Improvements? Get REAL Buyers
If you want to improve your "services" get real buyers, not the cheapskate gutter charlatans who post $1 an hour no-wage and other slave-wage jobs. 
I was invited -- invited! to interview for a translation and voice over. A studio professional would charge $150 or more for this and would ask for royalties from the distribution. I thought it would be simple and quick, so I asked a mere $20. Imagine my surprise when I was told I was overpriced. Good grief!
After all the certifications and downloads and all the rest of the hoopla that oDesk demands from providers, the least oDesk should do is get qualified BUYERS willing to pay the CERTIFIED PROFESSIONALS they want services from.
oDesk is well on it's way to being the bottom-feeders preferred choice.
true
I bid on a number of Java programmer jobs where I was rejected at $20/hr and sometimes even less, as too high. I get $41/hr at my day job. Thank goodness I am not counting on freelancing for my bread and butter.
But, my chief complaint is the number of jobs that go no place, they just expire with no action. I have experienced far more of that on oDesk than at another freelance site I work at. Not sure what oDesk can do about it, just tossing it out there.
terrimorgan wrote: If you
If you want to improve your "services" get real buyers, not the cheapskate gutter charlatans who post $1 an hour no-wage and other slave-wage jobs.
I was invited -- invited! to interview for a translation and voice over. A studio professional would charge $150 or more for this and would ask for royalties from the distribution. I thought it would be simple and quick, so I asked a mere $20. Imagine my surprise when I was told I was overpriced. Good grief!
After all the certifications and downloads and all the rest of the hoopla that oDesk demands from providers, the least oDesk should do is get qualified BUYERS willing to pay the CERTIFIED PROFESSIONALS they want services from.
oDesk is well on it's way to being the bottom-feeders preferred choice.
Actually the average on oDesk for Voice-over work is $32 an hour, so $20 definitely isn't overpriced. Having said that I don't think I've ever lowered my rate on an invited job.
The way I look at it, if they invite me, they are already willing to pay my rate otherwise they wouldn't have invited me. I also think if I dropped my rate drastically after receiving an invitation I would be sending the signal I wasn't serious about my real rate. If that happened I wouldn't be surprised if they asked me to lower the rate again.
A Valid Point
It's sad to hear you met such a buyer during your first(?) interview.
There are some REAL buyers already in oDesk.
I hope oDesk marketing team is trying their best to bring in more REAL buyers.
I think the CERTIFIED PROFESSIONALS, who didn't meet 'quality' buyers, would have to wait!!!
Pothi.