oDesk is one of the big guns in the outsourcing and freelancing industry. With over 700,000 registered service providers and total billings of over $200m it has risen to prominence rapidly since launching in 2004. Over 1.5 million hours of work were carried out in the last quarter meaning oDesk can lay claim to providing full time employment to the equivalent of almost 3,000 people - and that doesn't take the army of fixed price project workers into account who generate in excess of $2 Million per month through the oDesk marketplace.
In the last quarter over 70,000 individual freelancers and almost 20,000 companies secured work through oDesk.
For Buyers
oDesk provides individuals and businesses that want to outsource work an easy to use interface and strong project management tools including time-recording and a proprietary system which takes screengrabs of your freelancers computers randomly every few minutes, this enables buyers to know exactly what suppliers are doing while they are logging time on your projects.
For Providers
oDesk has no sign-up or registration fee and its free to bid on projects (up to 20 per week) there is a good interface for managing your portfolio and their fees of 10% for fixed price or hourly work is reasonable.
Our Verdict
Having worked with oDesk as a provider and a buyer for a number of years we feel its one of the best marketplaces out there.
Buyer Tip:
If you are a buyer looking for the right marketplace to tender your project we wholeheartedly recommend Odesk, its fast, secure, and free. You should be aware there is no guarantee or protection on fixed price projects - for buyer or provider - so this does leave both open to problems. oDesk will not get very involved in disputes around fixed price projects, although they will make some effort to help, at least, that has been our experience.
Provider Tip:
If you are a service provider it can be tough to get your first gig because many buyers rely heavily on the feedback and rating system to reassure themselves of the quality of work they will get. Don't expect instant results, invest time and effort building a profile and portfolio, do some tests, then create hand-made bids which are competitive to secure your first few projects.
Note: all stats on this page have been compiled from data available in the "oconomy" area of the oDesk website. Figures relate to the last quarter of 2009.
Last modified on Monday, 25 April 2011 07:06
