

    If any of them tried to get their fee added on to their bid, that would likely cause me to disqualify them immediately.
    Im sorry bro, but this statement is SO SILLY that I cant even believe someone would say it. I 100% guarantee you that you have covered the Elance fee just about every single time you have bought from Elance. In fact I know this for sure because Elance automatically ADDS there fee on top of the bid the provider makes. What you see is NOT what they bid, its there bid + the Elance fee.

    Even if they didnt do that though, providers would just do it. For example when RAC was still online they charged a 15% fee from the bid. People just raised there total price to cover it.

    Saying that its the providers problem is like saying .. well the cost of employee health insurance is WalMarts problem or the cost of running the garage is the mechanics problem etc. No in the end the customer pays those costs in the form of a raised price.

    The only difference is if anyone asks me I tell them honestly. I bid XXX and Elance added YYY for a service fee. Sure I dont have to be so honest, but thats just the way I am. Perhaps thats why after over 100 jobs on Elance I still have a perfect 5 star rating and a 100% recommendation though.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jack Gordon
      Originally Posted by brutecky View Post

      Im sorry bro, but this statement is SO SILLY that I cant even believe someone would say it.
      I just went back and reread the original post. You are right - my response was an overreaction.

      However...

      Every bidder on elance, presumably, pays the same fee to play the game.

      I don't care what goes into your calculation. Just give me the honest price. In all likelihood, price is not the single most important deciding factor anyway.

      If you start playing games with the bid and make me work too hard to do an apple-to-apple comparison, that will reflect unfavorably when it comes time to make a choice.

      I stand by the assertion that it is best, while being as competitive as you need to be, to take the fee into consideration when you submit your proposal.

      I say this as an elance buyer who has done at least 50 transactions over the last decade.
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  • Profile picture of the author wally247
    Wow.,...tons of great answers, thanks a lot guys.

    I guess it's easy enough to add the fee and not mention it to them to kind of break even. I don't mind paying the fee, but I wasn't expecting it the first time and basically lost $100 so that was rough.


    Now I know!


    Thanks again,

    w
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