I'm just coming from the B/S/T section and it seems like the market over there has been getting worse and worse during the whole time i have been here. Isn't it about time that the Mods of DP come together and possibly put together a "Minimum Wage/Rate" sort of system? I'm pretty sure there are a lot of designers who feel like they have been under-paid here at DP... Even if there isn't a strict set of rules, shouldn't there be at the least a guide stickied to informing talented individuals informing them how much their work is worth? Then each individual can charge their own rates by what they think their time is worth (hopefully more rather than less). Just my 2 cents... What does everyone else think?
Yeh for a while know I have wondered if digital point will ever improve this section of the site, there are quite a few people out there offering services at really low prices and then normally a group of unhappy customers because they got what they paid for (a really rubish job). I think it would be too much work though for DigitalPoint to actually sort out so I doubt that they will ever do anything, would make the comunity alot better though.
I think it would be fairly easy for them to enforce better standards for web designing and coding. It will just require a few more dedicated moderators. What really bugs me is that designers that aren't very good manage to sell their designs for the same amount as designers who have been web designing for many years who spend upwards of 10 hours on a single design. I think this problem is due to the lack of knowledge from buyers who don't have much education on what a good design consists of.
Of course! Everything changes. I have only been here for 18 months and I have seen lots of changes in that area. The most marked one being the "FREEBIES" situation. The over spamming of bookmark sites, then the banning of such threads. That was a huge change! This place is just too big sometimes I don't think the freebies should have deals in them that are worth a dollar or more, but the ruling is that five dollars and under go to freebies. Things get a little tricky. I am very grateful that bookmarking is not the main event in BST now. Yes, sometimes we work for chicken scratch, but I guess it is a great way to "build a name" and establish clients for yourself.
I am in the B/S/T section quite a bit and I understand where you are coming from. I think even charging $1 per new thread would help slow down a lot of the crap, just because some people don't even have a $1 that sell on there. And just think for shawn, there have been 380,000 threads, wouldn't be bad to have an extra $380,000 in the bank
Thread like this appears probably on monthly basis. Nothing will change. If you are looking to get serious business, don't concentrate mainly on B/S/T section of this forum.
^ Exactly. The thing is, many people in B/S/T are just looking to make a quick buck, so they're willing to accept extremely low wages. Thus, you're not going to find too many buyers who are willing to pay well, whether it's for writing or design work or something else. If you want to make above minimum wage, you need to expand yourself past DP.
I agree, what would you make minimum wage? There are people here from so many different countries where the cost of living varies greatly.
Buyers on DP are just cheap, especially in the template section. People want $65 templates for like $30 and they want CSS and everything else too. If they want that though, they should be willing to pay for what it's worth. It's like eBay, people here are looking for good deals.
Im afraid that DP collapses from too much pressure and lack of management. great place here would hate to lose it.
I have also thought about this and I was thinking of a solution. This might not even be possible so bare with me! I think that if you are a designer, writer, ect... It should be posted on your profile, kind of like iTrader but a little different. And under the header (designer for example) you could have a experience bar. And if people think they got what they paid for then they give you a plus. If they don't the give you a minus. I understand that there were many problems with that, but thought it would be a cool idea to throw out there! Thanks, Noc
hmmm - I think it all boils down to supply and demand. If suppliers are willing to sell a $200 product for $50, than of course the market is going to demand that. On a positive note, DP provides a market for many levels of programmers and designers to find a market. If you build better products, your market will be loyal and they will keep an eye out for you. My time on DP has shown me that. Really, if we are all selling Mercedes, can we complain about the Fords? There are many buyers on DP that want higher quality and are willing to pay a little more to get it, so instead of complaining about those who are looking for used Kia's, get your products out there, stand behind your quality and the right buyers will come. It may take longer and the market may be a little smaller, but heck, what I see here is reflective of the whole Web industry so if you find a way to navigate around here, you will likely find a way to navigate to a nice place within the industry as a whole ... just my two cents! Also - how to you rate quality or experience? Are not they both subjective? One person's crap is another person's gold ... I think if you work hard and more importantly, work smart, and your intentions are in the right place, things will work out ...
I have to REALLY disagree with you on this. I offer 3 products (scripts) and a few add-ons, and mainly only post here on DP and hotscripts ($36 every 3 months) and my sales pay my bills. They support me, my 3 kids and my stay out home wife plus live a good life with only this income. Yes I think it will do more if I go do business more places, but I live pretty good right now, and don't want to break anything that isn't broke in the first place .. and yes I am in the united states. Just my opinion.
Ok, kip, that's even great. I am really happy to be wrong if that is true, cause quality of B/S/T in last 2 years were just bad, I browse DP from 2004 and joined 2 years ago for buy/sell as well But still don't start after quick browsing. Probably your products really cool. I suppose you sell at least each one each day to feed your family. I mainly telling about services not ready made product. Cause you just sell product and that's it. Cars in USA twice cheaper than in europe and still make most profit and biges world market. So low price don't make such impact even help. But if we talk about selling programmer time, designer time, etc. (not ready made scripts/designs/templates/etc.) it will appear that his time will worth absoulte peanuts on DP. That's what I tried to tell. And yeah, DP is good for products, just not for services.
Yeah I would agree that services are low, but everyone has to be kinda low, because someone from india will do a job for $10, while someone from the US won't touch it for $50. It's really because we have the WORLD wide web .. But I agree, I haven't looked over many services types, but I would agree from what I saw they are low. But wouldn't that be all places? and not just DP? And also with quality comes $$.. just because someone will do it for $10 doesn't mean it will be good, but it does hurt a lot of other webmasters as well. I don't know im rambling ...
There will always be crappy content writers willing to work for crap and idiotic buyers that are satisfied with aforementioned crap. That's just how it works.
What can we say more? The competition is too tight here. Personal free lance sites is a better spot now days.
I also feel like these cheap sales & purchases are a cheap/easy way of building up your iTrader extremely fast, which i feel like is degrading the trustworthiness of the iTrader system. Does anyone know if DP advertisers on freelancer websites? I too think that there aren't enough web designers/developers out there who are educating their clients that the level of quality is dependent on the amount of money they spend. Has anyone ever seen a project on DP where the customer had a budget of $1000+? Does anyone have a clue if there are any advertisement are made on other freelancing websites by Shawn or DP Mods? We really need to see an improvement on the quality of work that are been posted on DP...