Did new policy took place ?

[ahsan-debika]

I had new that after 16/11/2014 no one can place bid below $3.00/hr in oDesk. But I am not seeing any change of this rules. People still bidding lower.

[manu29276]

Yeah you are right, it doesn't seems to be in effect, I can also see bids close to $0.50.

Even I am able to bid less then that.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Sheikh and Manish,

Although freelancers can bid below $3/hour, clients will not be able to make an offer for less than $3/hour to freelancers they haven't had contracts with before. I hope it clarifies the policy a little bit.

[david_gregory]

I'm a little confused by this.

Are you saying that even if a freelancer makes a bid of $1.00, that freelancer still can't be hired for less that $3.00 (assuming the freelancer has never worked for that client)?

If that's the case, why not just stop freelancers from being able to bid less than $3.00?

[manu29276]

WOW! My post has been removed.

Great.

[junelle]

David, i guess they're thinking like our government: instead of banning cigarettes, they simply increase sin tax and hike the prices.

i know, sorry, wasn't an appropriate explanation. i just couldn't figure it out myself (and i have a feeling oDesk doesn't either).

[onel_das26]

Hello Valeria,

I think this is a mistake. I was hired recently with an offer below $3/hour. In my application, my bid was actually $3, then I received an offer and the client was able to change the terms and made an offer below my original proposal.

Could you please clarify this?

[david_gregory]

Did you ever work for this client before?

If you have worked for the client before then the client can hire you at a rate lower than $3.00.

If you haven't worked with the client before, when did the contract go through? The new minimum wage policy only came into effect a couple of days ago.

[onel_das26]

No, he is a new client.

The offer was sent November 16th and I accepted the contract the same day. I was expecting then that the new policy already took place. But seeing the clients STILL are able to make an offer below the minimum figure, I don't think the new policy exists.

[manu29276]

Hi, finally got to know, the new minimum rate is not currently in effect due to a bug.

http://community.odesk.com/t5/Announcements/Elevating-our-workplace-with-a-new-minimum-rate/m-p/5615...

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi everybody!

We were just informed that there were some issues with a rollout of the new minimum rate policy. Our Team is working hard to fix these technical issues and we will update you as soon as possible.

We appreciate your patience!

[david_gregory]

Colour me surprised.

[rpmacrohon]

David,

Me too!!!

[marciamalory]

And oDesk has been testing this for how many months? It's not like they thought of it yesterday.

[ahsan-debika]

Hi Marcia,

I don't think you are right because odesk's most bad advance filter/policy "auto hidden" took place within 2 hours after notification. So why this ploicy is not?

Thnaks

[mr_maksudur]

Few days ago I get a notice that from 15th November minimum rate will be 3$/h or more for hourly job. I thank for it. Because also before I could't bid under 4$. But today I want to apply a job and see this thing. 

Here is link: http://imgur.com/W3RpLHL

If  minimum rate is 3$ then how it possible low rate is 2$. Is Odesk start playing a game to all freelancer? 

[marciamalory]

Sheikh, oDesk has been testing the minimum rate policy for a long time. There were many complaints on the old forum because the testing was applied randomly to different freelancers, so one freelancer could bid £0.50 a hour, but another freelancer would be forced to bid at least $2 per hour and another freelancer would have to bid at least $4 an hour when applying for the same jobs. It might not have affected you personally, because you were not chosen for the test, but it affected many other freelancers.

oDesk may have been testing the auto hidden policy on some freelancers before they officially announced it. They don't always announce when they are testing things. Freelancers and clients sometimes find things out on their own and eventually oDesk is compelled to make an announcement.

In the case of auto-hiding, IIRC, some freelancers posted screenshots from clients showing their applications were hidden. They must have been applying to jobs with clients they had already worked for and had good relationships with. Also, clients were inviting freelancers to jobs and the freelancers they invited were being autohidden.

[manu29276]

Yeah, I had also faced such situations for over an Year.

When contacted support I got the same reply.

[junelle]

to David and Reynaldo:

totally.