What is the 'Selected Seller' feature?
Answered
Over the last few days I've noticed more and more jobs that won't allow me to bid immediately, with the message "This Job is available to a few selected Sellers for the next ????". To be eligible to bid first for similar Jobs add relevant skills to your profile." I've been invited to a couple of these jobs, but it's frustrating as other jobs ask for skills that I certainly have, and yet I'm not allowed to bid. Are the 'relevant skills' I need to add the preset tags in my profile? I can't add more of these as I'm only allowed to list 10. I've been a freelancer for many years - I have more than 10 skills.
Surely it should be up to me and the buyer to decide whether I have the skills to do the job, not some match between a category and what I happen to have been able to fit in my list?
Is this a new feature? If it is, you need to at least increase the limit on the number of skills a seller can list.
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The more this happens, the more ridiculous I'm finding it. Today, it's on a job with a description asking for a marketing email. I have sales letters listed as a skill, but apparently that's not enough.
I'm not trying to sell myself here, but I'm CERT 5 with 99% positive feedback, and more importantly, I am an experienced commercial writer with a portfolio full of sales writing. So the only problem would appear to be that I don't happen to have some very specific category listed in my skills - not because I don't have that skill, but because I can't fit it in my limit of 10 categories.
This is actually denying your customer a speedy and relevant bid from a qualified freelancer that your own system rates in your top tier. Whatever this is supposed to achieve it is clearly not working.
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I've had the same problem, I've even asked PPH, this is there answer:
Hello Darrell
Thank you for your message.
I'm very sorry to hear about this.
We have introduced a new Job matching feature. We recognized that for our newer users, it is more difficult to grow their profile and stature on the site or to find work in general. For this reason we will be matching our newer sellers that have an approved Seller application to certain jobs that we deem appropriate based on the needs that the buyer has stated and that a seller has advised they are able to do.
When a new public Job is posted that is not marked as Urgent, the PPH team will identify the basic skills needed for the Job and notify via email a pool of older and newer Sellers that have a profile and past experience in similar work. For the first 2 hours from the job post, only this selected pool of Sellers plus invited Sellers by the Buyer will be able to send Proposals. After the 2 hour window all Sellers can bid. If you want to get notified more often please make sure to have your profile skills updated accordingly.
Please let me know if I can help you with anything else.
Thanks
Suresh
PPH Customer SupportIt's getting a bid of a joke!!!!
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"You're one of the most qualified Sellers for the Job "Proof reading in Portugese " because of your skills in Proofreading *."
I don't speak Portugese, but apparently algorithm is supposed to know my skills better than I do.
Could someone from PPH at least say whether these comments on this feature have been passed on to the relevant people?
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The new Job matching feature simply does not work. You are restricting sellers which is not good for business.
Maybe you should implement this on a CERT basis rather than matching skills.
I have seen over 15 jobs the past week- all match my skills + more - yet I was not able to send a proposal to any of them?
PPH have introduced excellent features over time but sadly this ain't one of them.
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This new feature is problematic. Do any of us really want to rely on a computer to decide whether or not we are qualified to undertake a particular job? And I don’t think that it serves the client well either, as it would appear that many highly qualified sellers are not able to submit proposals until the 2 hour limit is up, meaning the buyer may have to wade through a great deal of less suitable proposals before finding the right freelancer. I agree with Emily that “This is actually denying customers a speedy and relevant bid from a qualified freelancer”
I also think that it will only result in buyers being badgered by requests from people on the clarification board to invite them to submit a proposal because they are not being allowed to do so. See the clarification board for this job as an example - #504205. So, then we go back to the problem of the Clarification Board not being used to ask valid questions about the scope of the job, but to 'self-promote' through frustration at not being able to submit an early proposal.
I don’t really trust that the system works very well. I have already received 3 or 4 selected seller messages for jobs that I am not suited to. For example, I have had one that specified a London location (I am in Yorkshire), another one specifying expertise in a software I had never even heard of and this morning I got one asking for a barrister and I have no legal qualifications whatsoever (I am a graphic/presentation/e-learning designer and illustrator). I have also seen quite a lot of jobs for which I am qualified but have been barred from sending a proposal for the first 2 hours. Very frustrating.
If this feature is to stay I agree that we need to be allowed to list many more than 10 skills on our profiles. For example, I have a few design-related skills listed on my profile, e.g. graphic design, but find that if the Related Job Search keyword is only ‘design’ I am not considered a selected seller, even if the job requires graphic design skills (which are on my skills list).
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I believe this 'New' feature is more likely to turn customers away from PPH and into the hands of their competitors.
Because to me the first hour or two is the most important time for that customer and if all they are getting is a few poorly qualified and inexperienced people they are unlikely to trust the site and use it in the future.
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