many Projects not awarded!

Jason, you can literally take the Project Posting Fee idea to the bank, because I believe that the freelancers have a valid point in this instance.

As Gilbert noted: Asking prospective Employers to pay a Project Posting Fee can certainly deliver the same type of message that Premium bidding by freelancers is supposed to convey to prospective Employers. In other words,"Show me your worth..." A Project Posting Fee would definitely convey the idea that Guru's freelancers are "a cut above" and worth paying for mere access for their consideration for handling a Project; in much contrast to freelancers on other competing "free project-posting" sites. You get the picture?

Besides, prospective Employers already have "free access" to Guru freelancers on an individual basis via the "Ask a Question" and "Get a Quote" buttons on the Freelancer Profile listings.

Jason, the Project Posting Fee really makes common and dollar sense for three (3) reasons: Because it could either be 1) applied toward the Project fee if the project poster hires a Guru freelancer; or 2) if the project poster does not hire a Guru freelancer, the fee could go into a general fund for Guru to pay staffer(s) to screen prospective Employers; and 3) It would serve as an effective deterrent against "Employers" who routinely post projects merely to test the market, without any serious intention of ever hiring anyone.

The time, energy, and effort-wasting pattern about which we write has been showing itself consistently and repeatedly, placing freelancers at a disadvantage: Guru freelancers in good faith preparing and submitting proposals to both "first-time Employer" and "previous Employer" types who repeatedly and consistently misrepresent their identities, locations, and intentions to hire.

So let the Project Posting Fees begin!

How has Guru come to the conclusion that if employers are required to pay to post, it 'creates a fairly significant barrier to entry' Has it been tried before? or just an apprehension? In which case just like Guru has premium freelance members to assure the employer that his project will be taken seriously till completed, there could be a similar 'premium' project posting by employers to assure freelancers that the employer is serious! As said earlier the serious employer does not lose a cent!

Gilbert

There has been a lot of discussion about this in recent days, and for the most part, from what I've seen, most freelancers lean toward a refundable fee per posting, or a fee per posting that is applied to the bid that the awarded freelancer enters (it becomes part of the Safepay when it is set up).

The big thing that many of us have noticed and in some cases, fallen victim to, is the practice of employers posting their project on multiple non-charging sites, only to NOT hire on any of them. I've often wondered if it's a game of collecting contact data for their own off-Guru and off-site contracts. The sites who have fees per service in general or refundable fees, don't have this problem. As it stands now, I cross reference with other sites before I bid, just to make sure I'm bidding in one place only or avoiding the game players. It's doubtful that I'm the only one.

What exactly do you considered to be a "fairly significant barrier?" Don't most business expect to have expenses? They pay for office space, electricity, transportation, staffing, snow removal, and advertizing. How is this any different? It's not like they can't write this off on their taxes. It's the cost of doing business.

I was also going to ask how a small deposit would create a "fairly significant barrier to entry," and I'm glad other people are wondering the same thing. Assuming the employer fully intends to pay for his project, he's going to have to make a payment anyway, so what is the problem? Maybe guru could give employers the option of making a deposit to show commitment, and then put a little icon by the project title or something to highlight the project somehow.

It would be great for us, but also, it would keep the payments flowing through guru, instead of off-site, and that's more money for guru. If someone makes a deposit, he's going to want to pay the remainder through guru so as to get credit for his initial payment, which makes it much more unlikely he's going to pay another way. Besides, a lot of these project are little $25 & $30 jobs, so you know someone isn't going to want to lose his precious five dollars (or whatever small deposit would be required)! In addition, there wouldn't be any need for extra staff; the website can handle payments by itself.

It's win-win, brother.

Hello Gilbert,

Thanks for reaching out to express your thoughts. The primary concern with requiring Employer's to pay to post is that it creates a fairly significant barrier to entry, which may actually deter legitimate Employers from posting their projects.

Instead, we opt to display Employer statistics that allow Freelancers to make educated choices as they relate to the attractiveness of an Employer. If you notice that an Employer has posted many projects with none awarded, then you'll probably want to steer clear of that particular 'opportunity'.

In any case, this is an excellent topic for discussion and I hope that others in the community weigh in to share their thoughts. Thanks!