Whether you need a freelancer for software development, slogan-writing, video production, or even architecture, you can get our freelancers creative juices flowing to submit ideas in any of the 580+ skill categories currently offered on Freelancer.com.

To run a contest, simply create a contest brief, select up to 5 skills and set your prize amount. Freelancers that best match your selected skills will submit entries to meet your job requirements to compete for your prize.

Your prize can start from as low as $30 USD, but the higher your prize the better the results you’ll receive.

Review, rate and submit feedback to ensure freelancers know exactly what you’re looking for. Receive a winning submission and award them your prize or your money back guaranteed!

The next evolution in contests is here. Crowdsource your next big idea today!

Post a contest now!

Recently, one post came to our attention entitled “Freelancer.com Scam – Part I : How $10 cost me $14000 – Among other misgivings and apathy of Freelancer.com Staff”. In this article, the author, EditorJCWriter,  claims to be a freelancer called Jacqueline, from Kent USA, who has been a member since November 2012 and has a “growing reputation and stellar reviews”. Jacqueline puts forward some impressive qualifications:

And she’s won some pretty big projects:

Jacqueline then goes on the claim that their account was pulled up for a security check

Subsequently, Jacqueline claims that the projects were made invalid and the funds in the account removed, leaving her with $99. The user, quite irate at this point, writes several more blog posts, culminating in a quite bizarre love letter to myself.

Well, it’s a great story.

If only any of it were true.

You see, on investigation of this account, Jacqueline is not who she said she is. She’s not even an American. She’s never logged in from the US. She’s not even a “she”. It turns out that Jacqueline is actually Neerav from Delhi, India. Neerav is actually a scammer who has stolen someone’s identity, faked their profile and qualifications, and is attempting to commit fraud on Freelancer. The account EditorJCWriter has never won a $5,000 project, or a $7,500 project for that matter.

What about this “nancysaumya”? Well, our account security team had good reason to be concerned this account as well. You see “Nancy” was not Nancy at all. Nancy, as it turns out, is also Neerav. We can only imagine what Neerav was trying to do before our account security team caught him.

We treat the integrity of our marketplace as paramount. Scammers will go to great lengths in today’s day and age to rip people off. They will also go to great lengths to try to bully our fantastic support team here at Freelancer.com. I’m proud of our team here, and the length that they will go to stop the bad guys on the Internet.

Oh, and one last thing, in case you think EditorJCWriter looks familiar:

https://www.freelancer.com/users/4421442.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/25/nadine-schweigert-woman-marries-herself_n_1546024.html

And nancysaumya will look familiar to our users in India, as the photo has been stolen from Miss Koyal Rona, Miss Teen Indian 2008.

So, the scammer, being upset with us catching him, decided to post a few crazed rants on the Internet.

To improve the integrity of our marketplace, today we’re announcing that we are taking a number of steps to protect you from people like this in future. Effective immediately, we are enforcing accounts to have the correct country associated with them. We have set the country on every account on the website to the true country that person is from. We’re doing this to stop people from impersonating others or misrepresenting where they are from. Over the new few weeks we will be taking further actions to prevent identity fraud.

Secondly, we now allow every account to have a security phone number associated with it. This number will be used to verify important changes to your Freelancer account, such as your method of withdrawal, or name on the account. With this, we’re raising the bar on the level of security on your account, to protect you from hacking and phishing attempts. To set your security phone number, go to “Settings” under the “Profile” option in the menu.

Make sure you protect your account and set it today!

On the Internet, always be on guard. We’re here to help you but ultimately you should be careful- particularly where money is involved. Make sure you read our blog post on How to Avoid a Scam on Freelancer.com. Finally, don’t believe everything you read! Because that person that you’re talking to might not actually be who they say they are.

Regards,
Matt

Today, we are pleased to announce a new feature on Freelancer.com that makes that secure experience even better – the ability to set your own personal Security Phone Number!

Your Security Phone Number, when set, will be used to verify important changes to your Freelancer account, and shortly it will include changes to sensitive account information (including your email address), important financial items such as your withdrawal method, or if we detect an unusual transfer of funds. Additionally it is an important feature to recover your account in the event your account is hacked or you fall victim to a phishing attack.

To set up your Security Phone Number, just follow these simple steps:

1. Go to Edit Account Details and select “Set your Security Phone Number”
2. Provide your preferred phone number and country and we’ll send a keycode to verify your number.
3. On successful completion, this number will be locked to your account and may be used to protect or recover your account in future.

Your Security Phone Number will only be able to be subsequently changed by providing additional verification of your identity.

We care just as much as you do in providing a safe environment here at Freelancer.com. This new feature will reduce the chance of someone hijacking your account, defrauding you, and prevent phishing attacks. We urge you to complete this verification process for your own security.

Protect yourself – set your Security Phone Number today!

1. Stay on the site!

The number one rule for a positive Freelancer.com experience is to stay on Freelancer.com! Avoid anyone who insists on doing business under the table, whether that’s communications about the project, handover of the final product, or payment. We’ve provided a really easy-to-use platform that allows you to do all of those things right here, so it should send up a red flag if someone seems all too eager to cut deals for offsite negotiation. Any communications or exchanges (both of money and products) performed off site cannot be used as evidence in our dispute resolution process, making them a key tool in the scammer’s toolbox.

2. Milestones – use them.

Using our Milestone Payment System is essential to avoiding cheats and scams. It allows Employers to set aside funds to pay for a project, so that Freelancers know they’ll be paid for their work. The money only gets released to the Freelancer when the Employer is 100% satisfied with the output. It can give peace of mind to the people on both sides of the equation. Plus, if there’s a disagreement about the project description or the quality of the work, using the Milestone Payment System allows you to access our Dispute Resolution System, a key safety feature of our website.

3. Spend 5 minutes investigating the employer or freelancer.

The best way to know if an employer or freelancer is legit is to do some basic checks on their profile. Are they payment verified? Do they have high completion rates (both on budget and on time)? Do they have a high repeat-hire rate? Have they filled in their profile? Is it high quality? What previous feedback do they have, and how much money have they spent or earned on the site? Are they a paying member? Have they taken relevant exams? All of these things indicate that the employer or freelancer is more likely to be legitimate.

4. Communication.

Legitimate freelancers and employers communicate well. Well-prepared, on-topic bids indicate a freelancer who has taken the time to read your project description and craft a relevant bid. By the same token, a concise, well-written and informative project description indicates an employer who is serious about their project.

5. Common sense.

Common sense can go a long way towards avoiding scams. If you see a bid that seems abnormally low, it is likely the bid is abnormally low for a reason. If you see a user with multiple open projects with the same description and title, this is likely to be a scam. If a project involves things that violate the terms of service or code of conduct (like CAPTCHA projects), these are also likely to be a scam.

Finally, remember that majority of employers and freelancers on our site are legitimate, and that by obeying these 5 golden rules, you will avoid the tiny minority of scammers and fraudsters that exist in any on or offline marketplace.

vWorker members will quickly see the benefits of posting projects and freelancing in our marketplace, with our Milestone Payment system and huge breadth of talent resulting in a safer, more streamlined experience.

For employers, the talent pool deepens, as we exceed 6.6 million freelancers across a broad range of almost 600 skill categories. For freelancers, Freelancer.com offers a huge and diverse volume of projects to bid on- forces combined a whopping 4 million projects have been posted since inception.

What does this mean for existing vWorker members?

All vWorker members will be automatically transitioned into the Freelancer.com marketplace. This process will be done immediately to minimize disruption to members and active projects. We will transfer over your account balances, user profiles, reputation history, messages, employer escrow payments, active projects and past projects, so rest assured that it will be business as usual once you arrive on our platform.

For those vWorker members who also have accounts on Freelancer.com, we will merge your vWorker account into your existing Freelancer.com account. This will allow members to continue completing projects with minimal interruption.

All existing vWorker members will receive an email containing additional information about the transition process and any action they may need to take to complete their migration to the Freelancer.com platform. If you have any questions during this process, please don’t hesitate to contact our support team by emailing support@freelancer.com.

To celebrate the acquisition and get our new vWorker members started on Freelancer.com, we are giving away free memberships, featured projects and credits!

For vWorker employers:

• 12 months of FREE Premium Membership + 12 months of FREE Featured Projects + 100,000 Freelancer Credits for any employer who has spent over $50,000 on vWorker.
• 9 months of FREE Premium Membership + 9 months of FREE Featured Projects + 20,000 Freelancer Credits for any employer who has spent over $5,000 on vWorker.
• 6 months of FREE Premium Membership + 6 months of FREE Featured Projects + 15,000 Freelancer Credits for any employer who has spent over $3,000 on vWorker.
• 3 months of FREE Premium Membership + 3 months of FREE Featured Projects + 10,000 Freelancer Credits for any employer who has spent over $100 on vWorker.

For vWorker workers:

• 3 months of FREE Standard Membership + 10,000 Freelancer Credits for any worker who has earned over $5,000 on vWorker.
• 2 months of FREE Standard Membership + 7,000 Freelancer Credits for any worker  who has earned over $3,000 on vWorker.
• 1 month of FREE Standard Membership + 5,000 Freelancer Credits for any worker who has earned over $1,000 on vWorker.
• 1 month of FREE Basic Membership + 2,000 Freelancer Credits for any worker who has earned $1,000 or less on vWorker.

What does this mean for existing Freelancer.com members?

Our acquisition of vWorker represents a substantial increase in both the breadth and depth of our talent pool. Current employers will see greater variety and competition among freelancers in the marketplace, while current freelancers will see a marked increase in the amount of work available on the site. This expansion of our marketplace is a great development for both freelancers and employers – why not try it out by posting a project free now?

For more information about the migration, read the vWorker Migration FAQ.

For more information about the acquisition, please read the official press release.

We’re thrilled to introduce the latest site innovation for easy appraisal of your work experience and performance: Freelancer.com Rewards! The program recognizes your experience and accomplishments with points, badges, and progress bars, and rewards you for them with bonuses and credits that you can spend at our new Credits Shop.  Basic, Standard, and Premium members can unlock these rewards and use the credits to buy project upgrades, extra bids per month, or even exam upgrades.

It’s our way of saying thanks for your ongoing support, and giving back to our growing network of over 4 million members. Here’s how it works:

Increase your Reward level with experience points!

Use Freelancer.com the way you always have – post projects and contests, bid, win projects, make money, build up your reputation.  But now, you earn experience points (XP) for completing certain actions.  You can keep track of how many XP you’ve earned by checking your Level Bar.  It’s the green progress bar next to your username at the top of the page.  It tells you what your current Rewards Level is and how many XP you have to earn to advance to the next.

Actions that earn you XP can be anything from adding a profile picture or posting a project to submitting a contest entry or releasing a milestone payment. We’ve given you a head start on identifying XP-eligible actions by providing a short list of objectives in the dropdown menu next to your Level Bar.  Complete these actions to start earning XP and leveling up.

Right now you can progress through 20 Rewards Levels.  Every time you advance to a higher level, you unlock a new range of perks and rewards to boost your membership features and increase your chances to win projects.  These bonuses include faster bid refresh rates, more skills, more bids per month, plus a whole lot more – but we’ll leave it up to you to discover these rewards for yourself as we’d hate to spoil the surprise!

Earn credits to spend in the new Credits Shop!

Not only do you earn XP to increase your Rewards Level, you’ll also earn our new rewards currency, Freelancer Credits.  Use these credits to shop in our Credits Shop, which sells a variety of upgrades and promotional offers.

Expect to see free exam vouchers, free project upgrades, Double XP earnings boosters, extra bids to add to your monthly allotment, and more!  You’d better hurry though because some of these items may be limited in stock and only available for a short time.  Get them while they’re hot!

New Badges to showcase achievements!

As you’re earning XP and progressing through our 20 Rewards Levels, you can also collect badges to highlight your achievements.  There are 3 badge categories – Standard, Pro, and Elite, in order of increasing difficulty.

Standard badges are quite easy to earn, whereas Pro badges, while not too difficult, will require slightly more effort to achieve. Elite badges are accessible to only our most dedicated members, but we’re sure you’re up to the challenge!

Just to give you an idea, here are a few of the badges you can earn:

• ‘The Achiever’ badge for accepting to work on 50 projects.
• ‘Smooth Operator’ for completing 10 projects on time.
• ‘The Regular’ badge for logging in every day for 1 week straight.

You can choose which badges to display publicly on your profile page.  It’s a great way to let the community see your hard work and dedication at a glance.

So what are you waiting for? Log in now and start leveling up, earning credits, and showcasing your new badges!

We are very excited to announce that Freelancer has just introduced invoicing for external clients. This extends the current Freelancer invoicing functionality and now allows you to invoice anyone, regardless of whether or not they are a registered Freelancer.com user. This is a true innovation in the outsourcing industry as Freelancer is the first company to offer this revolutionary service.

This is great news for our 4 million+ freelancers, as it means that you can now manage all your freelancing work in a single place! Let us worry about payment processing and bookkeeping, so you can focus on doing what you do best.

Here are the benefits to you:

• Invoice all your clients – even those that are not on Freelancer.com!
• Best of all, there are absolutely no project fees for any invoice you create for an external client!
• No more headaches over payments as your clients can simply pay using their credit card or Freelancer.com account – the money goes directly into your Freelancer account!
• Keep your accounts in a single place – never worry about doing your accounts again by using the Freelancer accounting platform.

How can I invoice an external client?

Creating invoices is super easy! It’s integrated into the current Freelancer.com invoicing system, so you you can create it like any other invoice for a Freelancer project. From your Financial Dashboard select Create Invoice under the Invoices tab.

Step 1 – Add your external client

Any external clients you have have previously invoiced will be displayed in the “Select Projects or External Client” dropdown. To add a new client select the “Invoice new External Client” option from the drop down.

Enter the details of the client you wish to invoice. Ensure you enter their correct email address, as the Invoice will be sent to the email address you specify. Note, the client does not need to be a Freelancer.com member in order to view and pay the invoice.

Step 2 – Enter your invoice details

Fill in the details of the work you’ve completed using our easy and intuitive Create Invoice form. You can add your company logo to the invoice and edit your personal details as you wish them to appear on the invoice. Fill out the details of the work completed – you can fill in both hourly work and any expenses you incurred in completing the work. When you’re satisfied with your invoice click the Create Invoice button.

Congratulations! You just created your invoice for an external client on Freelancer. The invoice will be instantly emailed to your client. So you can rest easy and wait for the money to come in.

How does an external client pay an invoice?

Your external clients have two options when paying an invoice: check out with credit card or pay using their Freelancer.com account.

When paying by credit card the user can simply input their Billing Information and Credit Card details and pay the invoice. In this case, they are not required to sign up a Freelancer account. Alternatively, if the client is a Freelancer.com user, they can log into their account to pay the invoice.

As soon as your client pays the invoice, the money will be appear in your Freelancer.com account. Easy!

Who can create invoices for external clients?

Invoicing of external clients is available for users on a Standard or Premium Membership. Premium members can raise an unlimited number of invoices to an unlimited number of clients, as well as enjoying the other great benefits of Freelancer Memberships. Standard members can create 15 invoices/month and can store an unlimited number of external clients.

There has never been a better time to become a Freelancer member. Upgrade your Membership and start invoicing external clients now!

Now would be a great time to take advantage of the language tests available under the Exams tab, if you haven’t done so already. What better way to demonstrate to potential employers your confidence and competence in German, French, Spanish, or Portuguese than to earn those badges for your profile? Now that the job categories are available, employers will be looking to distinguish the best from the rest. And if you pass your language exams now, you’ll qualify for the Exam Contest and have the chance to win the $1200 prize. The contest only runs until July 13, so don’t wait!

For those employers and freelancers whose language needs or skills aren’t currently represented in the exam roster, don’t worry. Freelancer.com is already in the process of getting new exams in place to verify credentials for the many other languages in the new Translation & Languages job category.

Employers, you can now easily fill your translation and non-English outsourcing needs on the world’s largest outsourcing and crowdsourcing marketplace. Take advantage now by Posting a Project FREE!

Freelancer.com is very excited to announce that we have just acquired Scriptlance – the fifth largest freelance marketplace in the world. We are delighted to welcome Scriptlance members to Freelancer.com. This is great news for both Scriptlance and Freelancer.com members and makes Freelancer.com an even stronger marketplace.

Scriptlance members will immediately notice that outsourcing work and winning projects is easier and faster than ever on Freelancer.com. Employers will find a much deeper pool of world-class talent, with over 4 million skilled freelancers ready to complete your projects. Also, with over 2.3 million projects completed to date in over 450 skill categories, the opportunities available to freelancers are now greater than ever before!

What does this mean for existing Scriptlance members?

All Scriptlance members will be automatically transitioned to the Freelancer.com platform. This process will commence immediately to minimise disruption to members and active projects. You can rest assured that it’s business as usual as your user information and projects are moved across to Freelancer.com, including: account balances, user profiles, messages, milestone payments, active projects and past projects.

Members who have accounts on both Scriptlance and Freelancer.com, will have their accounts merged into their existing Freelancer.com account. This will allow members to continue completing work without interruption.

All affected members will receive information via email outlining the transition process in more detail as well as any action they may need to take to complete the transition. If you have any questions during this migration process, please contact Freelancer.com Support by emailing customer-support@freelancer.com.

FREE Memberships and other great benefits to welcome you to Freelancer.com!

To help Scriptlance members transition to Freelancer.com and to show our appreciation for the great Scriptlance community, Freelancer.com is giving FREE memberships to all Scriptlance users as of midnight, 8th July 2012 EDT! Freelancers and employers will receive the following benefits:

For Employers:

• 6 months FREE Premium Membership (valued at over US$300) for any new Employer who has transacted on a project on Scriptlance in the past and spent over $400. Premium Membership means no Employer fees on projects plus many other great benefits!
• 30 days FREE Standard Membership (valued at US$24.95) for all other employers.
• Your profile will be highlighted with a special “Foundation Scriptlance Member” badge.

For Freelancers:

• FREE 30 day Premium Membership (valued at US$49.95) for Certified Scriptlance members.
• FREE 30 day Standard Membership (valued at US$24.95) for Verified Scriptlance members.
• FREE 30 day Standard Membership (valued at US$24.95) if you are a new Freelancer.com member
• FREE 30 day Basic Membership (valued at US$4.95) for all other Scriptlance members
• Your profile will be highlighted with a special “Foundation Scriptlance Member” badge

(For more information on the great benefits memberships have to offer, check out the Freelancer.com Memberships.)

What does this mean for Freelancer.com members?

We are excited about the growth in the marketplace that this presents for our members. Our employers will be able to draw from an even deeper pool of freelance talent, so you can get your projects completed even faster and to greater quality. Freelancers will have more projects and clients than ever to choose from to more easily earn money and develop their skills. This is a great development for all Freelancer.com members and presents a very exciting time for the Freelancer.com platform.

Post a Project FREE now to get the most out of the Freelancer.com platform.

(For more information read the full Freelancer.com Press Release.)

Exam via Bigstock

Freelancer.com Exams are a great test of knowledge and allow you to showcase your high level of expertise and skill within an area. For each exam you successfully complete you will receive a badge on your profile indicating to potential employers that you are knowledgable and capable to perform the work.

We are running a contest which will help you showcase your skills and abilities to get more work!
All you need to do is complete exams on Freelancer.com from now til the 13th July and score 80% or higher to go into the draw to win $1200 in prizes.

The more exams you complete the more entries you’ll get.

You’ll also get more entries by completing harder exams. Here us the breakdown of the entries you’ll receive:

Every Level 1 exam where you score over 80% will give you 1 entry
Every Level 2 exam where you score over 80% will give you 3 entries
Every Level 3 exam where you score over 80% will give you 5 entries

We will choose a random entry to win the $1000.
We are also giving away at random $50 each week during the competition.

The more entries you have the better chance you have of winning!

We will be drawing the winner on the 13th July so start getting qualified today!

Start taking Freelancer.com Exams now!