Just over a year ago, I wrote about my initial experience using bidding site Get A Freelancer. At that time I spent about $13 to land a project worth around $750 and considered that fair enough. GAF got a bad press from many of my readers. With the exception of a few who had been lucky like me, most comments were similar to this one from James Chartrand:

GAF was bad back then. It’s still bad now. I think all writers should stay away from the place, because it’s a definite arena where 98% of the buyers don’t give a crap about quality work.

One Year On

So, a year later, am I still using GAF? Am I heck! By the end of last year, as recession started to bite, it seemed to me that potential clients used that as an excuse to offer projects that paid even less  (if that’s even possible), while asking writers for even more. It just wasn’t worth it for me. I believe that writers should be paid fairly for their writing skills. Although I haven’t deleted my account, I’ve stopped subscribing to email updates and don’t plan to use the site again.

Who Should Use GAF?

I’m not writing Get A Freelancer off altogether. If you want to get paid to write and have absolutely no experience, sites like that can sometimes offer a way into the writing business. Just be careful not to take on so much work that you don’t have time to take advantage of better opportunities. Or spend the time writing articles for article marketing or your own blog – you might find that’s even more useful in the long run.

I signed up with GetAFreelancer a couple of years ago, yet I’ve only just completed my first project with them. This is my review of the experience.

Getting Started With GetAFreelancer

First of all, let me tell you why it’s taken me so long to get started.The first reason is because I was busy. I’ve hardly had any down time since I started freelancing. The second reason is because many of the projects on that site offer ludicrously low pay. I’m not just talking about 1 cent a word, but far, far less. Just like Guru, Elance and others, it’s an international freelance marketplace and you are competing with people who think that getting $1 for a 500 word article is a good rate.

GAF Gets A Second Chance

So, why did I even bother giving it a second chance? Well, I decided that I needed to bid more to meet my ever increasing income target. Part of my motivation came from participating in the Inkthinker Query Challenge 2008. I figured if I needed to query more then I needed to check out more bidding sites, and I decided to give GAF another chance.

A Quality Project

I happened to log on and see a financial rewrite project that looked promising, so I decided to bid. This wasn’t the usual $1 a rewrite nonsense, but a project from someone who was prepared to pay more for quality. However, there was a snag. I only had the basic membership, which was free. If I wanted to bid for this project I needed gold membership, which is $12 a month. I decided I could afford to invest $12 in my career, paid up by Paypal, and submitted my bid with the required sample. One PM and phone call later, the project was mine.

Making Sure You Get Paid

Now, here’s one place where GAF scores – the escrow system. Once the buyer awarded the project, he placed the agreed funds in escrow, so I knew I would get paid on completion – and I did. But then there was another issue – your first payment from them has a 15 day delay on it (I can’t figure out why). This means that even though the buyer released the funds straight away, it will be another two weeks before I can transfer them to Paypal. That sucks, but at least I know they will pay up straight away for the next project.

Another plus point is that I only have to pay for what I use. When my gold membership expires at the end of February, I won’t bother to renew it until there’s another gold member only project to bid on.

GAF Profile

The profile feature is pretty basic, but probably tells everyone what they need to know. Mine has not been updated since I originally signed up, and I’m sure I could do something to make it more appealing. That said, I’m pleased to have found a decent paying project on what seems to be a low paying site. GAF takes a $1 fee for transferring my funds to Paypal, so all in all, my project expenses are $13. It was worth it.

A Final Tip

Most importantly, I now have that all important client review – and here’s a tip. Even when bidding on multiple sites, there’s nothing to stop you from referring clients to your best positive reviews, no matter where they are located.

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