...won't take my money and run? Damn. Is everybody a thief on the internet or what? Just was taken for $200 by a "web design team" I found on getacoder.com...Wanted money upfront, I sent a total of $200 and now they've taken their site down - http://www.xaptra.com/ - and haven't emailed me. PayPal is investigating your ass, pal, if you're watching! Where does everyone else go to get honest web development work done?
Oh man, that sucks badly. Best way is to find good recommendations from trustworthy people. And should not pay upfront if the company has little to no records.
search google or my preferred method find links off popular sites saying design by (etc) it will most likely cost more but...
Sorry to hear that. But i have given project to freelance at guru.com without any problem. What i do is given my project to only well know people with a lot positive feedback
Go for someone local if you can, same country at least Look for a proper registered business with at least a telephone number for contact, and never pay 100% upfront 50% upfront is standard as it splits the risk, and a contract is usually reccommended too (most serious companys will use a contract anyway as it protects them just as much as you)
You should - have used escrow and not pay full upfront - checked their reputation first anyway that is all under the bridge now... Hope paypal nails them Good luck!
Sad to know that, you should try well known designer in the target niche. There are many known freelancer on the web, may be they charge more than unknown designer but you won't loose your money at least.
I've gotten about 15 pages done by http://www.getlandingpages.com they have a full team of designers and have been in business for over 1.5 years.
i did send them an email earlier today. they are not responding. they probably just threw the site back up to make me a liar because I sent the link to PayPal for their investigation.
Some have the feeling that web design and programming are getting cheaper day by day, and that isn't quite so. What happens instead is lots of fake professionals come around hunting for your money, offering "cheaper" service while in fact it turns out to be inexistent in some unfortunate cases. That's why your decisions as buyers/customers should not be based on price quotes exclusively. Look for someone with a positive online reputation, and a good history to track. If you want to approach the cheaper option, you know you always do it on your own risk. I do believe it's well worth paying the extra for the peace of mind if you can afford it. Internet is far from being a scam-free place. I hope you get your money back, mike323.
Very well said Clive, I think its really pathetic the way people making internet market a worst place to outsource. But the fact is you should always deal with those freelancers which have good reputation, and whom with you can tie up for long term. People always search for new designers and outsourcing options, and in the end they get scammed, just to save few bucks. Will suggest you to find a reliable designer and always stick to him/her for your projects, at least you'll be secure. Anyways whatever happened to you its really pathetic and Sad, i hope you get your Money Back Soon.
yah...you might get your money back from paypal. I had an issue just about a month ago, i wanted a webpage coded, so the seller and I agreed that id pay him half upfront and half when i received all the files. So I honored that and paid him half the amount upfront. Then he sent me pictures of the design and asked me to send him the rest of the money. When I explained to him that it wasnt part of the deal he stopped answering my emails, and got himself banned from the forum I found him on. Best part is when I filled out a paypal report to get my money back, they told me that it was a quality issue and that they are not responsible for quality issues.... But you dont understand, I "Paid for an iphone and received a picture of one"....lol, whatever, it was a small amount so I didnt even bother