Insulting Offers

[aprilk10]

Michael,
To be clear...he contacted me through the email system here at CC...not my personal email. It was an article I did not have "best offer" checked in and the client sent me a message with an offer...a REASONABLE offer! I wish something would be done about georged! Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate!

[jadedragon]

I just got two offers for full rights for $3 each - on the same article - from georged. Refused them both. What a waste of time!

Constant Content bans "authors" that can't get with the program so that they do not waste the editors time.
Why can't we ban a "customer" that can't get with the program so that they do not waste the writers time.

[webscribe]

Kudos to the poster who coined the phrase "I got georged." This bidder deserves his own thread.

Having been a freelancer for some time, this sort of thing doesn't shock me anymore, but it's terribly annoying for so many writers to have to refuse multiple offers from this character. If he wants to run his own online sweatshop, why doesn't he do it somewhere else?

Thank heaven that Constant also draws serious buyers who will pay a fair price for good work.

[Celeste Stewart]

Insulting or not, he is a customer and writers are selling articles to him for those prices. Thus, I doubt CC would ban him. If he buys 1,000 $3 articles, he's as valuable to CC as the guy that buys 30 $100 articles. The only ones getting taken advantage of are the ones that allow themselves to be taken advantage of. That said, it would be nice if CC would implement a way for authors to enter a reserve price as someone suggested earlier.

[jak]

I got a few of these $3 offers which I declined, of course. But one of them was for a really old article which has just sold for $25. So I'm wondering if it's just a coincidence or if that offer somehow brought it to someone else's attention. Don't suppose I'll ever know.

[jadedragon]

I got a few of these $3 offers which I declined, of course. But one of them was for a really old article which has just sold for $25. So I'm wondering if it's just a coincidence or if that offer somehow brought it to someone else's attention. Don't suppose I'll ever know.

Only coincidence. One offer does not draw another, unless georged plans to insult you twice.

[bloomingrose]

Can't the administrators do anything about this? If the TOS say no articles below $7, I wish they would intervene.

[dmgray]

Yeah it's George. He has been around a while making his derogatory offers. He goes, then returns. It's a cheapskate perpetual cycle. He is very persistant this time, I have had to refuse more than the usual quota of miserly offers. He has been the topic of discussion numerous times. Sadly, some authors must be accepting his loose change bids or he would not keep darkening the doors of CC. As always, the best thing to do is to keep calm, hit 'Reject Offer', and don't give him and his shameless hustling a second thought. He does toddle off eventually I promise!

[Antonia]

Support has contacted George about this issue and is waiting for a response from him.
http://www.constant-content.com/forum/v ... =3&t=21136

It's easy to let this kind of mayfly get under our skins, but let's keep in mind this is ONE guy....how many awesome customers have you come across?

- the customers who post your name and bio on articles they bought for fullrights, giving you extra exposure for free
- the customers who request one article and then like your work so much they purchase 3 extra articles from your portfolio
- the ones who write little notes of appreciation after buying your work
- the ones who personally recommend your articles to their friends (and perhaps you never know this, because they don't tell you)
- the ones who start websites on niche topics, come round to CC and purchase dozens of articles from several authors at once (remember the gardening? the quizzes? the real estate?)
- the ones who choose CC over cheap bidding sites because they care about good writing and are willing to pay fair prices
- the ones who pay your listed price even when Best Offer is checked

If you are fairly new you might not have come across many the above situations yet, but I promise you, they are the norm - Georges are few and far between.