Stop buyers from asking free sample's

Comments

17 comments

  • Sandrine

    I would weight in in that topic as this becomes harassing. Everyday, people ask for sample...

     

    Everytime I try to find the piece of ToS that states that, just to include the link to me answer, and I just can't find it.

     

    To me this should be in the rules of engagement, but AFAIK, they aren't

    It would be nice if it could be written in **BOLD **somewhere for the clients prior posting a job (And it could be well used as well as a reminder for those freelancer who submit free samples- and complain later that the client didn't come back).

     

     

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  • Pravallika

    Hello Sandrine!!!Thank you so much for your support.

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  • J David

    Clients really do need reminding that they should go with a seller who's feedback and portfolios are best for them, rather than asking for lots of  'sketches' or 'ideas' ...it's so unfair to expect possibly tens of people to do free work for you. Maybe even the 'upload file' option should be removed until a proposal has been accepted.

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  • Eva Maria

    I have reported one such Buyer about three hours ago today and it seems nothing has been done about it. The job description has not been edited and I can't see the "case study required" or "trial task required" label anywhere.

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  • Rich

    It is actually built in to the post a job form

    "Set a short task for Freelancers and get an idea of how they could handle the full Job. Attract higher quality Proposals with a special badge." for a cost of £7.

     

    So how much do you think this suggested feature will be implemented?

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  • Jan White

    Pravallika I totally agree. Creating specific examples is a total waste of time. If a client wants free work it's not a job!

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  • Pravallika

    Whoever agrees with me please click on "Me too"

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  • Moira

    I totally agree with this suggestion.

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  • Steve

    Im confused.  Are we meant to be doing free samples for clients or not..  have done so many recently to try to get work and most haven't even replied to me.  I am always too trusting and for get to put copyright over my work until Ive sent it!!  But is it in the rules or not....  Im not sure.  I have sometimes been spending more time on free samples than on paid work.  Steve

     

     

     

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  • Steve

    Im confused.  Are we meant to be doing free samples for clients or not..  have done so many recently to try to get work and most haven't even replied to me.  I am always too trusting and for get to put copyright over my work until Ive sent it!!  But is it in the rules or not....  Im not sure.  I have sometimes been spending more time on free samples than on paid work.  Steve

     

     

     

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  • Steve

    Im confused.  Are we meant to be doing free samples for clients or not..  have done so many recently to try to get work and most haven't even replied to me.  I am always too trusting and for get to put copyright over my work until Ive sent it!!  But is it in the rules or not....  Im not sure.  I have sometimes been spending more time on free samples than on paid work.  Steve

     

     

     

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  • Steve

    Im confused.  Are we meant to be doing free samples for clients or not..  have done so many recently to try to get work and most haven't even replied to me.  I am always too trusting and for get to put copyright over my work until Ive sent it!!  But is it in the rules or not....  Im not sure.  I have sometimes been spending more time on free samples than on paid work.  Steve

     

     

     

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  • Sandrine

    Hi Steve,

     

    Yes you seem to be confused (your message appears 4 times)

     

    If you spend time doing samples for not earning money then you need to review your business model. It's time for a reality check and acknowledge that clients are taking advantage of you. In the grans scheme of thing, who cares if it's against the TOS or not, as it goes against common sense for you r business. Will you see someday Tesco giving away their TVs just for clients to see if it fits their needs? No, they are displaying them in store so people can see the image quality, that is called a portfolio in the freelancing world.

     

    By the way, when you report a job post, there is a choice for "request free work", so that may be a sign that it's worth reporting.

     

    It's not because some are doing it that it's OK to do it. Some rape, kill and steal from others, that doesn't make it OK to do it as well.

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  • Jan White

    REQUESTS for free samples confuse me too!

    Why would I want to supply work for nothing them?

    Surely you joined PPH to sell your work.

    If client wants work for free, they scrounge for FREE SAMPLES and they don't care about the quality, they just don't want to pay the  price.

    If clients want proper work, they want to pay for it because they want to get the best.

    Only rubbish clients want work for free and they get it from rubbish freelancers.

    Freelancers who are confident and able don't need to give away work for free but Freelancers who have no confidence in their ability are happy to give their work away because it isn't real work, they are just amateurs desperate to satisfy a client who won't pay anyway!

    If freelancers stop supplying free work and stand together, the bottom feeders will evacuate to another site which is not professional and we'll attract only the good clients on PPH.

    Freelancers if you keep supplying free work, then you encourage and attract the scroungers: Those freelancers who supply free work should, I think, be banned from PPH along with those clients who continually ask for it.

     

     

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  • McHon

    You could just point them to your portfolio or Ignore them. What I do is express PPH's T.O.S on deposits before starting any work and showcase my portfolio. If they do not want to follow put, I ask them to contact PPH's support team....then ignore them.

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  • Slobodan

    I know this is an old thread, but I am new to PPH and just got hustled into doing free work from a client who kept sending me a "template" of a spreadsheet that needed some tweaking and wanted "proof" that I can do it. Since I am still trying to land my first job here I sent him the work so he can test it in the real environment. 10 minutes later he canceled the job and stopped all communication.His PPH profile:

    https://www.peopleperhour.com/freelancer/kevin/-/2107787

    This is a big lesson for me. 

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  • Jasna

    I'm currently negotiating with a potential client and I'm being asked for a sample. 

    I've been in the freelance game for a few years and quite often, the free sample is a scam. You get enough trusting and naive freelancers to send you a free sample, you'll never need to pay for any work. Early on, I would do a short sample, with the promise of more work which never materialized. I won't do that anymore.

    My suggestion is to ask the client to check the work in your portfolio. Otherwise, offer to send them samples of your previous work.

    Make it clear that you are receptive to feedback and you'll revise any work the client is not happy with. A serious client will appreciate your willingness to work with them. The rest are not worth your time or efforts.

    We are all competing for work in the freelance market and competition is fierce. Yes, we need to do what we can to land our first few jobs. I charged a pittance for my first few just to get some work and have some positive feedback. However, no serious client would expect you to work for free so if they are asking, they are either extremely demanding or scammers. Neither of these make good clients.

    Stand your ground and ask for trial pieces to be paid at a lower rate. But never do any work for free. We have a saying around here, that it's better to lay down for free than work for free.

    Best of luck to you all.

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