News From The Freelance World
You’ll find here the most recent news related to online freelancing - for example the new features that have been added on freelance sites, informations about updates, promotions, announcements, etc.
News archive from the past years:
2009.03.05 - ScriptLance
New Escrow and Pre-Paid Features
Buyers can now pre-pay a $5 fee when posting a project to demonstrate their commitment to conducting business. This makes it possible to get professional attention without having to post a Featured project or Job Listing. The fee is refunded once you select a programmer for your project. It will generally not be refunded if no bid is selected (project is canceled). Only under special circumstances will it be refunded for a cancelled project, by contacting support.
We have also added a new feature to the bidding page. Programmers can check a box that tells the Buyer that payments are only accepted via ScriptLance Escrow. You can also specify what percentage of your bid you require the Buyer to put into escrow before you begin work. The escrow preference is displayed publicly to encourage others to select it when placing a bid, but the percentage requirement is kept confidential and only displayed to the Buyer on their project management page. At this time both these options are only for information purposes. They do not force the Buyer to make an escrow payment before or after selecting a bid, but it will help ScriptLance staff mediate disputes and cancellations.
We may add a forced escrow option in the future, based on demand.
2009.02.26 - ScriptLance
Username Change Requests
ScriptLance will now allow users to request a username change. If approved, your username will be updated across the whole site, including account login, projects, bids, messages, reviews and support tickets. There will be a $10 processing fee for this service when approved, but we will deny any requests that we find inappropriate.
It will not be possible to escape bad reviews, debts, or blacklists, because all that info will be carried over to your new account.
Simply contact support if you would like to request a username change.
2009.02.20 - ScriptLance
New Categories
ScriptLance has added 7 new job type categories to better define the projects and expertise available on the site. They include:
- Programming - a general category for those buyers who are unsure which programming language to use
- Social Networking - a popular new type of website project
- osCommerce - the popular e-commerce system
- Magento - a new e-commerce system
- E-Commerce - for the many other projects related to commerce sites
- Logo Design - a sub-category of Graphic Design that is very popular
- Drupal - a popular CMS choice
Feel free to suggest other popular categories that you would like to see added to ScriptLance in the future.
2009.02.04 - GetAFreelancer
Happy Birthday GAF!
Did you know 5 years passed since GetAFreelancer.com was started?
Let’s make this day special. Visit GetAFreelancer today and say hello to old friends!
If you have a project that you need done. Let’s post it today and make this day a new record day!
We’re looking forward to another 5 years with you!
HIPP HIPP HURRAY!!!
2009.02.03 - ScriptLance
Contact Info Banned In Profiles
As previously mentioned ScriptLance does not allow Programmers to provide links to websites that contain their contact info. This is considered the same as posting contact info directly, which is against the terms of the site. We will begin to enforce this policy more strictly beginning Monday, Feb 9th. You are welcome to report profiles that are in violation after that date. Thank you.
We have automatically emailed the following helpful reminder to all Programmers who have a URL in their profiles.
2009.01.27 - ScriptLance
Job Listings Update
Job listings on ScriptLance will now use the same system as projects. That means you will have access to all the same features: the message board, email notifications, placing bids, reviews, and even use of the payment system.
Also, the “contact info” field for job listings is available now on Featured projects too. It allows the Buyer to provide details on how to contact them, if they don’t want to use the message board.
Another update: There is also a new category on ScriptLance, (customer/technical) Support. It’s been added for job listings, but will also be a useful new addition for projects.
So update your projects and profiles if you are interested in Support work.
2009.01.10 - ScriptLance
Portfolio Bids
When placing a bid Programmers can now select up to 5 of their portfolio items to demonstrate their skills for the project. The info will be shown on the Buyer’s project management page, making it easier to determine qualifications.
Also, you will now see that on the bidding page there is often a list of projects that other programmers have bid on. This is similar to product shopping carts that tell you what items customers bought. It will hopefully help programmers quickly find more projects that they would like to bid on. The results are sorted by relevance, based on programmer’s bids, project categories and age.
2009.01.03 - ScriptLance
Big Budget Projects
ScriptLance now displays on its main page a list of some of the projects with big budgets. All lists now also display the project’s budget, just like in the search results pages. This update is meant to encourage Buyers to post projects with bigger budgets, as well as simply providing a budget, which is useful information to Programmers.
Note that the list on the main page will only display big budget projects that are Featured or where the Buyers have good ratings.