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Any designers threatened by eLance?

eclipse

eclipse

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 18, 2005
989
14
Sydney
www.elance.com sells all manner of services online.
People "reverse bid" to offer the lowest price for the job... and yes, that includes designers from India who are prepared to work dirt cheap because American Dollars are worth so much more in India. (I'm an Aussie, but same diff.)

Does anyone here feel threatened that their clients will leave them en masse to hire cheap overseas labor on elance, or is there a reason that clients will pay up to 10 times the price to stay with a designer in the same country, namely you? :confused:

I'm a bit freaked out by the globalization thing... and this is a cheap labor thing that could easily be farmed out, given the nature of the net. :eek: :mad:
 
Honestly, you get what you pay for. If you do not like something or need to change something on the spur what will one do with the time zone difference. Having a system such as this will take longer for something to get completed and the results will be fair to terrible, though cheaper.

It all depends on your business really, do you want to oversee it yourself or take a risk just in the name of lower $$$. :)

Not worried, people and companies will get burnt in the process. :p
 
@ $500 a web page ... it's not really that cheap of a service. It's depends what market you live in and what services you provide/expect.

we always talk of this and it will always come. small world isn't it?


peace | neut
 
eclipse said:
www.elance.com sells all manner of services online.
People "reverse bid" to offer the lowest price for the job... and yes, that includes designers from India who are prepared to work dirt cheap because American Dollars are worth so much more in India. (I'm an Aussie, but same diff.)

Does anyone here feel threatened that their clients will leave them en masse to hire cheap overseas labor on elance, or is there a reason that clients will pay up to 10 times the price to stay with a designer in the same country, namely you? :confused:

I'm a bit freaked out by the globalization thing... and this is a cheap labor thing that could easily be farmed out, given the nature of the net. :eek: :mad:
Click to expand...



No, not at all, many clients will put quality, expertise, proximity and turnaround before price. If that were the case I'm sure a lot of British firms hiring Americans to do their design work because of the dollar to the pound. I have a British client who loves my prices but I only get a few jobs from him because of time zones. Sometimes it works out to be an advantage (things that have to be done overnight) but most of the time it's a big disadvantage because I'm unable to make changes during British business hours. Also the times we can talk about a job are very narrow set of hours, if a detail is missed, it's hard to get quick answers. Most of the time it makes more sense for him to keep the work close to home. When you add language and cultural differences in the mix it gets even more risky.
 
Yes, language and culture are one issue that might keep us safe.

But what if our clients get organized? We have mostly disorganized clients that need that last minute emergency hand holding you've described so well, but on the other hand, we have some that are give us notice of an upcoming job a month or so in advance?

Naaah! I reckon you are both right... our clients have not changed in a decade or more of working with them. They just can't get their act together. Today our clients, tomorrow the world! Mwa hwa hwa hwa! :D

But what if they DID get organized? :eek: :eek: :confused:
 
Hi Blue Velvet,
but is face time really worth 5 times the price?
There are some other currencies charging SO low that we just can't compete, because in their whole national economic system one US Dollar is worth so much more. They are getting a great deal, and we are being undercut by maybe 500%?

Let's just not tell anyone elance exists, OK?;)
 
eclipse said:
Hi Blue Velvet,
but is face time really worth 5 times the price?
There are some other currencies charging SO low that we just can't compete, because in their whole national economic system one US Dollar is worth so much more. They are getting a great deal, and we are being undercut by maybe 500%?

Let's just not tell anyone elance exists, OK?;)
Click to expand...


Face time is worth gold.
 
eclipse said:
But what if our clients get organized? We have mostly disorganized clients that need that last minute emergency hand holding you've described so well, but on the other hand, we have some that are give us notice of an upcoming job a month or so in advance?
Click to expand...


LOL, never going to happen.
 
eclipse said:
But what if our clients get organized? We have mostly disorganized clients that need that last minute emergency hand holding you've described so well, but on the other hand, we have some that are give us notice of an upcoming job a month or so in advance?
Click to expand...


Even if clients were that organized, the designers would wait until close to the deadline to start it. :rolleyes:
 
ATD said:
Even if clients were that organized, the designers would wait until close to the deadline to start it. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure about that... some of these overseas guys will work round the clock to impress their Western clients because they want a good rep. They are competing worldwide, and the pressure is on... imagine an Ebay that's worldwide, and your sale / purchase really depends on your Ebay reputation. That's the kind of competition going on in here, and I think it's a bit silly to assume these designers will operate the way we might.
 
Nah, I think we're safe enough.

I have international clients, some in California & Arizona, and they only chose me because thay liked my work, and after setting up a dialogue, found we could work over the web with little difficulty.

I think someone will always pay the fair price to deal with somebody they will be able to communicate with easily.

When I'm out working in the field, I sometimes have to deal with the Chinese, and while they know exactly what they're doing over there, the ability to communicate the work to us is often confused.

As long as you have your work available to view, and you're able to communicate your ideas & progress well, you'll be fine.......
 
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