Getafreelancer.com

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Just curious if anybody has ever had any work done through this site. I think Sam once recommended them, but since he's in Denver, I won't bother him.

I notice that the typical cost of building a decent website is about $250-$400, which seems very reasonable. And some of the persons bidding on the work have quite a bit of experience.

I am strongly considering using them to design a website.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Just noticed somebody trying to clone Netquote. Pretty silly.


Status:Closed Budget:$100-300 Created:01/12/2008 at 17:56 ESTBidding Ends:01/17/2008 at 17:56 EST Project Creator:arturk84
Buyer Rating: (No Feedback Yet) Description:Website clone of www.netquote.com is needed with full functionality of the website with a different look. The main feature of the site is to generate leads by sending email alerts to notify of a customer inquiry. Explore the site and quote a price. Mock up is preffered. Full list of vehicles and model numbers will be needed for the AUTO INSURANCE page.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

And another...Maybe I'll go into the leads selling business.


Status:Closed Budget:$300-1500 Created:08/24/2006 at 19:09 EDTBidding Ends:09/03/2006 at 19:09 EDT Project Creator:jmistrik
Buyer Rating: (No Feedback Yet) Description:I am looking to have a professional insurance lead generation website designed. This site should have 2 parts. (1) Customer fills out a form for insurance quotes. This generates a lead, which would be stored on a database and also forwarded in real time to agents email in that particular state, county or zip-code. (2) Agents can sign up with this service prepay and start getting leads based on their parameters. When an agent receives a lead, the cost of the lead should be subtracted from his deposit. Also the agent should be able to log in and view leads he received. This site should be like insureme.com with its own original design.

 

[jbage007]

One thing that is sorely needed: Regulation of the leads industry.

What a bunch of dirty, stinking rats.

re: freelancer

that's where I find all of my nerds

you should take your time on there, get to know who's who, base a lot on feedback they have rec'd in addition to their rankings--stick with the tried and true. And no, you will not get an American worth his or her salt to bid your job.

Pakistan. India. Canada. And so on.

So you have to be really good at communicating in email.

Lots of luck.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Yes...the communication part scares me.

 

[valdet]

Getafreelancer.com was the site where I got into contact with Sam in first place and he hired me.

The site used to be a great place, but lately it has been filled with many scammers from India, Ukraine, Romania etc... who request up to 70% upfront and never finish your work.

I haven't visited the site for months ..

Just my 2c

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Interesting - I'm looking for banner/logo design and most of my searching has produced results for hundred of dollars which will show me "4" or "6" logo/banners for me to choose from. Might look into this.

 

[djs]

Back in the day, when I ran a web development company (a lifetime ago), I used sites like this to get a lot of work. The problem is things that people want that are unrealistic. Most people putting things out for bid, don't have a clue on what is required, so they list things like 'Netquote' clone, or craigslist clone, or ebay clone. I would never work on these types of jobs, since expectations could never be managed.

For instance, a Netquote clone would start probably around $100,000, if you got a large part of the coding done overseas. Of course, you can buy software packages that do a lead site for you, for about $5000, but someone thinks they can have it built for $500. Never works.

If you know what you want, or what you want is something fairly simple, these sites work pretty well. Having a simple website designed is where they excel (at least used to). Once you start talking data management, the problems start coming in.

I used it primarily to get jobs building e-commerce sites, something I was good at, and could crank out fairly rapidly. I was hugely overpriced for most of the work, but people liked the fact I was in the US and they could call me.

If you use this type of service, do a few things:
- Get references. Actually take a look at the work the person did. Make sure you know what they did for the reference.
- Use the escrow service the sites provide. It's reasonable that the person doing the job wants to make sure they will get paid. Its reasonable for the person hiring the job to be done wants to make sure the job is done. Escrow works well for this.
- Set realistic expectations in the bid. If you don't know how to describe what you want, say so, include the word 'design' into the bid request.
- The lowest bidder bids low for a reason. Make sure you look at the reputation. New people are fine, if you have a project a new person can't screw up.

Dan