Scam Alert To All Writer's

"1. Client advertising for writer to write articles and will not pay until completion. (this is normal on Elance)"

I think you and the client should agree on payment schedules before starting with the task. That's how it works at Elance, as far as I know.

Matt: I'm Asian and I'd like to believe I'm a part of the other 0.01% of the crowd. LOL

 

I usually pay 100% via paypal first if the person doesn't trust me when I need articles done. if I don't get the articles I ordered I just file a complaint with paypal about buying something I never received.

 

I primarily concentrate on the health niche. Have a few doctors who work with me (they were my batch mates, before i dropped out of med school). Needless to say, that the articles that I get written, is of very high quality and is completely original and on top have a very unique view point since they are written by Doctors and not some writer, who has got zero practical knowledge about disease, affliction management and human anatomy.

I get freaked when some smart aleck comes up to me and says, hey ! the going rate is 0.01 cents per word, why are you charging so much for your articles. I am willing to pay you $40 for 20 articles.

These noobies, donot seem to understand that you get what you pay for.

 

How many words...TEN lol.

To me its not so much how good an article is on a topic, its more about a new idea that covers the topics I deal with. does that make sense lol

 

True, true... but on health topics you simply can not start inventing topics or new ideas

 

Yes I think a deposit should resolve this issue. I'd happily pay 20% up front.

 

The scam sometimes is by the writers. I contracted on GAF to have some articles written, and was pleased with them until the writer started balking about writing the titles I wanted, but wanted to give me what she had. I got suspicious, so I Copyscaped them, and every one of them was stolen from Ezine or some other article directory. She didn't even change them enough for them to pass Copyscape. I refused to pay her, so she went on a rampage, telling everyone not to write for me. I don't use GAF anymore.

 

I just give excerpts of the articles before payment.

 

Most often, who to trust becomes a matter of who has built up more of a name wherever they are found. Who has references and reason to believe they are someone to trust.

Either way it goes, you can always report someone to paypal or to the boards you got the work from about not recieving your end of the deal.

However, it's safest to get a deposit or something just so you know the buyer is serious. I've heard of waiting until the articles are completely written, than giving notice that they are done, recieving 50% and sending them then recieving the other half after the articles were sent.

Which seems most reasonable, to me. I just kind of wing it though, for each individual project.

 

We all like to think we are better than what we are, myself included

 

Personally, if it's a small order, then I never ask for payment upfront unless I feel uncomfortable asking payment on completion. I think the idea mentioned above where you show bits of the article before payment is a very good one: gives the buyer a chance to see what he/she's getting, and also means no foul play. Nice idea

 

Hmmm I'm sorry I started this thread as I got in infraction from DP for doing so.

 

I don't think it was the actual thread that would have got you in trouble, more the placement of it. The Content Creation section is for buying/selling Content Creation, not discussion of the topic. If you want to discuss writing/writers, then Copywriting is the correct section

 

No but you can have opinions and points of view from people all over the world not to mention Eastern vs Western medicine and alternative medicine.

 

Damn, that really sucks.

I pay my writers on a weekly basis but don't have money myself to pay up front. I have to submit everything to my boss after I edit/reformat/add to it if needed.

As a writer myself, I agree you should be vary wary out there.

 

Scammer writers and scammer buyers. The circle is complete.

I hope a few scammer writers meet a few scammer buyers. Hilarity ensues.

 

I agree 100%.
I will not do any work without being paid upfront.
They can look at my samples and see what I deliver.
Louie Bernstein

 

On the other end, it sucks when you get a writer who promises 20-30 articles then delivers 5 here and 5 there for weeks on end too. I usually give up for a few weeks and write everything myself lol.

 

As a buyer, especially being new to forums, I have no problem paying 50% up front. However, if the writer is new to the forum as well...I'm not sure how I'd feel about that arrangement if it was a big order...I'm willing to risk it on a smaller order, but that's about it.

As someone who dabbles in writing when they have time - I have to agree with those about non-english speakers' rates (for articles in english). They are the one offering the rates - I'm not demanding them. And I also don't complain or not pay OR leave them bad feedback when their articles turn out to be full of grammatical errors and awkward sounding. I end up spending enough time editing them only to realize I should have just written it myself . So - that is a case of 'you get what you pay for'...which is why I don't complain.

And the problem with the net is that everyone advertises themselves as a writer, but so few of them really are. So it's not just the 'penny webmaster' at fault. If we all wanted only quality and we're willing to pay for it...there would be a good shake-out. maybe that would be a good thing.

 

This is an update to my earlier post here...

Please see my proposed changes to the Copyscape Premium in regards to using the "text search" result as a proof when somebody else claims our articles as their own. The proof of an entire image of the text search done by us using the Copyscape Premium will be sufficient to deter such false claims of ownership (if that's the right word!)

The proposed changes are:

~ A complete IMAGE of the searched text should be shown as the first result. The image should be accompanied by the date of search, a button to enable the user to request it to be e-mailed if required, and another button to take the user back to another "text-search".

~ The complete image of text-search (that is 100% unique) can be E-MAILED to the Copyscape Premium user (by Copyscape) with a bar-code or other other such ID. The email from Copyscape can be mailed/forwarded to the owner of website (and later to the proper authorities if the said website refuses to acknowledge) that copied the article illegally.

~ The image also should carry with it the date of search, the complete text that was searched, and the "uniqueness" proof as usually is given at the bottom of the Copyscape text-search result.

~ The proposed change is for the "Text-search" and not for the "URL search", but it can also be managed by the Copyscape's able technicians.

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This feature (emailing the image and allowing the users to forward it to the user's clients and to the erring websites) should also be provided "free" (they are already charging 5 cents per search, and any additional burden on the users should avoided) to the Copyscape users!

I believe that this feature will make the Copyscape service more popular and authentic, increase its customers base, and will be in-demand by most of the website users who need unique content! Google and other search engines will also like this feature as it will put an end to plagiarism, or at least will reduce it considerably.

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Copyscape has written back to me with the information that they are working on a similar feature!

The idea is raw, but it can be refined by the Copyscape's capable programmers.

Thank you all!

Keep Smiling!

Attached: Image file.