freelance prices are getting riddiculous

Have you considered taking on only one client - yourself? If you can write, create a blog and write your own content and profit from it. I used to program but I don't take on clients any more, I just work on my own sites and keep a day job. You might even consider paying someone to write some of what you post.

 

Sometimes the price they claim to work at is so unbelivablly low, but I did not meet many good providers who can offer efficient and quality work in the end. I don't generally select only because of low price.

 

It is an interesting predicament.

Foreign buyers cannot tell if the article contains quality content as their own english skills are generally poor (see above for example).

Native english speakers that can construct sentence with only mediocre syntax, grammar, and diction can write their own passable content, or edit foreign writers' content to a passable level.

Native english speakers with good english skills do not need to hire writers very frequently.

So what happens is the market is dominated by buyers that only require substandard quality. When buyers are seeking good content and know what to look for, that is when the more expensive jobs come along. Otherwise, you're trying to sell quality to people that cannot recognize it.

 

Prices are always going lower and lower, but there's nothing we can do about it.

 

The problem here is that people are willing to work for so little because they do not have much skill or marketability. Being willing to work for pennies is the only way they will get work or get noticed above more qualified people. It really hurts us qualified workers trying to find work on this site because it has almost turned into a sort of sweatshop with people saying they will work for $1 per hour, 40 hours a week. That's preposterous. The people here hiring for jobs and freelance writing should really take quality, reliability, and talent into account when hiring.

 

One word: Blue Ocean Strategy
You see people peddling coffee for $1.20 at your mom'n pops cafe.
But people are still paying for Starbucks.
If you are catering to the lower denominator, you will always choke.
Just look at hosting, there are hosts offering packages for $0.99/mth
The big players are not really concerned, because theres this thing called Branding!
If you can start branding yourself and establish yourself in the marketplace, you can refer your prospective clients to those $1/article writers when your plates are full and they will still say "Oh no, are you crazy? I'll wait till you are available, I will check in in a week. Not going to those guys"

 

I think the last post is correct because people will always pay for quality.

Anyone with experience online knows that cheap is usually REALLY EXPENSIVE. When the quality of the $1 articles are not to your expectations you will have to either rewrite it or hire someone else and there aren't many things more frustrating than wasted money.