Looking for a program to promote? Found a product but not sure if it is any good? Discuss anything on programs and affiliate networks here.

Hung up at Elance and don't know what to do
marymeagan
Posts: 311
Joined: 29 Nov 09
Trust:
28 Dec 09 8:00 pm

Hung up at Elance and don't know what to do

I found a writer I like at Elance and accepted his proposal, asking him to send me the first 3 articles as soon as possible and he agreed to my terms saying I will get my 3 articles within a day.

That was the 23d of Dec and today is the 28th and no articles.

I looked around in Elance (my funds are in escrow) and I found a thing called "Milestones" and figured that is probably the problem..... So I tried to fill out the Milestones section only to be confused by the instructions that said click on Fund which I couldn't see anywhere, only a button that says release funds which leaves me totally confused.

I sent a message to the writer or provider on the instructions to the provider with my email address and no response.

I sent messages to Elance "contact us" asking what to do only to be given a ticket number and hope I get a responce with in a week and hope I don't have to ask another question, I also wrote a message in the Elance forum.

It seems at the rate I'm going, this 12 week coarse might turn into a year because there are a lot more technical things to digest before I get a working web site up and running.

I also realize nobody works during the holidays including me but I think I should have received my 3 articles by now so I can complete week 3 and my frustration level is rising to wait so long for any help.

Can anyone give me some advice Larry
  • 0
Larry Bauge
 
emmamba
Posts: 2
Joined: 18 Dec 08
Trust:
28 Dec 09 9:04 pm

 I had the same setback and in my case I had paid upfront $100.00 and never received the articles not the refund. I have a bad taste in my mouth now for Elance

Emmanuel Mba
Link removed by moderator
  • 0
Emmanuel Mba
Affiliate and Article Marketing
http://tinyurl.com/yz35xbs
 
PremiumMember
graceharman
Posts: 91
Joined: 19 Oct 08
Trust:
28 Dec 09 9:45 pm

 Hi Larry,
What was the writer's feedback like?
  • 0
marymeagan
Posts: 311
Joined: 29 Nov 09
Trust:
29 Dec 09 12:09 am

 Hi Grace

The writer or providers feedback is 100%,

Reviews is 16

Repeat customers is 5 of 40

Earnings is $4,538

According to his resume he has written numerous articles in my niche, he is an electrical engineer , has written SEO specific articles for 7 years, and has done a lot of web site copy, and he is from the United States.

His price is $10,00 per article = $300,00 for 25 articles plus 5 reviews.

I thought this was quite good, now what will happen or what should I do now ?

Larry
  • 0
Larry Bauge
 
PremiumMember
graceharman
Posts: 91
Joined: 19 Oct 08
Trust:
29 Dec 09 12:25 am

 Hi again Larry,

That does sound like good feedback, so it's surprising this Elancer hasn't followed through. It's possible that he was assuming that public holidays didn't 'count' in the timeline, or that something out of the ordinary has happened that has prevented him from communicating with you.

I would try sending a couple more followup messages over the next couple of days. Give him the benefit of the doubt until the end of the week if possible, and then you can file a dispute with Elance.

http://elance.zendesk.com/forums/30972/entries/34320

Hope that helps
  • 0
carlmasure
Posts: 55
Joined: 24 Nov 09
Trust:
29 Dec 09 1:07 am

 Hey Larry,

I used to provide services on Elance, but the work was totally unrelated to computers/internet marketing. Typically, my jobs were for over $1,000, depending, but I would only charge $50-$100 upfront to get started. The milestone work is key.

I would say that based on the feedback, the provider is unable to respond to you because of some unforeseen circumstance.
Keep following through with this person, but next time, make each article a milestone and allow payment article by article until you find a provider you can depend on.

Best,

Carl
  • 0
marymeagan
Posts: 311
Joined: 29 Nov 09
Trust:
29 Dec 09 1:10 am

 Thanks Grace

Your right I should give him the benefit because he does sound very good, although I don't know what his holiday schedule is, he might have the 24th Dec to the 2nd of Jan off as some people might (I'm not as lucky)

I surely was hoping to be well on my way into week three with at least 3 starter articles by now but instead I have to sit back and see what happens in the next couple of days.

You wouldn't think the Christmas and New Year Holidays could gum up the works like this.

I did check at Elance and my money is sitting in Escrow, and it shows the debit in my Paypal account, so here's hoping because I don't want to go through this again with another writer, if I have to launch a protest and be behind maybe another 2 weeks.

Larry
  • 0
Larry Bauge
 
marymeagan
Posts: 311
Joined: 29 Nov 09
Trust:
29 Dec 09 1:59 am

 Hi Carl

Since you've got experience with Elance maybe you can tell me about Milestones (I didn't know about Milestones until after I hired this writer.)

I'm having a problem filling out the Milestone form, trying to follow their instructions which might be the problem I'm having with this writer.

I get to instruction #4- "Fund" is located in the escrow funding and release section of the page (if it is then I can't see it)

#5 - Select your payment method and check box #6 -enter your password and select release button

I can't find "Fund"..... Payment method...... and box to enter my password...... although I can see the Release Funds button which is the only instruction I can find, and I feel that if I press the release button then the whole amount will go.

So maybe you can fill me in as to what I can't see or where to look for it.

Larry
  • 0
Larry Bauge
 
tangoshoes
Posts: 74
Joined: 24 Nov 09
Trust:
29 Dec 09 9:09 am

 I had a smiler problem with odesk... I had a writer send me articles and then ask for payment out of odesk... i knew that was agenst policy so I sent money threw odesk after he sent me a bunch of nasty e-mails to pay him. He was 3 days late sending the articles and I happened to be out of town. I read the first few articles and they were ok so I sent money... then come to find out the rest of the articles were broken links. Now the guy won't respond to me.
  • 0
Free AMA alternative:
http://www.freetrafficsystem.com/a.php?p=15706
Outsourcing for $200/mo 40hr/week:
http://store.replacemyself.com/?aid=3884
 
Moderator
superaff
Posts: 354
Joined: 09 Sep 06
Trust:
29 Dec 09 9:58 am

 These are the pitfalls of outsourcing. You really need to check the writer's feedback.

I used Elance several times and never had a problem with them though.

But according to what I know, when your money is in escrow (for Elance), the writer will not get it until you click on "release".

Take it easy though. Freelancers are like that, not always reliable. I used to work with a VA, and the work was often delayed for weeks... you know "Internet was cut"... "There was a tsunami here"... and a lot of excuses.

She was very good though. In fact, to date... I am waiting some article distributions, blog commenting and others from here for more than two months (she diseapered, and this time I don't have a clue about where she is and what she is doing). As you probably guesses, I replaced my team.

Take it easy.
Franck
  • 0
Did you see the amazing case studies on my blog http://mynetmarketingland.com/blog1/
Affiloblueprint Bonus: http://www.mynetmarketingland.com/mark-ling/affiloblueprint.html
 
marymeagan
Posts: 311
Joined: 29 Nov 09
Trust:
29 Dec 09 10:21 pm

 Hi guys

I finally heard from my writer (Tues 29th Dec) explaining he was out of town for the holidays and I will get my first 3 articles today, although I am still waiting as it is now 4:45 PM EST.

I read his feed backs and they were all very impressive, everyone was delighted with his work, but the only drawback he has against him was scheduling where he was late with many submissions, but excellent work.

I'm sorry for raising a fuss but I'm new to Elance and Mark and Aletta did mention in their video that lateness does occasionally happen, but I was going on the comment the writer made stating that he would have my first 3 articles in a day and I submitted my proposal on the 23d, and then had a mountain of trouble trying to figure Elance protocols out, thinking I might have missed something to get the writer started.

I guess since he never asked for any money up front or milestones,(he knows the money is in escrow) then I think he is satisfied to get a lump sum at the end.

I only want to ask one more question if I may.....How do I receive my articles ? Do I receive an email link for each article, or do I have to log into Elance to view them ? This little matter wasn't mentioned in the video or at Elance and I'm pretty sure they're not going to arrive in the mail LOL

Thanks Larry
  • 0
Larry Bauge
 
sonitin
Posts: 152
Joined: 26 Apr 07
Trust:
07 Jan 10 11:16 am

 @marymeagan

You can go to the workroom section in elance and post a message to the writer. You can ask him to deliver the articles by email and provide him with email. You can also ask him to upload the articles in elance itself. They have a files section for uploading files. I recommend using elance because that brings transparency in case you need to dispute the work (looks like you will have to).

Elance and other sites favor project creators over freelancers in dispute settlements so if you really think you are not getting the promised service, you can raise a dispute and get money back to your account from the escrow.

superaff's advice is to the point.. take it easy - that is how freelancers are
  • 0
"offshoreally.com" - One click for all outsourcing requirements including bookmarking, submissions, dedicated staff, link building..

Looking for a qualified virtual assistant to help you with your work? Click here - "offshoreally.com/internet-marketing-outsourcing-seo/virtual-assistant-link-building"

Enter The" Bad Ass" SEO Guest Blogging Contest to WIN CASH PRIZES http://bit.ly/9knBFs

PM me for coupon codes!
 
afilthy
Posts: 85
Joined: 24 Nov 09
Trust:
09 Jan 10 8:38 am

 Same experience here, it's pretty much reflected above. The funny thing is after all the hassle with my 1st writer on the final date, without any response for 10days on any of my messages ( thought they had disappeared) I got all of the articles and they were not bad quality. And the first articles were crap, needed to rewrite it myself after lots of communication. My writer had a team I think and maybe after lots of feedback from me likely gave the rest of the articles she had to do to somebody with more experience and 'suddenly' I received all the rest of the articles at once. so I paid everything in full. Then I left a negative feedback in elance for the writer, the writer got upset and she apparently wrote a negative feedback on me (where can you see the negative feedback on yourself?! I didn't see it). I found out because a 2n writer I just hired apparently saw the feedback of the first writer about me and decided to cancel his little project because the first article he sent I disapproved politely (it had 2 spelling errors in the first sentence, but this guy said that was because of british - and american english ;-). Etc. etc.
Well; long story short; I don't recommend using eLance, go try another service. Save yourself time.
  • 0
danopano
Posts: 2
Joined: 30 Jun 12
Trust:
05 Oct 12 9:20 pm

 Hi Everyone,

This is Dano. I am new to Affilorama and so far, everything seems to be okay with the course. Having read some of the posts regarding Elance, I now have my own questions regarding their service.

They come well-recommended by Mark Ling; and I am sure, just like any professional organization, they will have some bad apples in the mix.

I have just completed posting a job to write one 700 word article and thus far all of the responses I have received have all been over $20 - this after having read and heard that I can harvest good quality articles from them at around $5-$10. Is this still so? If so, would anyone be willing to give me some direction on finding writers for American English to do my articles?

Thanks,
-DanoPano
  • 0
Closely guarded guru secrets revealed...
http://www.harvestthenet.com/clickbank-university-our-review/
 
andlosek89
Posts: 18
Joined: 19 Sep 12
Trust:
06 Oct 12 7:01 am

 I don't know why freelancer do such nasty behave. Some freelancers are not professional and they miss deadline for the reason. I also outsource some of my work but have no such bad experience.
  • 0
stevenwade84
Posts: 9
Joined: 10 Jun 12
Trust:
09 Oct 12 3:55 pm

 I use ODesk and aside from getting some shody work I've never had someone not deliver at all. Send him another message through ELance and ask where your articles are, it could be a genuine mistake, Maybe he thought he'd sent them already or it slipped his mind,

It takes time to find decent freelance writers in my experience so hopefully you'll get lucky soon enough and find someone competent enough who can deliver on time.
  • 0
Attention! Spend 1Hr a Day on this TOP SECRET, Highly Profitable, System and make $15K in Time for XMAS! Find out how here - http://bit.ly/15kpermonth2012

Does your website need powerful, diverse and affordable backlinks? Get a HUGE variety of trusted links and watch your rankings sky rocket for ONLY $37.99. Click here NOW:
 
cecille.l
Posts: 6369
Joined: 25 Feb 11
Trust:
16 Nov 12 12:36 pm
I have just completed posting a job to write one 700 word article and thus far all of the responses I have received have all been over $20 - this after having read and heard that I can harvest good quality articles from them at around $5-$10. Is this still so? If so, would anyone be willing to give me some direction on finding writers for American English to do my articles?


>>> The fee would depend much on the level of the article and how long it is. I think the $5-$10 range is for new writers (new to eLance) that are still building their reputation for a 500 word article. I suggest you look at the ads similar to yours and how much others are willing to pay. You can then get the average fee through that.

Hope that helps. Have a good day!
  • 0
Cecille

Building affiliate marketing websites is a breeze: https://www.affilorama.com/affilojetpack
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/affilorama
 
eric11
Posts: 19
Joined: 24 Dec 12
Trust:
24 Dec 12 8:24 pm
emmamba wrote:I had the same setback and in my case I had paid upfront $100.00 and never received the articles not the refund. I have a bad taste in my mouth now for Elance

Emmanuel Mba
http://tgli.de/Eqm


Rule #1 when using Elance make sure all of the funds remain in Escrow until the job is complete! That way the contractor can see that you have the money to pay them, but they cannot simply walk away with your cash.
  • 0
For a high paying & high converting Pay Per Call network sign up here: http://mobilefused.hasoffers.com/signup/1098
 
tshwsg
Posts: 1
Joined: 16 Jan 13
Trust:
16 Jan 13 11:14 pm

 Elance is a company who tries to control freelancers all over the world; they do not have live phone support for most issues. We had a project which we have completed and Elance put a hold on to our account to withdraw money until we completed another project while we are on holidays. Aren’t this Elance’s hands on our business? How come they ask us to employ people while we are on holidays, and holding the money for a completed project?
Elance is a place where you can go to kill your whole reputation within hours. They have policies only to protect their commission but not the interest of the Freelancers. They do not think that their survival is completely dependent on freelancers work. If there are no freelancers, they won't be there to control our businesses.
On the other hand there are so many buyers who do not pay and vanish. E lance do not have a control over them to settle our money. We have lost more than $30000 worth of work which has never been paid by the buyer.
This is a disaster for any Freelancing business.
  • 0
sbsambrooks33
Posts: 18
Joined: 25 Jan 13
Trust:
26 Jan 13 7:21 pm

 I used Elance several times and I've never had someone not deliver at all.
  • 0

This topic was started on Dec 28, 2009 and has been closed due to inactivity. If you want to discuss this topic further, please create a new forum topic.

Topic locked