Freelance writers are getting bitten by Elance’s higher fees

I’m fond of Elance. Although I rarely use the service, I know a lot of writers who do, and I’ve often promoted Elance to new writers as a way to get started freelancing and to build their writing business. It used to work. Unfortunately, it may no longer work for new freelance writers.

A week or so ago I received a message from Elance about the site’s upcoming changes. Since the changes looked (astoundingly) complex, I glanced at the message, archived it, and forgot it. I thought I’d wander over and look at the situation when I had more time to work out what the changes actually entailed.

Well, it seems that for all the PR puffery, the changes laregly amount to writers paying higher Elance subscriber fees for the opportunity to place fewer bids.

On “Severing a Long-Term Freelance Relationship” Kathy Kehrli says:

Eh? I don’t care what you call them, Elance. Dub them “bids,” “connects,” or “bull$hit.” Since I currently bid almost exclusively on projects with a budget of $250 or less a bid equals a connect for me. The bottom line is my old membership afforded me 90 bids per month while my new membership would afford me only 25.

On “Why I’m Leave Elance (And You Should Too)” Jennifer says:

The bigger problem on Elance, in my experience, is dummy projects. Some buyers post projects simply to get an idea of the cost or to try to find free work. Others simply don’t follow up on their projects. Today I’d say nearly half the projects I bid on never go awarded. Under the new plan, about half my “connects” would be wasted on projects never intended to be awarded at all–and Elance has no plan to reimburse writers for those “connects.”

It all sounds like a mess. Why would Elance make the bidding process so complex? Obviously, it’s a way to raise fees. And it looks as if writers won’t get the service they’re used to in exchange for paying these higher fees.

Giving value and getting value – will Elance give value for money?

In this week’s Fab Freelance Writing Ezine which has just gone out to subscribers, my article was “Think Long Term About Your Writing Career – Give Value, Get Value”. The article seems apropos to the Elance situation.

If Elance aren’t focused on giving value to their subscribers, freelance writers will leave in droves.

I’d hate to see this, because I have recommended Elance in the past, and many of my writing students gained the confidence to build great freelance writing careers by using Elance as a springboard.

What are your thoughts on this situation? Comments welcome.

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