What do you think of this buyer?
Ok, I will not be ashamed to post this one on here because I need your opinion guys. I applied for a job today. Here's the job description: http://www.odesk.com/jobs/350-400-words-article_~~31f01cf13f685cc1
Then few hours later I got an invitation for an interview for this job. We talked on YM and I was so disappointed by this buyer. In my opinion, what he did was just too unprofessional. Here's our convo (yes I intentionally didn't hide his name for the other providers to be aware):
Quennie: Hi Ravi, I'm Quennie from oDesk
Ravi Shankar: hi
Ravi Shankar: can you write in one color
Quennie: oh sorry hold on let me change it
Ravi Shankar: i mean i am getting your text in different color
Ravi Shankar: which is very disturbing
Quennie: There you go
Quennie: Sorry about that
Ravi Shankar: great
Ravi Shankar: this looks professional
Ravi Shankar: yes quennie you are from which country ?
Quennie: Philippines
Ravi Shankar: ok
Ravi Shankar: do you have any sample article which you can send me now
Quennie: Yes hold on
Quennie: That's one of my recent work
Ravi Shankar: have problem in receiving that
Ravi Shankar: can you mail me to my yahoo ac
Ravi Shankar: r.shankar100@yahoo.co.in
Quennie: ok, for a while
Ravi Shankar: look my work is very simple
Ravi Shankar: i need 100 words articles
Ravi Shankar: you should be able to write 10 artilces in one hour
Ravi Shankar: it need not be original but should not be duplicate
Ravi Shankar: meaning you can take info from net
Quennie: 10 articles in 1 hour?
Ravi Shankar: search for keyword in net
Quennie: What would be the topics?
Ravi Shankar: and when you get any article on that topic you can just rewrite them in your own words
Ravi Shankar: once you get original article you can produce atleast 4-5 articles from that
Ravi Shankar: as it is just 100 words it shold be easy
Ravi Shankar: already 4 people are working on this project in odesk
Ravi Shankar: i will pay 25 cents for each articles which works out to $2.5 per hour(10 articles per hour)
Ravi Shankar: as i said i am not looking for great quality
Ravi Shankar: i want it to be simple and good english
Ravi Shankar: english should be proper
Quennie: I thought this project will be on a $50 fixed budget?
Ravi Shankar: this is a on going project
Ravi Shankar: the work is unlimited
Quennie: Then what was that $50 price you posted on the job description?
Ravi Shankar: it is a fixed price project
Quennie: I know
Ravi Shankar: but odesk doesnto accepts less than 50
Ravi Shankar: thsts the problem
Quennie: But now you're telling me you'll just pay me for $2.50 an hour?
Ravi Shankar: ys thats the rate
Ravi Shankar: if you are interested we can talk further
Ravi Shankar: it is ongoing projcet
Ravi Shankar: fixed price of 25 cents
Ravi Shankar: per articles
Quennie: Then you should have posted for an hourly job and not a fixed rate with a budget that you won't pay for
Quennie: Sorry but I won't be taking this job
Ravi Shankar: thanks for your time
Quennie: You can go and look for other providers
I just find it very unprofessional. If you've seen the job description then you might get what I mean. I don't know if he's right about that idea but it fools providers of what the rate really is.
Sorry I just had to let this out.
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lraleigh 9 posts - United States - Joined Jul 09 2009
I'm sorry the interview was so disappointing, but you're lucky you found out about the pay before you accepted the job. He sounds like a very disreputable buyer. I've never been a buyer, but I'm pretty sure he's wrong about the fixed-price rate, etc. Have you reported this to Odesk?
kweni16 12 posts - Philippines - Joined Nov 04 2008
No I haven't reported him to oDesk. I'm still thinking if I should.
pkalimuthu 474 posts - India - Joined Mar 07 2008
If you have a few minutes, go ahead and report this buyer to oDesk. I'm not sure, if oDesk accepts the IM chat history. If it doesn't accept, it's time for oDesk to bring an IM kind of communication which is integrated in oDesk (like a couple of other online marketplaces have done).
To other providers: Remember the first sign of problematic client: changing the requirements. If the interview communication is different from job description, be cautious to move ahead with the buyer, especially on a fixed-price project.
Best wishes to all!
kweni16 12 posts - Philippines - Joined Nov 04 2008
I know right? He's like using the amount of fixed price as "bait" then would tell providers a different rate once in the interview...that is sooo annoying!
okudamanova
To all providers:
Please do not hesitate reporting a Job opening/Buyer that seem inappropriate to you. Your reporting wouldn't hurt the Buyer in anyway if the Buyer is legitimate. It will just give our Marketing Quality team a heads-up, so they can look further into each case.
Thank you,
Olga
gsombise 1 post - Philippines - Joined May 20 2009
Well i had that kind of buyer before. The sad part is that he was willing to pay me a fixed rate (monthly) for $80! And he want me to work for him alone, and when he finds out that I am working with other project, he will fire me with no pay for the period of task. Well these INDIAN people are taking advantage of some Filipino who are really are dedicated with work.
I also did have a bad experience from an Indian Buyer, this was a fixed price for $1 (i accepted it since i was just a newbie back then) and after a month wait he sent me the task, unfortunately the job he was trying to assign me was recently posted in odesk for $200, and now he is going to outsource it for $1.
Being good in all task is not enough to succeed. You also need reputation and good employee relationship. Oh no, I hope they are not like that.
nixx 11 posts - Philippines - Joined Jul 23 2009
I think we had the same buyer. He paid me $80 per month and I couldnt apply for any other job. I was new so I accepted the exclusive terms. But then some friends of mine who were freelancing, in the truest sense of the word, were appalled at the terms. Like I said, I was new so I didnt mind.
Not to discriminate but rupee and peso both have the same exchange rate from dollar, well, more or less. Say, we get a 1 : 45.56 ratio, they get 1 : 45.59 on the exchange rate. I also notice that they work for pennies, which actually isnt a bad thing. Much respect to India actually, they have the highest concentration of geniuses due to their population.
I was really sad to let the job go but it just didnt compensate well, I'm glad last month I finally got the guts to end the assignment.