Comments on: Escape the Commodity Trap

By: Pothi

Pothi — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:46:08 +0000

While I agree that there should not be any minimum wage, oDesk has started it’s development to set a minimum on its hourly jobs and fixed-price jobs. Read the full article here…

http://www.freelancelens.com/marketplaces/updates/minimum-wage-coming-up-in-odesk

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:22:36 +0000

While I see your points about supply and demand, they cannot hide the fact that there is dissent in the ranks (pun half intended) when it comes to low ball bids and the shuffling of work from high paying buyer to low paid providers.

Is it worth trying to compete with a battery farm of desk jockeys grinding out spiel on some topic for some person? I don’t believe it’s worth my time, hence I don’t bid on those jobs.

As stated in this blog, a non-commodity market, such an open and expansive one as the online global market, hourly rates virtually stabilize themselves against the quality of the service. It’s dog eat dog, but we don’t go hungry!

By: Navigating oDesk for Newbies… « Freelancing Mom’s Blog

Navigating oDesk for Newbies… « Freelancing Mom’s Blog — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:44:09 +0000

[...] more information on how oDesk works,Â readÂ Make More Money. Published [...]

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:07:24 +0000

Rebecca: actually no minimum wage would work in the real world in a similar manor to how it works here people new to the field would start out making nothing till they have proved themselves. The downsides being abuse of disabled maybe a government check to everyone for 20k yearly

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:54:05 +0000

Excellent, well-reasoned post.
I believe in minimum wages in the physical world, to protect workers. It is possible to determine a reasonable minimum living wage for a particular nation and set that for that country.
I think the threads you mention provide plenty of evidence that it wouldn’t have that effect at oDesk. Since we live in different places, a minimum wage that would be reasonable for some providers would be worthless for others — and excessive for some buyers.
The effect would be to exclude buyers from some countries, and providers with limited skills who currently can draw the low-budget buyers — and yet to make those of use from more expensive countries appear excessively high priced relative to the minimum wage, since the minimum would probably have to be a wage that we couldn’t live on.
oDesk makes sense as a marketplace.

By: thursdaybram.com » Blog Archive » The Business of Freelance Writing Carnival, Edition 27

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:04:41 +0000

[...] presents Escape the Commodity Trap – oDesk Insider posted at oDesk [...]

By: You’re Worth How Much? Prove It! - oDesk Insider

You’re Worth How Much? Prove It! - oDesk Insider — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 12:38:25 +0000

[...] on the oDesk Community about wages lately.Â I discussed one of those threads in a previous post here.Â Well, the discussion hasn’t stopped, and the minimum wage adherents are out in full [...]

By: Josh Breinlinger

Josh Breinlinger — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:18:47 +0000

@Dave – awesome – glad you found it. Let me know what other data you’d like to see. I’d like to continue sharing more stats.

By: Dave Robinson

Dave Robinson — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:11:37 +0000

Thanks Josh, I’ve seen the page and it’s got a lot of great information on it. I actually used it as source material for a post I wrote this morning that’s coming out on Saturday.

By: Josh Breinlinger

Josh Breinlinger — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:05:26 +0000

Dave,

Very nice perspective on the minimum wage issue at oDesk. I’m glad you’re well aware of the various ‘shades of gray’ in these debates.

fyi – we recently published a new oConomy page that I think you’ll find informative about rates by job category.

Community -> oConomy -> Rate Distributions by Job Category.