I don't think this is a good way to go. oDesk is a marketplace,and in a marketplace, price is dictated by offer and demand. If someone is willing to work for $1 per hour, or even less, it's his/her right. If you can't compete with price, you can compete in other area, like quality of service, speed etc.

Honestly, if someone is willing to work for a buck, it can mean that he's either providing poor quality work, or is just a beginner trying to get his first job. Or simply desperate.

On the other hand, if a buyer expects to get work done for a $1/hour, it can mean that it's a real simple job, or low priority. Or maybe the buyer is just cheap, and you really don't want to work with such people .

Anyway, my overall opinion, there shouldn't be any minimum or maximum price. The market has it's own way of regulating things. If you're good at what you do, you will eventually get a job for a price that suits you. You just need to be patient and persistent.

I won't work for as little as $5 an hour.  Most of my work lately has been for $15 and the buyers are approaching me more often than I'm approaching them.

It's perfectly possible to find work for higher rates if you're good enough at what you do.  The point of outsourcing is that it's often cheaper than hiring locally, but cheaper doesn't always mean dirt cheap.

If your quality of work is worth the rate you charge you'll do fine.

I'm not an American but my rate is $8/hr.  I guess its how you value yourself parallel to your quality of work.  There's no reason for you to accept a $1 rate especially if you believe you are worth more than that.  There's also no reason why we should prevent buyers to post such a low rate if that's only what they an afford.  Besides when you pay for peanuts you don't get a cake . There are a lot of jobs available from buyers who are willing to pay for quality. if you take the time to screen them you'll find your perfect match .  Goodluck!

....and sometimes the dollar is converted into much lower pay. 

Hey venkatrajnagaraj!

If you are satisfied with a $1 or lower wages it's up to you! why should I work for that amount if even here in the Phils I can look for a job with a higher pay than that. Why am I working here in oDesk, of course to have a higher paying job more than I can get here in the phils. So why should I work for that rate, for a few hours a week. And to think $5 is fair enough. It's up to you if you want to work with $1/hr. Coz for me, I have to pay all the bills, and $1/hr is not enough! Times right now is so tough! The reason I worked as a freelancer is for me to work at home with a higher wage without leaving my country!

Let's take an honest look at your profile and see if you can figure out why you're not getting good paying jobs:

A)  You use slang in your 'overview'.  You used 'coz'.  Very unprofessional. 

B)  You claim your "English" skills are "5" but yet you're test scores tell a different story. 

C) Your resume has nothing in it.

D)  Your grammar in your overview is very badly written

So, before you complain about what you're being paid, you should perhaps look at the reasons you're making those rates.  You have many more hours than many others who are working on oDesk such a short period of time. I again maintain my belief that buyers are willing to pay good rates to get good work.

You seem to be doing well.  But don't blame buyers for paying low rates for work, don't apply to them!

Well I guess I'm just working hard and doing well with my job as you have noticed, but being good in english doesn't mean that you are intelligent enough and must be in demand and besides, I think i'm not the only one claiming 5/5 here, I think most of us does! What matters is the dedication and  quality of work you are giving in. I'm not applying for any jobs with a very low rate, and FYI my concern is not only for myslef but for others as well. If you are satisfied with such low rates then go on and work for them. I'm contented working for $5/hr, but I don't agree with  very low rates such as $1/hr or lower than that.

I stay out of pay rate discussions, but I must comment on the self-appraised English level.

If you say you're a 5, and the buyer can clearly see you are not, then the buyer will have caught you in a lie and have a difficult time trusting your other skill assessments. Being honest about your English ability is important for establishing trust.

If he can see you've lied about your English skills, why should he believe anything else you've put in your profile?

I'm not saying that I'm lying about my self appraised english level, If I feel I'm confident that my english skills is 5 then I'll put it. I haven't encountered any problem regarding my english communication skills with my buyers so far, but rather  got a good remark for it. 

Kababayan! I'm really impressed at you getting jobs at higher pay rates - and with one of the jobs hitting a very high feedback rating too. But I have to point out that English skills and communication skills are two entirely different skills. You can be good in English but you can even have a bad communication skill; you can have a good communication skill but speak poor English.

The buyer pointed out a good remark about your communication skills clearly than your English skills. These communication skills can be: daily reports, regular YM meetings, coordinating immediate problems with the buyer (and probably thinking of a solution), asking the buyer about some vague or unclear parts of the project. It is simply a system - and it does NOT need perfect English to say these.

If you've worked with a Japanese employer or company before - it is simply the one that they call HORENSO - a training that they give even to the line operators because it is a communication skill that they find so crucial in their work. That does not even need to learn perfect English at all - but a better way of communication to the boss, subordinates, clients, buyers, providers and others.

English skills, on the other hand, is confined to the ability to speak and write English well.

Gem

Being good at English means you're good at English, nothing more and nothing less.  It certainly doesn't mean a person is unintelligent or less than fluent in their native language if it's not English.

However, I still have a major problem with the myriad of profiles that are littered with basic grammatical and spelling mistakes yet still proudly proclaim a self-assessed English skill of 5/5.

If you have a 5/5 in English you shouldn't be making basic mistakes that would reflect poorly on a Junior High School Student.

I also think an overrated English score does reflect poorly on a provider because it doesn't speak well to their integrity.  I want a hard working dedicated professional, who tells the truth.

When I see a 5/5 on a profile that clearly shows a 3/5 level of English it makes me wonder if the person honestly thinks they're a 5/5 or if they know they aren't a 5/5 but are going to say they are so they can get more jobs.  The first tells me they don't have the ability to judge their own skills accurately, and the second that they don't mind lying to me.

Neither quality is going to make me want to hire that provider.

If it's not a writing job I would have no problem hiring someone with an honest 3/5 or 4/5 in English.  I only expect 5/5 out of writers.

It is a matter of integrity.  Frankly, all we have to go on when we are applying online is our integrity and our reputation. I am not questioning your intelligence, I'm merely pointing out a flat out misrepresentation on your profile.  If you're comfortable that your English skills are a "5 of 5" and rate it that way do not be surprised when buyers like me look at your profile, see the grammatical errors and decide immediately that you're not necessarily the right person for the job.

In a 43 word overview that I would read before I looked anything else in your profile you've misused a word, you have a spelling error and you have grammatical errors.

Sorry, again I'm not doubting that you can do certain tasks and do them fairly well, but if you're interested in making more than $5 per hour you might want to consider cleaning up your profile first.

As Jacqui had said, it is ultimately up to the buyer to really decide - because the integrity of a provider's profile is at stake. The honesty of the provider speaks through his or her profile.

The topic of your thread "Hey! Common everyone, we're not monkey's here!" does NOT say speak to others about not applying for low rate jobs. To me, you're asking oDesk to put a minimum wage rate on jobs.

If you are concerned for the other providers then you have to carefully put down the words that will really tell others "not to apply to jobs lower than $1".

Minimum wage or pay rate discussions is always a hot topic here in the forums - it always sparks a long debate!

That would be the prerogative of every provider and not your problem. The only problem, of course, that you will encounter is that with a higher pay rate, you are bound to lose jobs to a cheaper provider who can work at the same quality that you deliver!

Gem

Hi cbastian,

Do you know my hourly charge is 15$. I am not saying that you have to satisfy with whatever you get paid. You know yourself better than anyone and fix a rate that is satisfying you and looking for those kind of buyers. That's what i was trying to say. Every product/service has three price range, cheap, affordable and expensive (say quality)

I agree.

There are errors in the title of this thread-- it should be "come on" not "common" and you shouldn't have the apostrophe in "monkey's" as it's a possessive when you want a plural.

The meaning was clear, so there's no problem with communication, but it just doesn't reflect a 5/5 in English.

This thread has gotten a lot of attention.  Its simple really, if you don't like the pay don't take the job.  If you think your skill level is 5 then make sure you can back it up with an actual skill.  If you don't like where you are at you can always move somewhere else I'm very sure a lot of people who are just as skilled will be willing to take your place.