Approaches

[ZoeMc]

I was approached recently by someone who wanted to buy two of my articles for a price that was way below what I was asking. I think that there was one that they were particularly interested in but they said that they would take both (like they were doing me a favour) I said that I thought the price was too low and they came back and said that they would like me to write regularly for them but they would need both of these articles at the knock down price. I have to say that the thought of regular work tempted me so I asked them what they would want me to write about and what fields they were interested in. When they replied with "I normally write about (subject)" my alarm bells went off. I hadn't asked them what they write about I wanted to know what they would want me to write about. I have therefore, declined their "kind" offer. I'm fairly new to CC but I wondered if this sort of thing happened a lot.

[Lor]

Everyone gets these quirky little requests from time to time. The best way to handle it is to ask them to place their "private" requests through the system. Add something like "I'm sorry, but I'm only willing to negotiate on articles that include best offer."

You did the right thing, but I'd avoid getting into conversations with the quirky stuff and just politely nip it in the bud.

[Lysis]

When I was at Elance, there was an article that told people to tell bidders that they had plenty of work for them if they just worked for cheap this time. It's basically taken off, so now it's a standard claim for most people who can't afford you. Most of the people I bonded with on the site and worked with had a deal where we always avoided buyers with certain phrases in their requests. We always avoided people who wanted to pay us too cheap and promised a lot of work. Always avoided people who said "English is your mother tongue." We always avoided people who said they had pages they wanted us to rewrite. Usually, they wanted us to plagiarize. Always avoided people who wanted a "free sample" to "test us out."

I hate Elance, but it did teach me how to point out scammers.

[ZoeMc]

It taught me a couple of valuable lessons, the first being that I will not under value my work and almost give it away and secondly to trust my instincts. I almost said no straught away but allowed them to try and persuade me. Well that won't happen again.

[Tianna]

Sometimes I'll talk with these types of people just so I can get a good laugh out of it A funny one I found today on freelancer.com was someone that wanted 30 500-word articles at $1 an article. They set the minimum bid at $250 for the project. You pay freelancer 10% of your bid if awarded. So whoever won was gonna pay $25 to write those articles and only end up with $5 at the end. I hardly ever find anything of worth there, but occasionally I come across one so I keep an eye on it. That was just to funny though. Of course, there were bids. So I guess some people don't care if they get shafted on the deal.

[mnicol22]

Tianna,

I've had my fair share of experience with freelancer as well! Back then, when I first started writing, I didn't have any other way of getting work, so low paying gigs seemed better than nothing. I passed on those $1 per 500 words projects but I did find some very interesting jobs that I was more than happy to do. $5 or so a piece wasn't much, but at least I enjoyed doing them. I think it's all about perspective. If you are a beginner or you need the extra $$ badly, then you'll just jump in and swim, and that's fine. After all, the quality of work provided there has absolutely nothing to do with CC's standards.

The sad thing is that the Internet is flooded with low quality information that comes from low-paid people who don't even bother. I can't blame them. However, I did treat my $5-a-piece gigs the same way I treat my CC articles and I'm happy about that. I wouldn't have it any other way. It's just disappointing to see how many people are willing to take advantage of others who may be in need. That's one of the main reasons I gave up on freelancer.

[jellygator]

I was approached recently by someone who wanted to buy two of my articles for a price that was way below what I was asking. I think that there was one that they were particularly interested in but they said that they would take both (like they were doing me a favour) I said that I thought the price was too low and they came back and said that they would like me to write regularly for them but they would need both of these articles at the knock down price. I have to say that the thought of regular work tempted me so I asked them what they would want me to write about and what fields they were interested in. When they replied with "I normally write about (subject)" my alarm bells went off. I hadn't asked them what they write about I wanted to know what they would want me to write about. I have therefore, declined their "kind" offer. I'm fairly new to CC but I wondered if this sort of thing happened a lot.

I had that same discussion with someone recently. After some back and forth, I agreed to a drop in price from $35 for full use to $25 for a short piece I had done. He decided to buy it, and when I located where it was used, it had been used for a high-producing HubPages blog. I can understand where my prices would be too prohibitive for a blog that only generates AdSense revenues, but I found myself laughing since I use HubPages myself.