Elance and it's competitors.

[ConquerLife]

Hey all,.

I wanted to talk briefly regarding Elance, and a couple of it's competing sites. The problem I found with Elance is that most of the vendors on there seem to be the small little Tom, Dick and Harry shops. I found a "premium member" with almost 100% positive feedback, and even though it doesn't seem that they've done much biz, they have more reviews than most other vendors seem to have. I signed them up for a simple Data Entry project, and the lady that was assigned to me, was somewhat retarded.

Other sites I've found was Odesk, and guru.com (Guru is a joke, because they charge the vendors so much, that the cheapest you can find someone at for even Data Entry or Admin Assist is $8/hour, I might as well hire someone local for that.)

Basically, what I want to get from this thread is three things 1) Your opinion and experience with Elance, 2) A list of similar sites competing with Elance, 3) A comparison of these sites. Thanks.

[dking]

The real problem is that the middle men are starting to move into the VA game, and thats raising the prices for everybody, even when the middle men do nothing but raise the prices and provide no value. I really hate the middle man shops, all they do is add cost.

[camdengirl]

Yes and no - I see this on both sides both as a client and as a provider. As a client I use Elance/Get Friday etc. and generally choose to work with larger companies as you tend to get more predictable results. I don't want any excuses about being ill/on holiday/having other deadlines, computer problems etc. when I want my work completed on time.

As a supplier I guess I'm one of those middlemen :o but there's a real need for clients to have a reliable, professional service rather than a one man band with screaming children and crashing computers.... And if it makes you feel any better, when the VAs have horrible disasters like that, guess who steps in and makes sure your work gets done on time?

I can't tell you the numbers of aspiring VAs I have applying who can't even spell their CV properly never mind a letter! Or who bug me for work constantly and then when you do give them some work, all you get back are a pathetic dribble of excuses.... Paying the middleman should stop these things from happening - if they do, I'd change the VA organisation you are using.

[dking]

Well if you are a person who supplies the VA's, keep your d*mn cost down. If I can get the same work hired out for $8/hour locally from somebody with a collage degree, its not worth my time to use or subscribe to a service like yours.

And even if the "middle men" have the power to gets bids from step in and "make it all better", I'm not seeing that happen. Not on AskSunday where they wont actually do the tasks because they are ignorant and dont know how, and not on Elance where I am still waiting for my first project to be finished after the bidder tried to extort extra money out of me.

[Stallion]

I haven't tried outsourcing yet. I typically believe frustration is what comes with the game. I'm in the same position that I could hire people that are currently at University for $8/hr to do all my stuff, but than they'd be at my house.

I think with this outsourcing stuff, it really comes down to finding the right person/business to do it. I believe Tim suggested trying out some outsourcing while reading the book, just to see what it's like.

Now, I haven't done any business with elance or anyother business that specializes in this, but I have been looking for people to do outsourced work. My idea was to get them to do a little work up for payment, that's it.

If they were good, I'd get them fulltime, if not I move on.