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Translation - art & business » Money matters »
Traslation project goes to the lowest bidder under $10
Thread poster: Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 21:24
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Aug 18, 2009

"Dear Jeff,

We are happy to offer you an opportunity to work with us again. A new job in Translation from Portuguese to English-US is waiting for you.

Bidding for the job is ending soon. Please login to your account as soon as possible to place a bid for the new job."


- I enter the site:

"Job = 190 words in six hours

Place your bid now. Bidding might end soon.

To rank 1st in this bidding, you will have to pla... See more
"Dear Jeff,

We are happy to offer you an opportunity to work with us again. A new job in Translation from Portuguese to English-US is waiting for you.

Bidding for the job is ending soon. Please login to your account as soon as possible to place a bid for the new job."


- I enter the site:

"Job = 190 words in six hours

Place your bid now. Bidding might end soon.

To rank 1st in this bidding, you will have to place a maximal bid of $10.00.

The bidding's rank is based on a formula that combines the bid and the quality score of each provider."

-I enter a minimum fee of $50.00 (just to see what happens):

"You should submit a lower bid under $10.00"

-I exit the system:

"Dear Jeff ,
We are sorry to inform you that you did not have the winning bid for the job.

We encourage you to continue to bid on jobs and we hope that you will win our next job."

Bah! By the time you pay Paypal fees, taxes, etc. why even bother!







[Edited at 2009-08-18 17:16 GMT] ▲ Collapse
 
Jessica Noyes
Jessica Noyes  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 21:24
Member
Spanish to English
+ ...
Proz? or other? Aug 18, 2009

Did this come to you through proz, or on your personal mail?
 
Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 21:24
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
The job came from outside Proz Aug 18, 2009

Hi Jessica,

The job was sent outside the ProZ system. Apparently, I signed up to receive their automated offers before I realized they pay less than half of my minimum rate (before you even "bid" on the job against other "translators").

There is no way to enter rate into your "profile". I have sent them an e-mail asking them not to send me notifications for jobs under a $50 minimum or for less than .12 per word. Otherwise, I will just delete my "profile".

Jessica Noyes wrote:

Did this come to you through proz, or on your personal mail?


 
Madeleine MacRae Klintebo
Madeleine MacRae Klintebo  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:24
Swedish to English
+ ...
Poor Jeff Aug 18, 2009

Fancy missing out on such an opportunity.

(please note this was posted in an ironic mode)
 
Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 03:24
Member
English to French
AmateurZ Aug 19, 2009

In any "lowest bidder" mode/setting, I can't believe any professional translator would bid on any job below say €/$100 for a new customer. Unless they're in a very bad financial position and have to run after each cent. Maybe that's what outsourcers are after.

There is little point in terms of income as it is, and even less after bank/transaction charges have been deducted. Unless it is pocket money without any fiscal withholding.

It keeps AmateurZ busy and gives them... See more
In any "lowest bidder" mode/setting, I can't believe any professional translator would bid on any job below say €/$100 for a new customer. Unless they're in a very bad financial position and have to run after each cent. Maybe that's what outsourcers are after.

There is little point in terms of income as it is, and even less after bank/transaction charges have been deducted. Unless it is pocket money without any fiscal withholding.

It keeps AmateurZ busy and gives them the feeling that they're ProZ, because they're paid. Good for them.

Philippe

Edit: Maybe €100 means a lot of money in developing countries. My reasoning may not apply there. In Morocco, it is twice a maid's weekly salary; however, I don't use any maid for my service, but expensive computers, expensive ADSL and expensive software.

[Edited at 2009-08-19 10:39 GMT] ▲ Collapse
 
Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 21:24
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Profile deleted Aug 19, 2009

Thanks,

They responded to my e-mail and stated that I have no choice but to accept the starting bid price offered for each job.

I responded that I do have a choice and I deleted my profile.

These automatic portals may seem to them like a profitable business model, but most of the clients I have worked with want to speak with a person and want to know that a hand-picked specialist will be translating their documents and not just some idiot with a fast inter... See more
Thanks,

They responded to my e-mail and stated that I have no choice but to accept the starting bid price offered for each job.

I responded that I do have a choice and I deleted my profile.

These automatic portals may seem to them like a profitable business model, but most of the clients I have worked with want to speak with a person and want to know that a hand-picked specialist will be translating their documents and not just some idiot with a fast internet connection and no experience. ▲ Collapse
 


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Traslation project goes to the lowest bidder under $10


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