Tip for Buying/Selling Content

After a round with a content purchase assignment that didn't go well, I thought I would offer a word of advice to both buyers and sellers (I hope it's okay to post here, but thought more people would see it since this is where such actions take place). PLEASE - for your own sake in these transactions - verify that everyone understands the time differences involved.

I assigned two articles to an Indian writer. I had no problem with the fact that he was Indian. We were good to go. In the assignment I sent, I stated that I needed the articles by 2:00 pm EST - which is Eastern Standard Time. The writer agreed to the assignment and I thought we were set.

The work wasn't completed by that time, however, and it turns out that it was because of the time difference. What actually happened was a mis-communication. I assumed the writer knew what EST meant because he didn't question it. That was my mistake. The misunderstanding made negative iTrader feedback on both sides, and for a bad feeling overall, which I regret.

So a word of caution... be sure you're both on the same time before completing an assignment so you don't go through what this writer and I both did.

 

Hey,

I guess it wasn't your fault at all! It was actually a noob you came across; because it is completely unprofessional to NOT ask even the slightest of the things instructed by the project owner. And oh well, not knowing EST isn't the wisest of excuses to one's incompetence in completion of a task. I sympathize with you and I guess in the spirit of the forum, I can offer you a free 500 words article; just because its a helpful community and a great place to hang around for us IMers. Please PM me if you'd like to take upon my offer.

Regards,

Prachi

 

But then at the same time, none of the sides should jump up to the support of a negative itrader instantly. PERIOD!

 

I'm sorry that happened to you OP.. Some writers are still kinda new and need as much guidance as they can get.
Good luck with everything.. I'm sure you will bounce back in no time!

 

prachi.... that's actually commendable of you to offer a free article for the sake of keeping up a community spirit.

 

I hope both sides learned from this. And thank you for making this post so we can again revise these points. As a writer, delaying my client would be the last thing I would want to do, and I hope a new writer/s gets to read this and keep this time difference in mind.

 

In either case, India is like 8 hours ahead of EST... so it gives them even MORE TIME!

But yes, always have clear communication.

 

For buyers :- always mention the time frame, ideally number of hours you want the job to be over and done with and that too from the time you assign the work to a writer,

and sellers :- do not dither in asking for the deadlines based on number of hours or days as the case may be.

This reduces the perplexity even if they are from different time zones.

 

I suppose the best way of avoiding these issues is not to use abbreviations. There is also EST in Australia.

 

What a sweet offer, Prachi! Thank you! And thanks to everyone for your input. I agree, it has been a lesson learned and I definitely won't be using EST again. Just hate it had to happen at all because it DID create a mis-understanding and bad feelings on the part of the seller, and I truly hate that. Ahhh... such is life.