GetAFreelancer.com is a freelance site where designers, programmers can earn money and business owners to develop their projects. What are benefits and drawbacks of this freelance service? How it could compare to Elance or Guru? I wrote some paragraphs based on my own experience as a freelance designer on Getafreelancer.com about earnings and payment, mediators, competition and mockups.

Mediators
A large number of projects on Getafreelancer.com are published by mediators. They bid on high paid projects on Guru or Elance and then find freelancers on Getafreelancer.com for as small money as possible. The problem of communication arises as well, since some mediators can’t clearly explain what their client needs and project time extends. Most of such projects are non-public, it means that you should register to have a look at it and search engines don’t see them (as well as real clients).

Competition
One project could have 30-40 bids so it’s really hard task for a client to make the right choice. And it’s even harder for designer to be chosen especially if you are starter and still don’t have any reviews. There are large teams of freelancers which consist of programmers, designers and marketing specialists who actually make bids (I guess on all projects) and are responsible for relationships with clients. So if you are single you are out of competition because you can’t spend all day bidding and chatting with prospective clients and then work at nights.

Mockups
Some clients require mockup providing before you actually could be a winner. Whereas one third of the projects are cancelled by the clients, I guess that they just need your ideas and don’t want to pay actually for your work. Firstly, I made a couple of mockups but don’t get any feedback and projects were cancelled later. Then I decided once and for all to not make any mockups before prepayment. Well, I am glad that I manage to get some project without providing free mockups.

Earnings
When some people bid below reasonable minimum (logo for 5$ and site for 40$) it’s really impossible to prove that these things should cost ten times more. To be a successful bidder you need at least Gold membership which cost 12$ a month and gives you ability to make 150 bids in comparison with 15 for not paid membership. The most common project description on Getafreelancer: my budget is very low so don’t bid above 50$. I want Craigslist/Facebook/Myspace clone but with better design and with new features. With a couple of projects done a month you can earn money enough for beer or coffee only.

Payment
First of all, you should not start working on project before Escrow payment is done by client. Because you could work just for free as it turns out later. You should not give out your ready work (source files or scripts) until payment is released or you will wait uncertain time which client will use to make improvements again and again without any additional fee. The first payment of internal Getafreelancer.com system is delayed for 15 days because of ‘security reasons’. To withdraw money from Getafreelancer you should withdraw it first to Paypal or Moneybookers which takes another few days. And some time more until you get your money on your Visa card. Am I living in XXI century?

Benefits
In general, I have a low opinion about Getareelancer.com as a designer (possibly clients thinks completely differently). Are there only drawbacks on this site or it has some benefits? Well, you can build your portfolio based on real projects but don’t expect that you work would be paid even on minimum rate. You can get experience of managing hard clients which would like to have 10 times more features for their poor budgets. You can train your competitive skills because I didn’t see such a competition ever before. You can improve your communication skills talking with people all over the world. Finally, you could learn what the real client needs are and what trends are most hot currently.