How freelancing is portrayed online and in the media. (A tiny rant.)

Another freelancer site, no names mentioned, used to have a minimum fixed rate of $50 for all proposals. That attracted employers who had "worthwhile jobs" Jobs that attracted professional freelancers. Then they lowered the fixed rate to $20. Now every Tom Dick and Harry post jobs there, and bid for jobs. It has attracted hundreds of cheapskate employers accepting lowball cheap proposals from freelancers. Tons of messages from these employers saying this freelancer has disappeared, how do I get my money back. and tons of messages saying employers now want x amount of work added on with no additional payment. Or holding them hostage by saying if you don't do all this work I will give you a bad rating.

When you pay cheap, you attract cheap and tons of problems happen.

I'm totally with you. The promotional terminology used makes us sounds like sweat shop workers. Sure clients can save a few bucks because we don't carry the overhead companies have however that doesn't mean you're going get me to work on a project for a few nickels and dimes.

I can not tell you the countless times I get a private message from an employer after I place my bid asking why my rate is much higher than the others and if I could lower my rate. My answer to them includes a link to my feedback and I simply tell them my rate is what I charge EVERYONE and I don't budge.

Maybe one day (hopefully sooner than later), we'll be valued for what we do rather than underrated and underpaid because of the freelance stereo-type. However when you're bidding against people in countries (which I won't name but I'm sure you can figure out), who have annual salaries that are a fraction of what us in the U.S., U.K, Australian and other parts of the world need to make to survive it just brings down the bid amounts even more along with making it appear every freelancer works for pennies. I really wish those companies bidding 1/10th of what I charge would raise their rates because in the end they would benefit from it.

I couldn't agree more.Years ago I suggested a board comprised of Gurus from each specialty to set a standard for all bids so there wouldn't be these ridiculous low balls from "people in countries (which I won't name but I'm sure you can figure out), who have annual salaries that are a fraction of what us in the U.S., U.K, Australian and other parts of the world need to make to survive"*,,.and these people would benefit because they would get more money. I was told by Guru that I was depriving other people of the opportunity to make money. Wait...who's getting deprived here?

Ellen,

OMG! That's hilarious! How can having standarized bidding (for lack of a better term) or a minimum value placed on particular skill sets or amounts of work, deprive certain people of getting work? If anything, not having that is keeping a healthy number from getting work. It would make those who low ball their bids aware that their work has more value. For the rest who need to have a bit more money coming in for our survival, it would also provide a more level playing field. Everyone could be competitive. It makes me cringe when I see that work I could have gotten if the employer were more open to paying for the actual value, go to someone offshore who underbid in the extreme. Not only did I miss out on an opportunity, but they didn't get half of what they could have. It also sets everyone up for even lower expectations from employers next time. I don't begrudge anyone the income - far from it. I know what being broke and struggling to survive is like, but if they can be paid a fair sum for their efforts and have better lives because of it, why isn't that supported? It's not like Guru or any of the other sites would suffer if a more equal bidding system were encouraged. If anything, they would earn more.

This has been an issue for a long time and many people have complained about it here on the Answers board. What gets me is when the employer wants a US-based freelancer ONLY and has extremely demanding requirements and a large workload, but blatantly states that the pay is something like $2 per hour. What?!!