I’m in top 100 on Elance (connects.elance.com / http://www.dcrsolutions.biz ) and have something to say in all this:

1. Elance got expensive because they were earning bad reputation from templated bidders (that can be found on Guru.com – just make a coder account and bid on one project, they encourage such techniques)

2. Elance is not a cheap market, if you’re looking for something done cheap ( and understand the risks ) you could go to http://www.rentacoder.com , they’re the best price over the net if you really know what you’re looking for;

3. Elance reputation, like all other freelance/online/outsource markets has gone down, check that on Alexa, if you know the answer, I’d be curios to know it as well.

4. Elance is the main engine for many websites you’re visiting each day – opensource days seem to be gone.

5. This industry has reached a level where the number of users isn’t your main advantage and they invested (very well) in making their service professional and offer sustainable work opportunities – I haven’t heared anyone dying hungy on from freelancing; and I also believe online base services will take over sooner or later.

As a conclusion, if you’re looking for litle extra money in my view Elance is not the best business; if you’re looking to grow yourself as a business and invest yourself into this, then that’s a great opportunity in my view. (don’t tell me Indians are the most successfull over there bcause you should imagine they are a 100people company doing 100k/year)

Good luck!

I’m loathe to recommend another site. I think ELance is the best to date and offers the best quality of writers.

I have heard that projectbidz.com offers good translation services, though. I haven’t tried them myself, but a few writers on our team do some French/English work there and are pleased.

If I knew spanish, I’d offer you a quote on the job. However, you might even find a writer right here by posting that request.

Anyone skilled in Spanish AND writing?

Hm. I wonder if we should have a job board?

Thanks for your comments. Would you recommend another place where I should post my projects? I don’t like to post the same project to multiple locations as I don’t think it’s fair to bidders. But, if there’s a place that beats eLance, I’ll post my next project there. I have one coming up – it’s a spanish language translation of 150 letters…

thanks,

Scott.

Personally, I think Elance is a very good place for writers to gain business. Is it the only place? Of course not. Is it the most expensive? Oh hell yes. Is it worth the cost?

Hm. To be honest, it could be, yes. I’m not saying it is or isn’t, but it has potential to be a worthwhile expense. Compared to all other sites out there where writers and buyers connect, Elance holds the prize.

I think you’ve also made some strong points that freelancers need to remember: Assume that everyone has equal skills – what sets you apart from your competition? What makes you desirable as a provider? Why should the buyer choose you over all others?

If you’re not getting business – on one site or another, it doesn’t matter which one – don’t blame the site; take a look at what you’re doing and see where you can improve to land more jobs.

However, I have to say that use eLance a TON as a buyer. And as a buyer, I totally love what it has to offer from my perspective. So, in a general sense, I think it really adds a lot of value to the transaction and I appreciate it. A few of my thoughts as to why I love eLance:

1. I have never had a project failure. People hustle and get the job done. It’s not about the money (although that’s important, for sure) but more important is the reputation. People really want to do a quality job. In past jobs I have hired outside contractors and I have to say that’s not as common as you might think. Worst of all is all the delays and difficulty in getting feedback turnaround. Working with people on eLance has been much easier than without it.

2. When I need something done, sometimes it is funky and requires an oddball skill (at least to me!) I have hired out Spanish language translation, web site copy writing, web site design, logo design, programming, shell scripting, technical writing, marketing, SEO – basically it’s a lot of stuff. All I do is describe in detail what I need and then wait for responses. I have completed perhaps 25 projects that way, and only once did I have to cancel a project because I could not find someone to do what I needed. The ability to find the right person is important.

Put it another way, if you didn’t have eLance to find me (the customer) you would be paying google perhaps $1 a click for advertising. The ability to connect the buyer and the seller is not to be underestimated.

3. Then there’s the transaction platform. eLance allows me to handle payment, invoicing, communication, delivery of deliverables and even mediation (which, thankfully I have never needed). It’s really quite nice. We also use our own bug tracking system for the programming projects, but aside from that it is really quite a nice package.

As a buyer, I am always looking for better ways to find vendors to do work for me. So, I would have no problem switching to something better. Although, honestly, I am not so sure I would have ‘cheaper’ as a higher priority as, while price is important, just as important is finding the right vendor and getting the job done with a minimum of fuss.

As a buyer I would suggest this – make sure that your buyer knows what costs you pay to use eLance. Educate your buyer as to the value that they are getting. I see no reason to pay extra for a logo – I certainly accept all bidders, regardless of their logos and other bells and whistles. I am looking for results and your feedback will speak for itself. I also really don’t care about preferred providor or escow payments etc. All of these upscale things really mean nothing to me. Your reputation will speak for itself.

I will say one more thing – I have worked with some vendors for over 3 years now. I met them on eLance and we do projects outside and inside of eLance. So, it’s not just the initial cost of a project that you should be thinking of. What is it worth to gain a long-term customer? If you really don’t like eLance, what’s to stop you from picking up new customers via eLance and then working with them directly on future work? eLance has a lot of incentive not to gouge sellers.

I personally find it better than Guru (you don’t want to hear what I think of that place), but it isn’t as highly promoted or cared for as Elance is. Regardless of Elance’s fees and their way of doing business, I still think they’re the best auction site for writers out there.

Craigslist also offers plenty of opportunity, but scanning through thousands of ads and sites a day to find all the possible gigs is a little ridiculous.

regards!

Arturo

*goes back to minding his own business*