I have found them to be time consuming in that you have to search through a load of jobs that offer $1 per 500 word article (ridiculous!) but it has also paid off because I was contacted directly by someone on Elance who needed an article. I wrote it, sent it and now he has become a retainer client so on the other hand you don't know where opportunity may arise. On the whole, these sites don't offer the right service fee that VA's are worth.

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Sabrina L. Williams
For a bird's eye view of your business

I have personally used Freelancer (could not compete for $1/hr) Odesk, I have seen posts for work no more then .56 cents an hour, and Elance well if you bid low you will eventually get a gig here or there but nothing promising and then the client has 15 days to review the work and then pay? Which is ridiculous, in my opinion. Good luck and maybe you will have more luck then the rest of us.

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~Barbara~
Virtual Services by Barbara

I have looked at jobs on Elance and Odesk and the the rates are considerably low and doesn't seem worth spending the time. I tried signing up for Elance and it was a very long process to get a profile set up and I stopped half way because I didn't know if it was worth my time and if I would actually get any jobs from it. And some of the posts seem so fishy that I'm just skeptical to even bid on them.

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Malaika Nallawangsa
Quick Works | Virtual Office Assistant

Agree it is cheap labour, we are worth more than that!

I have tried Elance and Odesk also and I haven't done a job yet.

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Netobia's Virtual Solutions
www.netobiasvirtualsolutions.c om

I have stopped searching on Odesk and Elance a very long time ago. A good site that I've been researching and receiving feedback,is PeoplePerHour(PPH). I haven't received a job yet but just getting a reply,that means someone took the time out to review my credentials.
So to me that's something.

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Mak's VA Services
Magdaline Makris

I'm a newbie here but I have used Elance, ODesk and PPH. ODesk - yes the bids are low but I did find it useful as a place to get started. I completed several contracts for low amounts purely to get the good feedback. I've found that once you get that good feedback and a proven history on your profile employers will contact you direct about contracts. Most of them aren't worth the time but just once in a while a half decent one will contact you. I tend to only use ODesk now when I have a quiet period from my other clients as a top up.

I have bidded for plenty of work on Elance and PPH but have not yet received any replies from the employers. I didn't like the way PPH was set out, the expiry times on adverts seemed to dictate when the employer would get back to you, by which time you've got yourself some more work anyway.

Any how, that's my experience with them.

well there is always fiverr at least there you know you will get 5.00 actually 4.00 per gig so one of the things I did is offer services that I know will take me from 5 to 10 mins tops that way I can make sure to get my time compensated properly, at first I was skeptical but seems like the people that are selling them selfs cheap get over booked and then I get the overflow. And I must admit there have been people that send over 2hrs worth of work but I go ahead and tell the admins to cancel the order.

Please understand that this is not the best place for work instead I recommend you spend the time generating your own clients Even if this people on fiverr odesk freelancer hire you on a regular basis 99.9% will still expect to pay you just a few bucks an hour.

Hope this helps
Regards
Suave

So glad to see this. I had started looking around at odesk & elance and almost immediately ruled out odesk. I had planned to dig around elance some more, but after reading the comments here, looks like I should save my time.

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Rhonda

That has been one of the reasons why I have not placed a bid on the job board yet at ELance. But I will try and bid on several jobs because I don't look at it so much as not making enough money but rather that it could be a chance to get experience in my area. If I were to volunteer at a regular employer site or take an internship I woul not get paid at all. I don't mind lower pay if it allows me at the same time to get a chance to gain valuable experience. I see it more like job training. That is why I will try and bid on several projects. You are right though: it is time consuming to find the jobs that I want to bid on and then one always wonders how much time a job exactly takes. Furthermore, being already involved in starting a business is very time consuming. I shall attempt to bid on some of those jobs, to find out if it is worth to pursue.

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SAS, Superior Administrative Services
Office Services, Typing Services