Should I use freelancer.com?

Hey guys, I've been into web development for some years now and I only was able to reach people across my small country, It was hard to get good jobs and I never really knew where should I search for..
I decided to give a try to freelancer.com
But the copetiton there is so big and the prices so low (some are ok)
What should I try?

The big platforms are rife with people and many pay for fake reviews.

You could upgrade on here and offer services, there are plenty of HAF threads etc.

try everywhere not only freelancer and the competiton there are big and the prices low because you still new dont have enough reviews so you need to offer the best price and the work after one year when you have 200+ reviews you will not need more than one hour daily to bid in the projects you like with the prices you like and you will get at least half of them but to get it you must work hard to make your profile 5/5 stars make your clients happy and you will get it

MisterF said:

The big platforms are rife with people and many pay for fake reviews.

You could upgrade on here and offer services, there are plenty of HAF threads etc.

Click to expand...

I pmed you

ItsMeFox said:

try everywhere not only freelancer and the competiton there are big and the prices low because you still new dont have enough reviews so you need to offer the best price and the work after one year when you have 200+ reviews you will not need more than one hour daily to bid in the projects you like with the prices you like and you will get at least half of them but to get it you must work hard to make your profile 5/5 stars make your clients happy and you will get it

Click to expand...

What else except freelancer? Fiver and upwork?

Freelancer is full of bots that auto-bid and re-post projects at lower amounts. If you don't sleep, you can make money there, otherwise...is harder, especially if you have no feedback!

You can also try other platforms as well.. don't stick to one place only

BlackDesign said:

Hey guys, I've been into web development for some years now and I only was able to reach people across my small country, It was hard to get good jobs and I never really knew where should I search for..
I decided to give a try to freelancer.com
But the copetiton there is so big and the prices so low (some are ok)
What should I try?

Click to expand...

you can use fiverr and bhw to reach more heights fast.

Try Upwork, Fiverr, People Per Hour, Guru...Just, every marketplace has its own "ecosystem", its own set of rules, its own search engine mechanics - get used to one of them and then spread your eggs to another basket...

Never liked Freelancer myself, ask for something.. specifically.. get 'people' quoting for something else.. not recommended by any stretch of the imagination!

praveen1090 said:

you can use fiverr and bhw to reach more heights fast.

Click to expand...

Writer7 said:

Try Upwork, Fiverr, People Per Hour, Guru...Just, every marketplace has its own "ecosystem", its own set of rules, its own search engine mechanics - get used to one of them and then spread your eggs to another basket...

Click to expand...

In fiverr will look for you but you won't be able to offer your services right?

It's likely better to monetize your skills here. Freelancing platforms are saturated and it wouldn't get any better as it used to be.

I have hired and worked for these platforms, stay away. While it seems appealing at first, you soon realize that your time is not worth, the prices are ridiculously low and the pseudo coders that deliver the work, are beyond incompetent.
When I tried to work myself on the platform, I delivered an extremely complex Kubernetes setup (basically a structure that self-deployed more servers if the traffic was exceeding specific CPU/ram usage and split the load between all the existing servers). The employee kept asking for more and more stuff that was not initially agreed on; I didn't mind at all as I was new to the platform and wanted to build a good reputation. It turns out I had to dispute this transaction as the guy would never mark the order as paid, I spent a LOT of extra hours giving all evidence being polite, the guy only replied once to the dispute with something that pretty much summarizes to: "fuck off."
I won the dispute two weeks after I realized my Freelancer account was in negative balance, and they were expecting me to pay for a dispute that the employee opened with his bank.
Their platform is a big joke.

I suggest,
Try blackhatworld.com before going for freelancer.com!

Because, you have a 5 year old account with 250 post count.

MisterF said:

The big platforms are rife with people and many pay for fake reviews.

You could upgrade on here and offer services, there are plenty of HAF threads etc.

Click to expand...

Seconded.

I started off writing on freelance websites (eLance was Freelancer.com before I think) and there was a whole lot of bullshit to tread through.

Once I got a profile that was fitted with reviews and credentials, it was easier to find a job - until they increased how many tokens (or whatever) it costs to apply for one.

It was then that I realized you have to pay for the tokens in order to apply for jobs.

Your money and time will be better off spent networking and promoting your services on a website like BHW.. that much I am certain of.

BlackDesign said:

In fiverr will look for you but you won't be able to offer your services right?

Click to expand...

you can offer your services there.

I've worked for years on freelancer.com and before they bought scriptlance.com, i worked there. I have like 200 reviews, made good money there, from small projects to big projects. It was good 10 years ago, but now the prices are very very low and there is ALOT of competition. I started hiring people from freelancer, but in most cases they dont really know what they are doing, and the project description says one thing, they say its easy can be done in 2 hours and 5 days latter you get some piece of code that doesnt work, its not valid...

The job sites are fine. Once you learn how to pitch, what jobs to go for and what to avoid it's not a race to the bottom. I used to pick up some decent projects off the likes of upwork to pay for holidays or to cover an expense I had coming up that's when I was freelancing like anything else it's a tool and it's down to you how you use it.

Avoid the automated replies, be creative, reach out and you don't need to worry about bidding the lowest price! If you are struggling to get work just register and place a job to see the kind of crap people get on a daily basis not to mention all the automated responses...

As for you freelancing as a developer did or have you ever specialized or are you just reaching out as a "php" or "wordpress guy" it's going to be hard to compete compared to branding your self up and then marketing your self as such in google. Back in the day I used to market myself as a "eCommerce & conversion landing page expert" or something along them lines, youd be surprised how much comes up doing that...

If you done the same with development make it a skill / specific requirement and you tend to find all sorts search for that kind of "expert" more so if you can get into writing blogs and giving away some code or snippet changes etc, once your name gets out there as a person who just does X rather than everything the world of "freelancing / designing / development" is easy.

@t2van
very insightful.
I think it's super important to focus & be very selective about the potential jobs to bid on.

I’d avoid using Freelancer because there’s way too much competition. Also, you’re competing with bots or people who pay for fake reviews. If you’re willing to commit, I’d recommend going on Upwork or upgrading your account on BHW. You could also try TaskRabbit or Toptal. Fiverr is another option, but the way it’s going now, it’ll become just as over-crowded as Freelancer. However, no matter which website you choose, remember to include some examples of your previous work. That way, people can see how good you are, instead of just taking your word for it.

You could try joint venture? Haven't used freelancer personally so I cant comment on that.