Hello

I'm hiring a programmer for a $2,000 project. He requests 50% payment upfront (PayPal or check). Should I send it ?

A little background..

A hired this guy on freelancer and he did an excellent job fore for a small project now I'm hiring him for a 2k project but he doesn't want to use freelancer cause they charge 10% fee..

I think he's an honest guy but cant know for sure..

What you recommend ?

Thanks

P.S

He has 5 star rating on freelancer. He seems very honest.

How bad do you want to lose your money?

Use escrow or milestones.

tough call, try to pay him pro rata, you pay 10% up front and then agree a schedule of work with him, determine what timescale the project will take and pay him at each completed stage

Originally Posted by jazzc

How bad do you want to lose your money?

Use escrow or milestones.

Well honesty he claims he needs the money to hire a second programmer to help with the task.. (that is probably true) but I offered him 25% and he refused..

The only reason I would think of doing this is because

A) I've dealt with him before (but only with a $100 project)

B) he has 5 star / 100% feedback on freelancer

Originally Posted by agag2

Well honesty he claims he needs the money to hire a second programmer to help with the task.. (that is probably true) but I offered him 25% and he refused..

So let me understand - you are actually considering paying someone to outsource your project himself?

Effectively you 've doubled your risk - not to mention about the bigger pricetag you 're getting since 2 people have to make profit now.

Let me know if you are interested in real estate, I have a nice little tower for sale

kvefr0291s.jpg

Originally Posted by jazzc

Let me know if you are interested in real estate, I have a nice little tower for sale

kvefr0291s.jpg

Ok, I'll pay you after you deliver it

Originally Posted by agag2

Ok, I'll pay you after you deliver it

I 'll need a 200% advance to create a real estate teleporter.

Honesty, this is not such a simple decision..

This guy has 30+ reviews - all - 100% positive and I know he supported one of the scripts he's made for me even after he recieved payment (I didn't even have to ask twice..) so I think I'll send him 25%

Ill be using PayPal as well..

As W1305N mentioned its a tough decision..

Plus he's charging me like 50% less than everyone else.. Can't find someone with that price..

Well honesty he claims he needs the money to hire a second programmer to help with the task

He is outsourcing his job to someone else he take 1K while sitting and doing nothing and the other guy gets 1K for busting his ass.

Originally Posted by SkyrocketSEO

He is outsourcing his job to someone else he take 1K while sitting and doing nothing and the other guy gets 1K for busting his ass.

No he is not. We made up initially he will need to hire someone since it is a complex job.

Dont do it.I have been in similar situation.Once they get direct payment they tend to loose the schedule. And get lazy. Rather pay him extra 10%.

Originally Posted by agag2

Plus he's charging me like 50% less than everyone else.. Can't find someone with that price..

It 's easy to give huge discounts if you don't really plan to deliver. I am not saying that this particular guy is definitely a scammer, what I am saying is that there are too many red flags from what you 've been telling us.

Greed is a bad advisor in business

Don't send upfront trusting him man.I'm sure you will get scammed.use escrow site like escrow.com pay some extra to protect your side

what type of Project is it ?? PHP,Java Android,Website if it's any of them then i can do this and money after Completion

Since the guy is hiring another guy who you don't know, the chances of getting scammed are high. What if the 2nd guy scams your developer and end of the day it's you who's gonna lose the money. It's better to use any escrow service.

Being programmer i have seen and heard lot of stories where client pays and service provider run with money when it comes to big amount ..its not due to the way he things one time amount and run away its expertise for 2k project which comes to short fall for any one ..this is not with every one better you divide the same in to part payment like 20% 5 times and tell him ur good to go ahead ...we do same way when it comes to big project

cheers
Adroit

My suggestion is do it in progress payments. I deal alot on elance and I wont bother with a programmer who wont work on progress payments. I do 20% down, when programmer meets the first mark, he sends me all current code, I send another 20%, so on and so on. This way you are not only protecting your money, but also have code in your hand in case the job goes south, at least you have a starting point. Also make sure he comments his code entirely throughout the project, so that in the event you do have to get another programmer, the new programmer doesnt have to sit at a screen for a week trying to figure out what the last guy was doing. Ive hired over 400 projects out on elance, and Ive learned the hard way lol, good luck!

Where is the guy located?

I think that matters, try to also run a check on his background online through social networking and others.

Escrow would have been better but for the fact that the guy needs the funds to pay others to get to work makes it complicated.

And also, he can not go head and hire the programmer to work with him without pay because he will probably be
feeling the same way you are feeling about him.

Good luck is all i can say..

If you must do, 40% is ok...

Originally Posted by john1444

Where is the guy located?

I think that matters, try to also run a check on his background online through social networking and others.

He's from Canada, studying in the USA.

My gut feeling is that he is honest. But, again, you never know for sure when it comes to these things..

I think I'll end up 25% down payment if he agrees..

Is it possible to make a Legal Agreement, I mean, make him sign some papers, send the documents via Fax?

^^ I will make him sign an NDA. Perhaps require a phone # / home addresss.

Originally Posted by agag2

Plus he's charging me like 50% less than everyone else.. Can't find someone with that price..

So it doesn't matter if you offer to pay that extra 10% to cover the fees - unless the intention is to scam you. Make payments with clear milestones, and cover the fee yourself; no other option.

Sign a contract and go for 25% partial payments for sure..

Send 1200 by freelancer.

No worries, i assume he would and had finished the job before 1 and a half month, so use paypal. If he fluke you later then you can always issue dispute on him.

Also, he has a very good feedback and at the sametime, you had already worked with him.

Just my 2cent