I’ve gotten a lot of work from Rentacoder,I think their format is easy to use and work with. Understanding the expert guarantee was a hard lesson- basically,you put your money on the line to show confidence in your work. Except- you pay transfer fees when you get your money back. That’s not right.
GetaFreelancer is also easy to use. I like that you can browse for work before logging in. I haven’t ever bid for anything there,the writers are working too cheap for me.
My friend Emily really likes eLance. So much that she recently started using their paid subscription service. At first,I didn’t like their whole “university”thing,I thought it was really lame. I still think it’s lame,but after seeing some of the lame things people were posting,I guess maybe it is a good idea. However,if someone needs to be told how to bid,then maybe they don’t deserve the job. Just a thought. Additionally,eLance also has free aptitude tests for programming,writing and all sorts of things.
RentaCoder offers aptitude tests,but they cost $25 each. I really hate paying the fees,and I can’t stand seeing people post a job for twenty five 500 word articles,maximum bid $25 and writers are bidding. Who in their right mind would write 500 words for $1?
Maybe they think buyers choose the lowest bid? Some buyers do,but you get what you pay for. There are a lot of overseas writers whose bids will say “I need find only English writer. Please not bid if you not have perfect the English.”As if they’d notice.
Overall- I think if you bid only with very busy buyers,you stand a chance of being able to work a private contract with them,where they send you work directly instead of taking bidders. In fact,all of my private clients were earned this way.
Other bid-for-work websites are Guru,FreeAgent,WorkExchange,MonsterTalent,MediaBistro,Aquent,Project4hire and SoloGig