Guru.com is an online marketplace for freelance talent that allows employers to post projects, and professionals to post their profiles.
Added on 01/07/2010
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90 Reviews

ahmedeg2020
11/13/2011

guru.com 3

If something goes wrong with an employer, they blame the provider regardless, and expect them to work for free at times if an employer knows how to get it without paying first. Guru.com is simply a low-rent operation.

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Votes on this review: 0 Helpful / 0 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree

spunky123
10/23/2011

guru.com 1

I never received the work from the free lancer and I never received the money I put in escrow despite repeated attempts to get my money back. Guru admits that they owe me the money. However, they did not use my full mailing address when sending me the check and I never received my refund. They will not reissue the check unless I sent them $30.00 which is a scam. Typically a check is good for 6 months. I told them I would wait and then they could reissue the check but they refuse. So in effect they are making revenue for themselves by not returning my check. Why is it my fault they didn't use my complete address. I checked with the post office and they said that the check would have been returned to them if my address was not on the envelop correctly but Guru will not acknowledge whether the check has been returned or not. They only want $30.00 to reissue another check. This company is a rip off.

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b3nj4
09/25/2011

guru.com 2

We have been looking for freelancers for our projects in Guru in the last 2 years. Finally, we developed a project using their platform... and never again.

Really bad experience with freelancers (from India) who wanted to end the development the sooner the better, and quality was poor. Using Guru arbitration we got 20% money back, but it was not enught since we lost 4 months and had to restart project from scratch...

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Votes on this review: 1 Helpful / 0 Funny / 1 Agree / 1 Disagree

Cybernet
06/18/2011

guru.com 2

If your not familiar with freelance job portals like Guru.com and others this a must read. If your interested in hiring a developer on Guru.com take the time to read this.

There seems to be the fundamental flaw in portals specifically Guru.com. Quite simply, there are too many “Employers” whom are either vastly misinformed about the industry and what a real budget should be.

“Employers” are drawn to sites like Guru.com where there are heaps of freelancers offering low bids. I understand that there are younger bidders out there looking to break into the industry and there are eastern providers who generally charge a lot less than their western counterparts, but let us be honest for a moment, the issue in this case is the ignorance of the “employer.” Many times the uneducated “Employer” doesn’t realize they’re being unrealistic and in the end they usually will lose money and run into trouble with the freelancer. I will admit to being one of these Employers who have had these experiences.

These portals such as Guru.com should offer some genuine guidance to their clients when posting a job. At the moment the system is designed to process transactions with as little Human input as possible - think of it as an automated middleman. Sadly this system is not working as too much ‘garbage’ is slipping through the flawed process.

“ How does positive feedback help me? (Taken from Guru.com)
A high feedback rating on your profile allows you to build your reputation and secure additional projects from Employers. Employers are more apt to hire Freelancers with a visible and positive track record. Hiring Freelancers with positive feedback reduces risk for Employers. “

On Guru.com it states “ Receive ratings and insight from employers who hired Freelancers”

What a farce! The paragraph above was taken from Guru.com. It is explaining to freelancers (Developers) how important positive feedback is and how Employers, interested in hiring, see it as reduced risk. It is not made clear to the Employer that Freelancers have the ability to block negative feedback making the entire process and purpose of the feedback tool useless. I find it outrageous that Guru can imply your safety yet in reality it is a false sense of safety. I personally hired developers who seemingly had excellent profiles based on their feedback, although I somehow had the horrific experiences with each of them, which prompted me to dig deeper into their policies and finally enlighten readers to be very cautious.

Do not choose a freelancer on Guru.com based solely on their feedback since it is not a reliable tool to judge a freelancers history. Better yet you would be safer not to use them at all. Guru has a flawed process in place for freelancers to have the option to block negative feedback.

It seems Guru encourages the Freelancer to make more money thereby enabling them to have more “Blocking Power” for negative feedback. This entire process is such an outright scam to Employers, who are the real victims. It gets better…alternatively Employers also have the “Blocking Power” to block negative feedback from Freelancers. Read the horror stories.

Guru will conveniently alert the freelancer with an email to let them know they received feedback and take the appropriate action if necessary.

Based on Employer reviews and experiences, SafePay is not “safe.” Keep in mind the if you did not use SafePay Escrow or you already released the funds from the escrow account, you cannot mediate or arbitrate your case. If you still want to take the risk and use Guru, be absolutely certain that the Freelancer you hired completed the task exactly as you specified. Check and recheck their work, will it function properly under different conditions and circumstances? Based on the negative comments I’ve read about SafePay, I suspect a good portion of conflicts happen after the funds are released from escrow as with my case. Basically, your out of luck!

I’m not implying all Freelancers on Guru.com are bad although I am implying to proceed with caution based on their policies and my experiences. I understand how Freelancers can manipulate their profiles into seemingly admirable achievements.

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Votes on this review: 12 Helpful / 1 Funny / 3 Agree / 0 Disagree

jsmith010180
03/26/2011

guru.com 2

I've been a member of guru.com for more than 5 years. Initially I had pretty good success getting projects. But I haven't gotten one project from that site since 2008. Competition is fierce. Pricing is so depressed, that you might as well go back into the job market as a regular employee. Why? Because the employers on that site only want to pay half the going rate, if that. You cannot make a living in the US with the wages the employers want to pay. It's not a matter of thinking that your work is worth the higher price and all the employers are cheap. The site has so many registered gurus and many of them are overseas. For them $10 to $15 per hour is a great wage.

So the competition is part of the problem. But competition makes a free market. So be it. Now lets talk about the projects. It seems as though 75% of the projects are fake. Just look at them. Missing or mispelled words in the project details. I've see duplicate projects every couple of months. I've seen the same fake projects over and over through the years. They don't even change some of the contact information. And if you go to the web sites of some of these supposedly "real" projects, you'll find a shell of a web site. So you have to spend time weeding out the fake projects from the real ones.

And in many cases this site is copying projects from other freelance sites, and vice versa. It's hard to tell who makes up some of these projects first. It's gotten to the point, where I don't even bother with Guru.com any more. It's a waste of my time.

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Votes on this review: 7 Helpful / 0 Funny / 1 Agree / 1 Disagree

Gc212
03/22/2011

guru.com 1

Guru.com is HORRIBLE and arbitration is a scam!

I had a contractor who was 5 months behind and delivered nearly nothing, well the "Safepay Escrow" is a complete joke.

I disputed the case and provide a mountain evidence (including a non-working website) and lost the ruling.

NEVER PAY IN ADVANCE, AND NEVER USE SAFEPAY. It's a joke. I had nearly $1,000 stolen from guru.com and have a useless website that doesn't work.

Beware!

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Votes on this review: 2 Helpful / 0 Funny / 2 Agree / 1 Disagree

jumpmark
03/01/2011

guru.com 1

I have also been totally screwed by a guru provider. My favorite trick is for providers to make it look like they are in the USA, but then you find out they are actually overseas...I don't have expound much on this, but below is just the series of communications I had with Brandon Osborne and Guru the only alteration of the text was the removal of passwords:
THIEF - Stole my money. Project was not even started AFTER the promised completion date.
NOT IN THE USA - makes it look like he is in the US but he's actually based in Romania, you are NOT GETTING A DEVELOPER IN THE USA.
Does not answer the phone.
I sent several emails and skype messages (included below) - he only responds to skype when he's trying to steal your money.
Here is our skype convo:
Brandon Osborne has shared contact details with Nancy R..
[2/9/2011 2:57:31 PM] Brandon Osborne: Hello there, Nancy. How are you doing today?
[2/9/2011 2:57:39 PM] Nancy R.: having a rough week so far and you?
[2/9/2011 2:58:00 PM] Brandon Osborne: haha...I can relate. :) Aside from that...I'm doing pretty well.
[2/9/2011 2:58:12 PM] Nancy R.: I have a client that I've been trying to get some modifications made to the site. The site fully functioning and live
[2/9/2011 2:58:23 PM] Nancy R.: but we are trying to add a product through zencart, that is somewhat complicated
[2/9/2011 2:58:53 PM] Nancy R.: the first product is a free sample box of candy that the customer pays $9 shipping and handling
[2/9/2011 2:59:28 PM] Nancy R.: then 11 days after the sample ships, another order is generated through paypal recurring payments for a full box of candy + shipping and handling.
[2/9/2011 3:00:03 PM] Nancy R.: after that each month another order is generated, on month 6 the user gets a free box of candy but pays shipping and handling
[2/9/2011 3:00:30 PM] Nancy R.: we know this can be done through paypal
[2/9/2011 3:01:39 PM] Nancy R.: for some reason, I can't seem to get any of the developers to actually get what I'm saying. and they keep changing our payments pro account to where we have to check out on paypal instead of our site
[2/9/2011 3:01:52 PM] Nancy R.: is this something that you could possibly help with?
[2/9/2011 3:02:56 PM] *** Nancy R. sent continuity_flow_chart.xlsx ***
[2/9/2011 3:03:07 PM] Nancy R.: this is the flow chart of the functionality we need
[2/9/2011 3:05:04 PM] Brandon Osborne: Ha...Sure, I can definitely help with that...most developers would do that because you don't actually have to do any coding if you do it all through paypal, so to speak. The proper way to do that is through the API.
[2/9/2011 3:05:22 PM] Brandon Osborne: Thanks for the flow chart, by the way...that definitely clears things up.
[2/9/2011 3:05:42 PM] Nancy R.: right, I know enough to be dangerous, but this website is cursed and I don't want to touch anything having to do with code.
[2/9/2011 3:06:04 PM] Nancy R.: can you give me a time and cost estimate?
[2/9/2011 3:07:59 PM] Brandon Osborne: The site is already hooked up with payments pro and its functioning, right?
[2/9/2011 3:08:19 PM] Nancy R.: yes, i happen to love the product and have ordered plenty through the system
[2/9/2011 3:08:40 PM] Nancy R.: I even have the product set up in zencart, but don't know how to make the connection to paypal with the automation of the recurring payment/order
[2/9/2011 3:08:53 PM] Nancy R.: the site is site.com btw
[2/9/2011 3:13:05 PM] Brandon Osborne: I just had a look at the site...I think I have a pretty clear understanding of what you need. I can do for $175 and can have it up & running for you by Sunday morning. Does that work for you?
[2/9/2011 3:13:28 PM] Nancy R.: If you can do it quicker that would awesome, but let's get started.
[2/9/2011 3:13:58 PM] Brandon Osborne: I'm swamped or I would....but I'll definitely try to get it done sooner.
[2/9/2011 3:14:20 PM] Nancy R.: my email is [email protected] to submit an invoice through paypal please send to [email protected]
[2/9/2011 3:15:26 PM] Nancy R.: and so we understand - and I think you do - I do not want to change how current items are purchased on the site and I do not want the checkout process to leave the site.
[2/9/2011 3:16:02 PM] Nancy R.: I've had my hopes up so many times thinking that the developer understood what was required - then I'm totally screwed this project is already 4 weeks late:(
[2/9/2011 3:17:20 PM] Brandon Osborne: Yup...I understand completely.
[2/9/2011 3:17:27 PM] Brandon Osborne: I have to run for a minute, but I'll be right back.
[2/9/2011 3:17:32 PM] Nancy R.: ok no problem
[2/9/2011 3:17:45 PM] Nancy R.: just send me an email of what you need from me to get started. [2/10/2011 9:33:17 AM] Nancy R.: Hey Brandon, I wanted to confirm that we are still on for a Sunday completion of this? Just let me know what you need from me to get started.
[2/10/2011 1:30:25 PM] Brandon Osborne: Nancy...I'll absolutely have this up & running by Sunday. Man it's been a busy day already and isn't even close to over. :/
[2/10/2011 1:31:00 PM] Brandon Osborne: Could you give me the FTP & Paypal Info for the site? I'll also need your Guru.com "billing code."
[2/10/2011 1:31:03 PM] Nancy R.: i hear that, I'm getting alot of heat from this client, deservidly so:( I just want to be sure we can get it done
[2/10/2011 1:31:14 PM] Nancy R.: ok
[2/10/2011 1:31:30 PM] Brandon Osborne: I'm sure of it...I've done something similar to this for another client not too long ago, so I know its possible.
[2/10/2011 2:06:06 PM] Brandon Osborne:
[Thursday, February 10, 2011 1:31 PM] Brandon Osborne: <<< Could you give me the FTP & Paypal Info for the site? I'll also need your Guru.com "billing code."
[2/10/2011 2:07:15 PM] Nancy R.: I'm just very nervous as this is my last chance with this client...if we blow it, I will lose this client and their subsidiary who is my largest client.
[2/10/2011 2:11:06 PM] Nancy R.:
[2/10/2011 2:13:20 PM] Nancy R.: billing code: user: paypal: pwd:
[2/10/2011 2:13:25 PM] Nancy R.: zencart:
[2/10/2011 2:13:30 PM] Brandon Osborne: Ugh....I can certainly understand why you'd be nervous. I'll definitely get it done though!
[2/10/2011 2:14:28 PM] Nancy R.: I also run their marketing for owners lawfirm - they are the client that "pays the bills" so to speak.
[2/10/2011 2:15:10 PM] Nancy R.: and I usually don't do this, but if you wouldn't mind sending me daily updates when you start work so that I have *something* to give to the client I would appreciate it. [2/10/2011 2:16:06 PM] Brandon Osborne: Sure...no problem. It's not the sort of project that should require daily updates though....it should be done in a matter of hours...its just a matter of scheduling those hours (which should be on Saturday).
[2/10/2011 2:16:20 PM] Nancy R.: ah ok,
[2/10/2011 3:27:38 PM] Nancy R.: hey Brandon, would you be ok submitting an escrow invoice. Nothing personal, but I'm already out more than $500 on all the other developers who could not do this but I paid them upfront.
[2/10/2011 4:25:56 PM] Brandon Osborne: I really understand where you're coming from, but for such a small project I never submit escrows because they also require a project plan, which requires even more time. However, I will say that because I'm collecting though Guru, I'll do the job & do it well...otherwise you can leave me bad feedback which seriously hampers getting additional work on this site.
[2/10/2011 4:50:47 PM] Nancy R.: I've been burned before on Guru..left bad feedback, had them leave bad feedback on me, then they deleted their profile and set up as someone else.
[2/10/2011 4:51:36 PM] Brandon Osborne: I've been on there for ten years w/ good feedback...can't just recreate that
[2/10/2011 5:57:17 PM] Nancy R.: I've just sent a detail of the project through guru, i'll be paying the invoice now. [2/13/2011 4:50:08 PM] Nancy R.: Hey there how is lovecandy going?
[2/13/2011 5:52:57 PM] Nancy R.: Brandon, can you please give me an update on Lovecandy? [2/13/2011 8:54:06 PM] Nancy R.: Are you there?
[2/13/2011 9:55:37 PM] Nancy R.: Hello Brandon?
[2/13/2011 10:03:25 PM] Nancy R.: Brandon, I really need to know what is going on with this project. I requested an update, and you have been non responsive. the work was supposed to be done this morning. All I'm asking for is an update, please let me knwo what's happening, if this is going to be ready. I'm supposed to update the client tonight.
[2/14/2011 9:06:28 AM] Nancy R.: Brandon? Are you there?
[2/14/2011 2:20:13 PM] Nancy R.: Brandon, is it possible to get a status on this?
[2/14/2011 4:17:02 PM] Nancy R.: Brandon, what shall I tell my client - is it going to be completed today?
[4:23:56 AM] Nancy R.: hello? Here is the email string: Brandon, I am seriously in need of an update from you on this project. I paid well in advance of the work start. I have asked several times for an update, but I cannot get a response from you. My client has requested an update on this project that you promised by this morning. It is now 10pm, I have no work done on the site, a pissed off client and no response or information from you at all. Please provide me with an update on the status of this project, I need to be able to communicate with my client. Thank You, Brandon, The cart was working fine. We have been accepting orders all along. As a matter of face we received an order on Thursday and Friday. It was my understanding that this project was going to be done on Sunday morning.
[2/9/2011 3:13:05 PM] Brandon Osborne: I just had a look at the site...I think I have a pretty clear understanding of what you need. I can do for $175 and can have it up & running for you by Sunday morning. Does that work for you?
Email strings

Sunday 2/13 AM: I just needed to know what’s happening. Please give me an estimate on when this will be completed. Thank You, Nancy
Sunday 2/14 PM: Brandon, Can you please give me an update? I’m totally at your mercy I just want to try to save this client and if I can give them some information maybe that would help. I realize that this project was not for a lot of money, but I would have thought that I would at least have the courtesy of the project actually being done when promised or at least you could tell me when I can expect this to be done. I’M BEGGING YOU TO PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!
Monday 2/14 AM: Brandon, All I am asking for is an eta. Please let me know if I need to hire another developer to handle this and request a refund? I need to have some answers for my client, this is not too much to ask. Thank You,
Monday 2/14 AM: Can you tell me if our shopping cart will be functional any time soon? It appears as though it has stopped working altogether. I cannot access the cart or the admin. I was able to do both 5 hours ago. Thanks,
Finally a response from him on Monday: Nancy, I understand the situation that you're in, but it's 9:00 on Monday and I only just returned to the office. As I said before, we always finish what we start. I did notice over the weekend that when you click checkout and go to the payment page that nothing happened, so it wasn't even set up properly to take payments at all, which I have since rectified that issue (on a test page) myself, which is outside of the scope of the project, but I did it anyway because I realize that you're in a bind. Since the time that I personally allotted to work on this project has been consumed, I have assigned one of my developers to finish the rest of it & I'll give you an updated timeline shortly. Regards, Brandon Osborne
Tuesday 2/15 PM: Brandon, I’m going to assume at this point with the lack of communication that you aren’t going to complete this project. I just wanted an update and can’t seem to get any response from you. I would like to get a refund as the work was not completed – and as it stands now we are two days past when it was promised. I wish that you had let me know that because my fee was so low, that could not expect that the work was going to be done within a reasonable time frame and that it would be communicated to me. I have already begun working on the project myself at this point in hopes of saving this client, so please do not continue any work, I will expect a refund in a timely manner. Thank You,
Wednesday 2/16 AM: Okay…I’ve officially had enough. I’ve got more priorities than your little $175 job & it’s not pretty much constant harassment. No wonder the other developers have bailed on you. As of this moment, I’m through. I’ll tell my consultant to stop working immediately & from what I understood he was almost done, but that’s not my problem anymore & you can damn well forget about a refund. Regards, Brandon Osborne coderPro.net Principal Consultant O: (914) 623-0528 E: [email protected] Project Nexus: http://coderpros.timetask.com
So the longest communication I get from him after stole my money was him telling me he was stealing my money.
A response from Guru.com when the feedback was never published.
Dear Nancy,

Good afternoon. I understand that your review of Brandon Osborne has not been posted because he used a portion of his available feedback Blocking Power to prevent it from appearing.
While negative feedback can be unpleasant, even detrimental to a reputation, we maintain the policy of not censoring feedback or investigating it for accuracy. The option of blocking occasional unfair or unwarranted negative feedback allows Employers and Freelancers to maintain a positive reputation and continue to prosper on Guru.com. Employers and Freelancers that regularly receive negative feedback will run out of blocking power and the negative pattern will emerge.

For more information, please visit the Managing Feedback section of our Help Center. If you have any other questions, please let me know.

so don't use Guru.com, don't hire Coderpros, coderpro.net who are actually in Romania, don't hire Brandon Osborne.

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Votes on this review: 6 Helpful / 0 Funny / 2 Agree / 1 Disagree

GuruReallySuck s
02/18/2011

guru.com 1

Signed up with them, got lucky and found a project I could complete in a couple hours since they wanted a simple modification of some code we had previously written. The software was sent, they paid their invoice. When I went to withdraw the cash, they locked my account and stopped sending email notifications either to me or anything I sent to my client. So anyone who didn't go directly to the website now thinks that I have stopped communicating with them entirely and guru won't answer my emails to even tell me why my account is locked. This is insane.

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Votes on this review: 5 Helpful / 0 Funny / 2 Agree / 1 Disagree

TruthTellerOfU SA
01/19/2011

guru.com 1

I am a payment member (not for long).

I have been screwed three out of three times this week alone. I'm done.

First an Aussie company, then Ecko Publishing and then some kook from Canada.

I take responsibility for all of the above but I can tell you it won't happen again.

PHUCK Guru. It's a sham.

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Votes on this review: 3 Helpful / 1 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree

Gitch
12/13/2010

guru.com 1

I would have to say it is a rip when you get these people that want something for nothing and then you have to compete with somebody from India for the job.. You cannot make a living that way..

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Votes on this review: 3 Helpful / 1 Funny / 2 Agree / 1 Disagree

lourdesd
12/06/2010

guru.com 2

I have been a member of guru.com for 2 years now and I like their site because the competition is low and you have a higher chance of getting hired specially if you can show your ability to do specified task. But the problem is all the fee's a freelancer has to pay in order to get a job. First is the monthly membership, then the fee whenever you got paid, which is about 10% of the actual amount plus 3% fee if employer paid using his/her credit card. See, as today I received $50 but I only got $43.5 net, a big loss. Another thing, is there bidding process: Every bid you use gets replaced 30 days from the day you use it. For example, if you spend one bid on October 10, your bid balance will increase again by one bid on November 9. If you are active in Guru, and you bid on 15 projects in one week time and all of it has a Premium proposal, then it means you almost used your 100 bid pax for the month, and then you cannot use the remaining pax, until after 30 days from the day you used it, and I feel like the fee I paid to get those monthly bid pax is wasted, since I have to wait until it is almost due again, where I will have to renew membership, you have the option to buy additional bid pax, but it would cost another $25 for 100 bid (very expensive).

They are somewhat a shark to me with regards to imposing fees to freelancer. They are eating most of the money freelancer should have.

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Votes on this review: 3 Helpful / 1 Funny / 1 Agree / 0 Disagree

freelancealot
09/28/2010

guru.com 5

I've been on Guru.com for a couple weeks now and my first two encounters with employers have been disappointing. First, someone in Las Vegas wanted a guide on how to draw a wolf step-by-step for novices. He (or she...they never say who they are in the private correspondence section) said they liked the art work. I even took an hour to draw a sketch per their request and submit it free of charge. Everything is great. They like what they're seeing. Then, they ask for a color cover (not in the original job description AFTER the $50 bid is made). I spend a good portion of the weekend working on this guide and cover and submit it on time (9 pages total). By the way, I did all of this on faith as they never deposited the money in escrow for me to withdraw. Then, the day after the deadline (they're bad at immediate follow-up) they tell me that they picked me instead of the other freelancers with $25 bids because they thought they would get a higher quality product for $50 bucks! $50 BUCKS!!! That's ALL I'M CHARGING THEM!!! They wanted some painted masterpiece on the cover. They wanted a wolf that looked more "fluffy" so they send me an example and it looked like a wolf done in oil paint that must have taken the artist a week to complete. They have no concept of art or what's involved, you could tell.
Another potential employer was stating that he had less than $250 to spend on a project involving five drawings for a website he's designing. After a discussion, it turns out he's just looking to trade illustrations in exchange for a website design (who knows if he'd ever do it). So, it was just a bait and switch that I wasted 6 bid points on.
I'm getting the idea from these freelance sites that most of these employers want the world for nothing. These people looking for freelancers are cheap folks! Just choose wisely!.

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Votes on this review: 5 Helpful / 0 Funny / 4 Agree / 0 Disagree

cspfco
09/12/2010

guru.com 5

Guru gives a smart businessman the tools to buy and sell services. I have used Guru to earn over 100k in the last four years working for a number of companies. I have several ways to seperate the wheat from the shaft. First, look at how many jobs the employer has paid on! If this is their first project, good luck. Second check to see how many invoices are unpaid, and for how long. I don't work for people that don't pay in full and quickly! If you don't care if you get paid, YOU can work for them. Third, I am realistic about my ability to meet their needs. If you can't do the job, no one will be happy. And I must talk to them, to be sure they are realistic about the cost and extent of work needed. If they are dreamers, beware!

Guru is like Ebay. You need to take care and there is a lot of $'s to be made. But if you want to charge into the dark and expect Guru or Ebay to bail you out forget about it!

There are alot of overpriced things on Ebay, but if some one has more $'s than brains so what. And I don't care how high the offers are or how low Indians will bid. I don't have to take the offer or beat the offer. If I am realistic and the employer is realistic, I like them and they like my skills we can work it out.

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Votes on this review: 9 Helpful / 0 Funny / 4 Agree / 1 Disagree

USAEmployer
09/08/2010

guru.com 1

I am an employer on Guru.com. We hired a development firm in India and paid them $2200 to build our website. They did a TERRIBLE job. The website was poorly constructed and had many, many errors or in tech lingo - bugs. They did not return my calls or emails for months during which time I was asking them to fix the bugs. They finally responded to me, because I escalated the matter to their "American" office. Turns out it is a one-man shop and he was sending them business. This American was very nice and followed up with Amal (the owner of Assist UI). Since Amal was now embarrassed, he followed up with me. He fixed some of the bugs, but not all of them. And then once again just stopped responding to my emails and phone calls. No explanation. Just stopped communicating. And we still had a broken website and missed our launch date.

So this week I escalated it to dispute resolution with Guru.com. All the comments here are correct, Guru.com totally backs up the freelancer at the expense of the employer. I could not even leave a review, because it was "more than 60 days since my last payment". Nor would Guru.com discipline them. I offered extensive documentation to back up my claims. It was clear Guru.com did not care.

And, by the way, Amal gamed the system by returning $180.00 in escrow. Since he did that, I could not leave a review of his work. He KNEW what he was doing.

Avoid hiring Assist UI at all costs. They are low skilled and unethical. You will get a terrible, broken website and be out of thousands of dollars. Business people and business practices in India are known to be unethical. Save yourself the heartache and hire American.

Also avoid using Guru.com. They are also unethical.

Sincerely,
Employer

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Votes on this review: 2 Helpful / 0 Funny / 3 Agree / 2 Disagree

Luckya Vara Lakshmi
08/25/2010

guru.com 5

Really useful site for everyone! There are various faculties,courses and many more things to find!
For unemployed youth it is a great boon !

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Votes on this review: 0 Helpful / 1 Funny / 0 Agree / 4 Disagree

scritty
06/24/2010

guru.com 1

The simple fact is that this site is NOT for "Western" markets.
"I need 40 x 500 word articles written, must be excellent grammar and good english" runs the last ad I could be bothered to look at
"Overall price $25" - it had over 30 bids
62 cents an article (38 pence)

Another wanted websites set up with Wordpress and SEO optimized, search engine submitted with a stack of plugins installed and configured, including a content grabbing plugin which takes a good while to configure (WPR) a 200 word intro article on the landing page etc etc.
100 sites for $250. 2 bids

I mean it isn't hard work, but 100 sites for $250 dollars is ridiculous

End of the day, you end up competing with people prepared to do a days work for under eight dollars.
Really no point even thinking about it.
This doesn't make it better or worse than the main competitor (Elance) because that is exactly the same.

If a living wage for a seven day working week (between 56 and 74 hours) week is between $40 and $60 (£25 -£40) then this is the site for you.

If this won't even buy a suit dry-cleaned to go to a proper job interview - then forget it.
Notice to anyone setting up a new Freelance site.

Let's have one that actually pays somewhere minimum living wage for Western people. $6 an hour is not an unreasonable minimum.

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Votes on this review: 9 Helpful / 0 Funny / 17 Agree / 0 Disagree

cybersprocket
06/14/2010

guru.com 2

Oh boy, do we have a story about Guru. After being with them for 5 years and a top 50 ranked vendor we got booted through no fault of our own. Talking to Guru.com is like talking to a brick wall. It is obvious they are all about their own bottom line these days. So sad to see them go from quality first to cash first. Boo.

Read our detailed review on our Cyber Sprocket Labs site.
http://www.cybersprocket.com/2010/project-management/whats-wrong-with-guru-com/

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Votes on this review: 3 Helpful / 0 Funny / 3 Agree / 1 Disagree

bikram101
06/02/2010

guru.com 5

I have tried guru.com and elance.com to provide my service.

guru.com did not work at all for me, but elance rocked!

I have been providing software development service in elance for a while.
It actually works pretty well. Initially it is relative harder to get a project, but once you make your name there (after few good deliveries), you will get steady projects.

Also, there are good payments as well. Lot of serious buyers out there.

If you are interested in more details, feel free to post a message here and I can give you several good tips.

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Votes on this review: 2 Helpful / 0 Funny / 1 Agree / 2 Disagree

Royking
04/03/2010

guru.com 1

I guess I' am one of the unlucky employers I was willing to pay for the work needed I was burned by a programer so I went to guru.com because I thought well at least they don't get all the money until they finsh the work so I posted the job and got 10 bids I picked the one I thought fit the best it was the highest bid' a software company and that was 4moths ago they have done nothing .
do you programers understand that when your the employer and you put your heart and soul into your website we put our trust in you

I will never use anyone over seas ever again do not bid on a job and accept it unless you plan on doing it shut up about how much you got paid your dam problem you placed your bid

we come to you because we don't know how to it or we would do it our dam selfs god I would love to be at a board meeting with you programers stop burning your meal tickets.

I'm f ing pist off why don't us humans fix things that just plain suck like if you get caught burning some one on the net you get banned for good

it will happen watch stop burning and ripping people off payback will be a beach and we know a bout cut and pasting scam programing 1000 bucks a minute fraud a gain fraud I'm not pointing the finger at all programers I bet there are some honest ones I just have never met any if I did I would never use anyone else but them again

I would make videos on how great they were I would be so dam happy they would be my heros
I have always been a loyal freind and have great repect for the honest there is nothing better then to work with someone you can trust I wish I was a programer I would be worth a lot of money trust sells people talk word gets out think about what impack you have on our world

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Votes on this review: 1 Helpful / 1 Funny / 5 Agree / 5 Disagree

sanitycheck
03/07/2010

guru.com 5

Okay, since there are a number of freelancers here flaming Guru, let's turn the tables a bit. I'm an employer on Guru, and I've hired freelancers via Guru. In each case, I hired an American, not someone from a foreign country. I got stellar work at very reasonable prices. So from my point-of-view, Guru has done a good job. Why didn't I hire abroad? Simple. I wanted to be able to talk with them by phone before I hired them.

Now, here's the part the "puke-and-moan" brand of freelancers aren't telling you. The vast majority of freelancers on Guru are extremely overpriced. I've seen people submit bids that absolutely blew my mind. How about $2,500 for a cover illustration for a novel, with literally hundreds of highly skilled illustrators looking for work? How about $3,500 to do a manuscript edit, again with a similar-sized labor pool? And I'm just referring to the American labor pool! I ended up paying $250 and $350 a piece, and I got very good work from good American people who didn't think that their labor was worth the moon and the stars.

The fact is, particularly in a recession, a surprising number (not all) of American freelancers on Guru have highly inflated opinions of their market value, and I suspect some of them posted here. If they can get the work at their inflated rates, then they rate a site like Guru as "adequate", but if they have to be competitive in a global market and actually lower their overpriced rates, they cry foul. They used to have overpaid jobs in the corporate sector, and now they think they're entitled to collect similar rates for minimal effort after having lost those jobs.

Get real, people! It's all about supply-and-demand. When what you demand for your work exceeds what the market will bear, you won't get work. Period.

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Votes on this review: 4 Helpful / 3 Funny / 12 Agree / 25 Disagree

drdave771
01/29/2010

guru.com 1

I ordered a $4.95 exam from guru.com through my account. After I paid for it they showed I took the test when I did not. I complained and they sent me an email saying too bad I have to pay again. I asked them to show the questions I answered, so far with no response. People stay away from guru.com, this is the worst company to deal with right next to Elance. I quit the Freelance business because of these companies. I am a 15 year veteran of software development and I will never use them again. Pick an area of expertise, open your phone book and start calling your local companies, it works, I landed my biggest contract that way, you do not need these rip off companies. And Guru.com here is my complaint number so you know what I am saying here is true Guru.com CaseNo:40206-155624

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Votes on this review: 6 Helpful / 1 Funny / 6 Agree / 1 Disagree

BELIEVEdesign
01/23/2010

guru.com 1

Guru is awful, and it deserves 0 stars, but I am incapable of giving it that horrible of a rating. I feel like the majority of people lose more money than they make. I thought the site had potential when I saw the free memberships, but none of those allow you to make money. After spending hours creating a resume and posting it, I wasn't allowed to bid for a single job.

(Please read from here down)
From all of my frustration towards this web site, I'm interested in making an alternative to Guru for beginning free lancers who actually want to break even. To do this, I will need help. If you are interested, contact me at [email protected]

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Votes on this review: 1 Helpful / 2 Funny / 2 Agree / 1 Disagree

FuckOff
12/15/2009

guru.com 1

It's legitimate but it's a bunch of crap since all of the postings are for people that have purchased a membership with them for 25.00 a month purchased in minimum of 3 month blocks. Most of the jobs will also go to the people in India because they will charge the minimum amount so if you are in the US and trying to do freelance professional work then this place will just take your money.

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Votes on this review: 5 Helpful / 0 Funny / 9 Agree / 1 Disagree

Abenson
11/06/2009

guru.com 1

One word to describe guru.com: Despicable.
Been there as a good-earning, non-paying member for nearly 5 years. One time, I was paid $704 for a business plan project. It later turned out that my employer funneled money to guru.com system using a stolen credit card. I refused to refund the amount when asked. I told the Member Services guys it was not my fault. All I did was deliver what's expected; that all I deserved was getting myself paid for services rendered. Know what guru.com did? It suspended all my profiles and accounts, 10 of them. I was informed by email I will have them back when I am able to settle my accountability. I lost all the earning opportunities. I was making good money from freelancing; in fact, I resigned from my job and began working from home fulltime. My lawyer said I should sue to get those profiles back, saying the suspensions were onerous, unilateral, unfair. The guru.com site presents opportunities. But it's policies are horrible for non-paying members. Take it from me. If that is not contemptuous, I don't know what's ugly. I'm suing Guglani and I will be seeking $100 in damages for every day the accounts were shuttered.

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Votes on this review: 11 Helpful / 0 Funny / 5 Agree / 0 Disagree

savvychick
10/29/2009

guru.com 1

I am very interested in how freelancers, independent consultants/contractors would structure a site that would facilitate a fair and accurate selection process while also allowing that company is be fairly compensated? Should the burden be born by the employers? Thanks for your feedback.

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Votes on this review: 1 Helpful / 1 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree

cstephens
09/28/2009

guru.com 1

I have taken a membership for the last two years on GURU.com and have found that it is getting increasingly hard to find decent work. As is stated in some of the other reviews, if you don't get a paid membership there are virtually no jobs that you can apply for. The ones that will pay only want to pay rock bottom prices. I do transcription, and the fees that most employers want to pay only amount to $1 to $2 per hour. No Way! You can't do quality work for that. Also, there are not that many to choose from even if you have a membership. I have had a few that were total scams and did not pay a penny, and when GURU was notified, they basically said they couldn't do anything to help. This is the last time I will pay for my membership.

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Votes on this review: 4 Helpful / 0 Funny / 6 Agree / 1 Disagree

jennyinsb
08/18/2009

guru.com 1

This site is horrible! They offer a 'free' membership, so I signed up and spent an hour creating my profile, resume, etc. I then did a search for jobs in my category which yielded 153 results. HOWEVER I COULD NOT BID ON ANY OF THEM! Not ONE! The jobs all required you to be a Guru or a Guru Vendor to bid....which means that the ONLY people who can bid are those who pay for a membership! What a rip off and a waste of time.

They should just scrap the 'free' signup...or at least be more honest and let you know that the only way you can possibly get jobs is to pay for membership.

I may be 'old-school' but I feel that jobs should pay the employee....the employee should not have to fork over money to get a job.

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Votes on this review: 5 Helpful / 1 Funny / 11 Agree / 1 Disagree

AnExpert
05/12/2009

guru.com 1


I rated them 1 start, just because there is no a zero or negative numbers as an option.

In reality, I'd rate them - infinity.

My review is based on a few years of paid membership. Guru.com has turned into a reservoir of cheap labor force for business vultures and parasites. Almost every employer that gets there specifies " Less than $250" as a project budget, then lists the things they want done that are realistically worth $2500, not $250.

Not to mention that I had projects unpaid, disputes unresolved, etc, without ever being able to get it sorted out. Their " dispute resolution center" is actually just a fiction, a fairy tale. A cheap ad to get you to buy their membership, offering some fictional security.

If you want to become an Internet slave, abused and underpaid by the employers ( yes, they also verbally abuse you), then join Guru.com, and you will have the best Vulture Fest on the Internet.

How can the Guru owners be so stupid anyway, it's the employees that keep the site going, not the employers... With a treatment like this, they will lose every single employee that provides quality work. Only $1 / hour workers will stay there, and we all know how " great" their work can get.

Disaster. Guru was not as bad when I first joined it.



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Votes on this review: 6 Helpful / 1 Funny / 6 Agree / 1 Disagree

clarkmaxwell
05/02/2009

guru.com 5

If you are o freelancer,you have a freemind and you have a project which is reputable.This site is for you.For example you are student,you have a lot of information to make something but you are unemployed,don't worry,your project has value in this site.You don't have to work for a company.You are your own boss anymore.
Post your project and wait for buying.Your design,scripts,projects.All these are valuable in tihis site.I tried.and I first earn money on internet.You must try.

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Votes on this review: 0 Helpful / 8 Funny / 1 Agree / 17 Disagree

mstoner15
04/08/2009

guru.com 4

I found Guru to be a good place to start out in the Self Employed world. For the $150 annual fee, it paid for itself in 1 or 2 small projects. Once I established a decent rating and bid only with employers who requested US employees, I got plenty of work.

I will mention the fees are lame so you may want to define your payment terms upfront. Any employer who pays with a credit card you have added fees. It was still pretty worth the 5% fee that Guru charges since I didn't have to leave my home to find the work.

Keep your standards strong and bid accordingly. If you bid too low just to get the work, you'll attract very unreasonable employers who expect free changes for months.

I do mostly Desktop Publishing and Typesetting so the volume tends to be high and pretty easy work since I'm at expert level in Adobe CS3 InDesign.

Overall it's a pretty nice service. Considering this economy, it helped me pay the bills in the last year. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. If you'd like proof, just go to Guru and check out my profile which is mstoner15.

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Votes on this review: 2 Helpful / 0 Funny / 5 Agree / 7 Disagree

Sargasso108
02/16/2009

guru.com 1



I'd like to hear other people's experience of this. I'm wondering if it's a scam. I'm a writer, copyeditor, proofreader. There was not one job to bid on for a basic member.

Does anybody know if there are any good sites for freelance writers, proofreaders, copyeditors, typists?

So far I'm not seeing anything. Are there some good sites? Or is this a worthless pursuit?

Does anybody know anything about taking surveys for pay? I've been pretty discouraged with what I saw there, too.

Anybody have any ideas for online freelancing writing-related work? Is there anything really out there?

Any feedback would be very helpful.

(Is it possible that good feedback on some of these companies is done by the companies themselves? It's starting to look a little creepy to me.)

Sargasso108

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Votes on this review: 0 Helpful / 1 Funny / 6 Agree / 0 Disagree

reggieanon
02/07/2009

guru.com 1

To MDGraphics:
The reason that over 60% of the projects go "unawarded" is because a lot of employers contact the freelancer directly and they conclude their arrangements offline (outside guru.com) and set up invoicing and payments directly. I know because I just got a $30,000 contact off guru.com in this manner. Screw guru.com! I'm not paying them a percentage of every hour that I work. It's enough that I pay them $100 quarterly to subscribe.


To interhope:
You think guru.com favors the freelancer? Surely, you're kidding. Let's see... the employer can read my profile, see a picture of me, review my resume and work samples. But, as a freelancer, when I bid on a project, I have to do it blindly, knowing nothing (not even the name) of the perspective employer. If you got a crappy freelancer, then the fault is yours. Did you review their work samples? Did you read their resume? Did you study his background that is posted on his profile? Did you call and talk to him and drill him with questions till you felt comfortable about his abilities and reliability? Did you establish beforehand an agreement of payments being tied to deliverables? Did you well define the project?

One thing is clear, from the freelancer point of view, you must know how to spot the employers to avoid. Here's some clues:

1) The folks coming out and saying something like, "I want a website like Monster.com and I am willing to invest $5000 - $10000." They're idiots. Leave them to the Indians.

2) If the initial job description sucks, you can pretty well guess they aren't going to be able to clearly define the project for you. A poorly defined project means a lot of guesswork as to what is in the employer's head. It's a fomula for a poor relationship, and both sides disappointed.

Finally, freelancers, charge what you're worth! I put down $50/hour and was pleased whan an employer called me and said, "I could have hired someone posting a rate of $15/hour, but then they would probably just bill me 3 hours for every hour worked." There are some smart employers out there. Don't appeal to the employers who are nothing but freeloaders, wanting to get rich while paying you nothing.

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Votes on this review: 7 Helpful / 1 Funny / 10 Agree / 1 Disagree

undrmployd
02/06/2009

guru.com 1

SHORT n' SWEET (or SOUR):
KNOW THAT THE SUBJECT SITE IS A GAMBLE.
It can easily be a money pit. Mob rules prevail. As a freelancer, you never know who you're dealing with; as an employer, you never know who you're dealing with. Both sides are gambling: the freelancer gambles that they will get paid at all, the employer gambles that they will get the quality of work they need/expect/are paying for.
(There are a lot of "big heads" in this world who might think they're wonderful at what they do, while others' perceptions may be entirely different. The subject site is one place where those differences in perception intersect).
FWIW, I tend to discount advertising of any kind, fully expecting individuals to inflate their own value and accomplishments. Heck, even some job counselors encourage that, so, knowing that, how can anyone expect to be believed when trying to "sell themself"? And selling yourself is exactly what the subject site requires for anything resembling success there.

BOTTOM LINE:
You get what you pay for...JUST REMEMBER WHAT YOU'RE PAYING FOR...opportunity, and not a shred more beyond that.
IMO, if you pay to join this site, the ONLY thing you can be sure to happen is that you will no longer have the money you paid for your membership. Once they have that, then all you get is "opportunities" to bid against others who are scrambling and scraping for the same generally-low-paying jobs that you are.
Between membership charges, high - and highly erratic - fees collected for their "service", I'm convinced they take entirely too high a percentage for what they provide. (It's about as risky as playing the lottery, but more expensive and with similar chances of winning).
It can be useful to acquire new clients, but that takes perseverance, low bids - and low expectations - on the part of the freelancer. It seems, perhaps, that the most benefit comes AFTER you've acquired a client AND you're able to somehow cajole that client into giving you work directly and outside the scope of the web site. (I'm strongly suspect the site owner is not foolish enough to think that isn't happening).

Read on if you want a detailed description.

My Experience There:
I've had (free) "Basic" listings on the subject site for a few years. (I think 2 before I landed any jobs from there). I finally landed my first job, and that customer was very satisfied, and I've since had repeat business from them. (In fact, I've met their job requirements so well, they call me directly rather than listing jobs "for bid", and we've developed somewhat of a rapport). Unfortunately, that employer doesn't like dealing outside of the subject site's processes because they like the fact that it handles some tax info for them. So, if I stick with that employer, I'm bound to continue to pay high fees to the subject site for the mere "opportunity" to bid on other jobs, (I'd guess roughly 95% of which are low-paying).

I hope to continue to get work from that employer, and took a chance that getting a paid membership would increase my "opportunities for work." (I earned enough from that employer last year, and paid enough in guru fees, that the fees I paid would have covered the cost of membership, but with little left over).

While I can now bid on more jobs, I am still somewhat limited because the work I do often cannot be done by someone in another location, yet alone in another country. (My job categories include shooting photos and video, along with editing, audio work, and DVD creation, something someone from Asia or Europe cannot do easily, i.e. shoot photos or video "within 25 miles of [the nearest large, U.S. city]". Conversely, I cannot easily shoot something in Australia, New Zealand, or any other country or continent. But none of that is the fault of the subject site; it's a condition of working in the field I chose).

Since I've "upgraded" my membership, I've noticed some odd, and certainly unexpected, things. Here are what I consider the oddities, (and perhaps they should serve as warnings to others considering a similar upgrade):
1) I've invoiced a repeat client for work done since the upgrade, yet the subject site deducted the same "service fee" percentage as they did before the upgrade took effect. In simple terms, paid membership is described as working like this:

a) an employer posts a job and it gets listed for all to be aware of,
but details are restricted in certain cases. Example: Basic
members can see that a job has been posted in their category of "expertise", but are prevented from seeing all the details of the project description, AND prevented from bidding on it unless the employer posted it as "Open" to all, rather than only non-Basic members. If you upgrade from a Basic membership to a paid one, you can now see all the details, but if/when you get paid, the fee charged by the subject site is based on when you first viewed the job listing, i.e. at the considerably higher rate of a Basic membership. In this case, not only has the site collected the price of membership, but they also have earned the highest fee available.


b) depending on how the job is listed by the "employer", bidding
may be restricted this way:
- Open jobs: anyone can bid on, even free "Basic" memberships. These also incur the highest fee the site automatically deducts for your payment.
- non-Open jobs: can only be bid on by those with a
paid membership, and the fee collected by the site is supposed to be a smaller percentage, but that , too, is not always the case. (See item "1) a)" above).

c) as freelancers submit bids/proposals, the employer is notified.

d) the employer can decide to use whoever they want, or no one at
all.

e) if a bid is accepted by an employer, the freelancer and "employer" work out the details of the project between themselves. The site owner apparently couldn't care less if either party doesn't know how to effectively communicate project details and expectations.

f) at times/events/stages agreed-upon by the 2 parties, the
agreed-upon price can be put into an escrow account, (which
the site claims to be the safest method of payment, but charges
the highest fee), or invoiced directly through the site, (which
the site claims offers less protection that the payment is, in
fact, legitimate).

g) upon completion of the project, full payment is expected, and
dollars and the completed project change hands between the
"employer" and the freelancer.

It seems I've been lucky finding this one repeat employer, as I've never had a problem with payment or delivery of a project completed for them. HOWEVER, I've never had a bid accepted by any other employer, either. I submit what I think are very comprehensive and detailed proposals, often listing exactly what I will provide - and what I expect from the employer - for the dollar amount of my bid. I raise many questions in my proposals to be certain I can, in fact, deliver the project up to expectations. (Perhaps my proposals are too detailed, but I continue to ask in an effort to acquaint an employer with all the things I must consider to deliver what they want).

2) If you have a Basic membership, and view the description of a job, then upgrade to a paid membership, THEN make your bid, and your bid is accepted, you will have lost:
a) the cost of upgrading your membership,
b) a higher fee for the site's processing, if and when you finally do get paid.

3) You apparently can "buy your way to (or near) the top".
With only Basic membership, I was awarded a few jobs, with excellent feedback for all of them from the employer. Despite that excellent feedback, I was rated between 100 and 200 in one specific category.
I then upgraded my membership to a paid one, and, without doing ANYTHING else...not even bidding on another job...my rating skyrocketed to within the top 10 in that category. At least one of those numeric ratings certainly was NOT a reflection of how satisfied my clients were with the results of my work. Yet, having given $$$ to the site for a paid membership, I suddenly gained a higher ranking. (Seems like "pay-to-play", as in politics, doesn't it)?

I could go on, but I think you get my points: the subject site has been beneficial for some, and torture for others:
1) the subject site has not worked out methods, processes, or a system that can be fair to all, and
2) they seem to act similarly to most long-running businesses, i.e. they give you as little as possible for what you pay them, and keep as much as possible for themselves. (Enough to make you wonder if they once worked for Bernie Madoff, or on Wall Street).

My description is not meant to claim the site is totally useless, but to help people understand what - and how little - to expect if they choose to sign-on there. Caveat emptor.

Epilogue: you may have noticed that I've avoided naming the site. I realize that may be useless, given the venue and topic I'm posting this to. However, I still retain some level of paid membership - and a satisfactory ranking - there, and didn't want to risk having that tainted or ruined by someone at the subject site.

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Votes on this review: 10 Helpful / 0 Funny / 2 Agree / 0 Disagree

ArtWest
01/18/2009

guru.com 3

I wrote this comment in response to another post and thought I would bring it to the surface. Hopefully, my experience and view will be useful to someone.

I'm a copywriter and have had success finding clients on Guru. My main complaint, however, centers on the large number of bottom feeding "employers" as they are called. Most are unwilling to pay appropriate fees for quality writing. They're frustratingly cheap, and I'm sure get substandard work from the "pros" who drop their drawers for these folks.

I HAVE found a few gem employers on Guru that I've added to my client list. After completing the initial project, I began working directly with these great folks to avoid Guru's annoying fees. A provider just has to be willing to dig for the good ones (ignore Guru's dumb ranking system and concentrate on writing strong proposals). When you consider the cost of getting clients in the usual ways, adding Guru as another channel is justified for me.

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Votes on this review: 2 Helpful / 0 Funny / 3 Agree / 0 Disagree

McFarlane
01/17/2009

guru.com 1

Guru.com was a complete waste of money. This site is of no use to anyone is a first class country as people in 3rd world countries will bid unbelievably low. So unless you're willing to work for about 50 cents an hour or less it is a waste of time.

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Votes on this review: 2 Helpful / 2 Funny / 2 Agree / 0 Disagree

USProgrammersR ule
01/01/2009

guru.com 1

Look, there are some legitimate jobs on Guru.com and there are even more scams. We are a U.S. firm hiring U.S. citizens exclusively. We aren't cheap, but we are very good and have a very high ranking (until tomorrow) on Guru.com. However, the new ranking will take us from the double-digits (around 15th) down to around 65th. After reviewing the calculations for raking extensively and having multiple conversations with Guru.com customer service, it is very clear the goal is to increase the revenue coming into Guru.com at the expense of vendors providing services.

Think about it - you get a better ranking if you low-ball bid as many projects as possible - thereby increasing your ranking with higher fulfillment rates, then come back in later and charge the employer extra money (holding him/her by the balls since you've already been chosen and received some of their budget) - sound geared to questionable practices currently used in countries outside the U.S. and Europe - you betcha.

Also, the more money your clients send to you through guru's escrow service, the higher you will rank. I hate to say it, but about 75% of my clients really don't like to use Guru's escrow service and want to send us a corporate check or pay via our merchant processing system here in the U.S. We're a legitimate business - no weird hide-and-seek tactics here.

And on and on...

It's frightening what these folks are getting ready to do to those of us who have been loyal providers on the site, but frankly it's motivation for us to clammor together and build a new competitor for Guru.com....

Anyone else in?

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Votes on this review: 7 Helpful / 0 Funny / 7 Agree / 0 Disagree

spock0149
12/30/2008

guru.com 5

I'm reading a lot of negative reviews here. I'm an employee and have had overall a very positive experience, although I can understand why perhaps 'guru's' have had a bad exp.

I have put up 3 projects so far and paid out about $4500 and have achieved all my objectives. I have had good work done, for a pretty low price.

Some recommendations:

1. If you are a coder/programmer DO NOT use this site if you live in Europe/America. There will ALWAYS be someone in India or Pakistan who can do the same job for perhaps 1/3th the cost. The people I have hired are usually a well organized team of 15+ developers. I see them as a sort of coding factory, just taking on the ample jobs out there and sucking up all the projects us Westerners cannot 'afford' to take.

2. If you are Western then you probably will get hired if you are looking for say advertizing/Legal/marketing etc. I am reluctant to hire a non US person for marketing or legal advice as I know they probably don't have the correct background.

As an employer I have found the guru site very easy and smooth to use with a lot of good features for managing projects. I have found great guru's who have helped me build my business from scratch. guru.com helps me find some decent pro's out there.

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Votes on this review: 3 Helpful / 0 Funny / 2 Agree / 2 Disagree

Otanikitano
12/09/2008

guru.com 1

Guru is a slave-labor operation that is very pro-client and downright hostile to their contractors, the people who pay them.  Also, they were one of the first contract work sites to allow competition from overseas, so I guess you can say that started outsourcing American jobs almost 10 years ago.  Avoid.

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Votes on this review: 1 Helpful / 0 Funny / 4 Agree / 0 Disagree

nsrivastava2
12/05/2008

guru.com 5

Mind blowing website with everything which makes it stand different in this domain. Those who say that the bids by others is not visible, I must tell them that when bids by others is visible people make idiotic bids as they do in Rent A Coder. Bid for the amount which you feel is fair enough for that project. Those who say that they did not get a project in 5 years listing on Guru, I must say, they need to do some soul searching. Better yourself and support your bid with work you have already done.

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Votes on this review: 0 Helpful / 0 Funny / 0 Agree / 5 Disagree

sgkul
11/29/2008

guru.com 1

You cannot bid on any projects unless you become a paid member !! Their Basic free membership is a harsh joke on people looking for work.

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Votes on this review: 1 Helpful / 0 Funny / 5 Agree / 2 Disagree

workinghard
11/06/2008

guru.com 1

Putting one star here is being generous - but there are no lower options!

Guru.com used to be good. Now it is turning into a complete cash grab.

They've started using several new methods; one is how they calculate your ranking. I had a pretty good ranking due to the number of good projects that I was awarded and landed (based on professional rates). In January, they are going to change the ranking method so that providers that get the most jobs (and by extension, charge slave rates) will be ranked FIRST.

That is a complete ripoff.

Second, they have implemented 'Premium Proposals', which means that you can get your bid seen faster if you - guess what - pay more. And, surprise, surprise - the lower your ranking, the more you pay.

They are turning into a money-sucking machine - and ripping off the very people who keep their business going in the first place!

They are turning into an Elance-type operation, and I would NEVER work with Elance in a million years. Unless you want to give away your services for basically free, stay away.

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Votes on this review: 5 Helpful / 0 Funny / 5 Agree / 0 Disagree

DisappointedMe
10/21/2008

guru.com 1

The job descriptions are too vague to make an honest price evaluation. Too much time wasted in trying to figure out what to charge. Don't waste your time.

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Votes on this review: 3 Helpful / 0 Funny / 5 Agree / 1 Disagree

MDGraphics
10/07/2008

guru.com 1

Do I have to give them one star? I have been a registered member on Guru for several years now, first as a basic, free, member and then under a paid subscription. I am now approaching the end of my first full-year subscription and I can tell you that there will be no way that I will renew. I have been awarded only two small projects in that whole time. I used to submit proposals on just about everything that I was qualified to do and I kept track of all my bids, periodically checking on how many were awarded, etc. For quite awhile, the percentage of projects that went unawarded was well over 60%, and many of those that were awarded seemed to be for ridiculously low rates. For the past 6 months or so, I have been much more discerning in what I chose to bid on and guess, what? The results are still basically the same. Of the nearly 200 closed projects still listed in my project tracker, some 50+% of them have never been awarded. However, you really start to get a feel for Guru, though, when you spend time writing questions to employers trying to get enough info about a project to submit something more than a generic cookie-cutter proposal and almost never get any kind of response. If employers can't be bothered answering questions about their projects, the projects can't be all that important to them. Now that Guru will be changing their rating system to a method that will basically punish those who write generic bids, there is no reason to bother paying them another penny.

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Votes on this review: 3 Helpful / 0 Funny / 5 Agree / 0 Disagree

execadmin
09/03/2008

guru.com 1

Stay away from Guru-Period. My small non-profit was doing a simple website...the first guy took 8 months to do a website and guru released escrowed funds to him without our permission! We never did get a website, nor the money back. Instead we contracted again (boy were we stupid to listen to guru that they would make it right) and the second guy has yet to produce anything. All the elemnets have been done by outside people and a simple site navagation is all we need. It has been 2 months and the "web guy" is now telling us it is going to cost us more money! If we don't pay, we don't get our web site. Guru is saying that as long as he shows them the site, they will release the escrow funds to contractor. Guru even indicated that they would be no arbitration in our case because the contractor has shown good faith. I can't even get him to respond to any of my phone calls or e-mails. Again, I am out of money and patience with no results.

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Votes on this review: 2 Helpful / 1 Funny / 2 Agree / 0 Disagree

interhope
08/28/2008

guru.com 1

I am an employer on Guru.  I have acted in good faith toward those I hired to do graphics jobs and I have been impacted negatively by two freelancers on Guru.  They took the job and used up weeks of time "working" on it and then stopped taking calls and pretty much ditched us.  The last person to do this was Travis Wiggins.  I warn any emplyers not to use this man.  He is extremely unethical and cost our company an important deadline because he simply refused to respond.  His Guru number is:  ID : 1003609. Guru is biased toward the freelancer.  The only way for an employer to review the conduct of someone like Travis Wiggins is to PAY HIM even though he did not deliver anything.  Also the freelancer is completely in charge of invoicing.  Apparently all the freelancers know this and they ditch employers at will knowing the employers have no recourse.  I filed complaints with Guru, but nothing was done. They are on the side of the freelancer in such matters and I guess their reputation is not important to them.  I warn employers to avoid Guru.com until they fix this very unfair review system and by all means avoid Travis Wiggins who at the same time he refused to answer our calls or emails, was logging onto Guru everyday completing jobs for other people.  We would have found another designer if he had only responded.  We kept OUR word.

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johnwboyd
08/21/2008

guru.com 1

The site is expensive and yes...few gigs for a few people out of the masses. I speak as a freelancer who got burned buy a project buyer... Consumer fraud that goes on at guru and other sites needs to be stopped. Please sign my petition and pass it on to your contacts. The time for reform is now! http://www.gopetition.com/online/21088.html 

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bandeau
07/25/2008

guru.com 4

I don't want to step on anyone's toes but I do have one question, for all the people saying "I have been bidding for three years and didn't get one project" ....are you any good? I have been on the site for four days and got two well paying projects (completion this afternoon) and one that I am still in negotiations with. These three projects total $2350. Not bad for a weeks worth of work and only eight bids. Both projects that have been awarded to me were paid up (in the escrow) and I've had no worries.

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Votes on this review: 3 Helpful / 1 Funny / 3 Agree / 3 Disagree

frank22
07/21/2008

guru.com 1

Steer clear of Guru.com!!! I hired NGBM Solutions through them and got royally ripped off. I paid ngbm.net through Guru.com after they showed me great work on their test server. However, when it came time to deliver the project the developer, whose name is Rajan Kumar Upadhyay, became suspiciously hard to get in touch with. To make a long story short the developer used his superior knowledge of the Guru.com system to not only steal my money but also to steal my concept. That's right, I caught the bastard trying to launch his own site with my concept!!! In the end Mr. Rajan gets away with it because he is in India and all Guru.com can do is say "too bad, so sad." A bunch of thieves if you ask me!

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Votes on this review: 2 Helpful / 2 Funny / 6 Agree / 1 Disagree

chuk
07/14/2008

guru.com 1

Save your money. You have a better chance trying to get web jobs asking 50 welfare bums on payday for a web job. What annoys me the most that nobody else posts are the fact that so many jobs are repeats. That gets me to wonder why the same jobs with same names get posted every so often. I am wondering who is doing that and that was my biggest fear when I got a paid membership, wondering how valid a free job posting could be on a paid service. The numbers fooled me, don't let them fool you. Not only that, there are also so many postings from webmasters posting jobs at insane amounts. No offence, but unless you work in the India (where the founder has roots) and can do devepment work for below minimal wage, stay way from these clowns.

When I finally got a couple of people interested in my bid, I saw trouble because he presented me a contract and had no soul to be able to do the project like reasonable human beings. I felt a webmaster trying to get as much built before taking a half-made project for free, or a guy who may pay if he was dragged through the court process with his make-shift contract. Been there, done that once.

I would like to have some good things to say, but, even a pro writer/webmaster like me finds a loss of words. Okay, here is a happy ending. The website is well built and works well, even though it is a failed system.

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Votes on this review: 3 Helpful / 0 Funny / 2 Agree / 0 Disagree

waynef95003
06/22/2008

guru.com 1

Recently forked over the bucks for a membership to try to upgrade the quality of the projects I could bid on. Hasn't happened.

There are just so many hilarious project proposals, it's hard to choose the best, but one of my favorite kinds is when the employer claims to have a complete spec in hand and will release it to the winning bidder. How does one bid without a spec, unless you want to work for free? Catch-22! You have to be broke and desperate to bid on guru.com and if you aren't already you soon will be.

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Votes on this review: 1 Helpful / 0 Funny / 4 Agree / 0 Disagree

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2.06
average based on 102 ratings