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- May 23, 2011
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As far as monetizing; it will take a 10% fee from the project price from the freelancer.
As a freelancer I see a bit of a trouble with this. On $100 project it sounds fine, 10 bucks. On $10k project, that's $1000, which is for most people enough to motivate them finding ways to "cut the middleman".
They'll try to find way around it and they'll usually manage to do it. Countless times I've bid on projects with sincere intention to go through the site, just to have employers PM me their contact and insist I contact them directly.
On the other hand, you'll often see jobs conducted via freelance sites, where the job itself is worth like $500, and then afterwards employer sends a $8000 bonus to the freelancer for good work. All official, all through the website, but I think you see the flaw.
One of the websites I use solved it this way:
- if you're a free member, everything is free, but their commission is 10%
- if you're a gold member (something like $10-20/mo), everything is free, and their commission is 3% - which is acceptable on any sum, given the fact that your website provided the gig.
All serious freelancers (like myself) have no problem giving $10-20 bucks, as we're confident we'll get a lot of jobs, and already have some expenses anyway, like server etc. so we got over the "I-want-it-all-free" phase.
Freebie seekers are usually beginners anyway, and will be happy to earn whatever, and to give you 10% of it.
Also, being a golden member brings perks, like having your bid positioned higher, being perceived as more serious and credible etc. so usually all the freelancers that work constantly, just keep renewing this, so it can really add up.
While on the subject of money... If you want freelancers from everywhere to join the site, account for some other payment method except Paypal, it's unavailable in many places.
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