Does odesk ever have work paying higher than developing world rates?

I have looked at Odesk but ended up making a profile on Elance which is basically the same thing. If you don't want to give away your work, it can be very hard. Not only are there lots of low bidders, but also highly qualified people you're bidding against.

I found it largely a waste of time and wouldn't want to depend on it for income. Having said that, I did win three bids for a total of about $3,200.- (translation, writing blog posts and a book).

Not so much lately, no.

Not that I've noticed. Personally, I wouldn't accept that rate even from local clients.

I tried Elance and hated it. I landed a client paying $5 for a 250 word travel article, one for every city and town on a list of 500, something I could do in my sleep. After submitting and getting the first 20 approved, she decided they needed to be double the length, but couldn't afford to pay more and figured I'd go along with it since I'd already started working and had agreed to the terms. She wouldn't agree that changing the word count was changing the terms. I refused and asked Elance to intervene, they sided with her saying that if the first batch of articles were not 100 percent satisfactory, it was my job to make them that way, even if it meant doubling the length.

On Odesk, I do very well, but I only work for two clients. For one, I find them writers, handle all of the interviews, and get a $25 finders fee for writers who are hired and then 20 percent of the writing income generated by that writer. I have another client paying 3 cents a word for articles plus a 20% bonus if I meet a certain quota per month. They do all the research for me, so I don't have to spend time looking things up.

One thing I should have added, both of these clients hired me through freelance ads outside of Odesk. They simply use Odesk to submit completed work and payments. For actual job offers I've gotten through Odesk, they're usually a joke.

And a week or so ago, Odesk sent out an email that they had reached an agreement with Elance and that Elance bought Odesk, though they claim they will be run individually. So at this point, I'm not counting on things not changing in the future and having Elance and Odesk pretty much become one.

There are bad employers on both Odesk and Elance; actually, quite a few advertise the same project on both sites. I don't see much difference between the sites. What made me prefer Elance is that you don't have to use the time tracking feature there (I'm not and don't want to be constantly on the internet when I work).

When bidding on a job, it's best to focus on employers who have an excellent track record (high rate of actually hiring people, great feedback from freelancers, plenty of money spent). I make a detour around those who are posting their first job, try to get work done for free by asking you to give them a sample of work on the actual job they're posting before hiring you, or have received poor feedback, and obviously also around those that pay only a pittance.

Bushrat said:

There are bad employers on both Odesk and Elance; actually, quite a few advertise the same project on both sites. I don't see much difference between the sites. What made me prefer Elance is that you don't have to use the time tracking feature there (I'm not and don't want to be constantly on the internet when I work).

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I will not do any work with a client who requires time tracking. It's invasive, IMO.

It's been years since I've touched Elance due to that client. I've never really liked them because back when I joined all those years ago, they made it clear that if you wanted access to the higher paying jobs, you needed to pay a membership fee. My assumption is that they're still set up that way given all the complaints I saw on Odesk's forum after the merger was announced.

But, Odesk also has its faults. I've always disliked the whole get paid and then wait five days to actually be able to touch the money that Odesk shows I've earned. My clients pay as soon as work is approved, so then I still have to wait for the five days for it to clear Odesk, then another three for it to reach my bank account if I choose a transfer, or I take a $1 hit and have it sent to Paypal.

Yes, but they are few and far between.

I've found some semi-decent gigs there writing scripts for web/animation videos.

Again, though, it's rare.

Yes, I have found that Odesk have cheapen itself entirely to the point that now if you asked of even 13.00 dollars per hour that is too much. Then there is the curious case of those who are not verified wanting you to skype them about a job. But I do believe there are some decent gigs from wonderful companies but you must look harder.

There are clients that pay, but there are also a lot that don't. I've been doing a lot of buying guides lately at $60 for about 800 words.

I stay away from all bidding sites. It's a major waste of time and devalues our work. Writers unite!

mellimello said:

I stay away from all bidding sites. It's a major waste of time and devalues our work. Writers unite!

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I agree because I have send off about 15 applications off on odesk and I have been waiting for two-four weeks for a response. Kinda of waste of time