Have you ever used http://getafreelancer.com to bid on a project? If so, how do people see samples of your work? It seems they're very strict about TOSsing people who use any kind of URL to try to show their work. Are your words alone supposed to get you jobs on that site?
I think it is harder to get good job through GAF, you'll find few people bidding for very lowest amount and it is crowded too. I think few alternative could be better like RAC/elance etc.
I am a provider at GAF, although I hardly ever bid because of the non sense low bidders over there. It seems any one who knows the English alphabet believes he or she can write quality articles. That of course doesn't mean there aren't quality providers at GAF. Some are very good. BTW, if you are a "Gold" provider, you can post URLs without getting tossed. Otherwise, you can use the PM functionality that allows you to attach files. You can also send URLs through PM.
I use GAFL to sell my writing skills. Although I bid higher than others, I get the jobs because of my quality, and I use the attach function of the project message board to show previous work, although I'm now a gold member.
I am using rentacoder.com for the past 3 years. I dislike GAF due to overcrowding with low bid rate...
Thanks, all, for the excellent responses. @ Bobchrist -- I agree that Elance is a better experience. A good enough number of buyers are willing to pay for quality work. @ TopSR -- Thanks for solving the big mystery!! @ @phang -- Yes, it seems every one of these sites has it's own success secrets. Your approach sounds great. @ kittyluver -- The last time I check into RAC, for some reason I got the impression that it was a better place for designers. Writers, not so much. I'll have to pop in again. Thanks for mentioning it.
GAF has serious flaws for both buyers and sellers. I find it really had to work with people thousands of miles away in a different timezone with a native language.
Valley, I can only imagine. It's great that the Internet brings us all so much closer together. But this is one area that clearly remains a challenge: working together to the same standards.
There are one or two Gems on there. I use it quite a bit for smaller projects but not for large cutting edge stuff. I 'll give the RAC a whirl. Never tried that before. Quite a lot of stuff I have done on GAF i have binned and redone. I still pay as no one wants to cause hardship. I could build a far better system myself. It needs to combine bidding with a directory of users and clients in far more detail. Detail is what is missing from these sites. Lack of detail causes 2 problems 1. You pick the one with the highest feedback. These are quite often rubbish I have found. 2. It is very hard for a newstarter to get up the ladder. Some far more talented people have no feedback. There is also the problem of false feedback I could be a webdesiger on there with 50 feedback in a week. All you need is proxy. ALso human nature means that true feedback is never given. Feedback should be dismantled into a 20 question questionare. Very easy But not enough money in it for me.
I agree with that 100%. I think most people just use the private message feature at GAF to get around posting URL's. Some job posters will ask for the URL to samples to be posted in the bid so that they don't have to look at 50 million private messages, and in those cases you can usually post it and GAF is okay with it. I definitely agree with the low priced bids making it very difficult. You'll see people bid $30 for an entire weeks worth of work, and if you're in the US there's just no way to compete with that.
GAF doesn't allow to show your URL when you try to spam it.But if you are showing your portfolio then they don't banned you..But my choice is elance.com to get freelance works coz in GAF buyers keep very less bid range for high boring jobs.
Valley, that's good feedback about using GAF to get freelancers for small jobs only. Tarripin, that does seem like a ridiculously low rate to pay for someone's valuable time. Thanks, Scriptaty, for letting me know that don't actually ban people for linking to work samples when bidding. They should make this more clear for new people.