Scrap High Value
It is the start of the year, where businesses, and people, assess the past year and look forward and plan the new one. In the same manner it is more than due time that PPH do the same with the supposed 'trial' of "High Value Jobs". This is a failure from start to finish. Of all the features requested by sellers, this was not one of them, and has been universally hated.
The 'explanation' posts has many responses to just why this is a pitifully bad idea.Your reasoning:
- The likelihood of follow-on work, based on historical data.
- The Project’s budget
- Relevant historical data that allows us to make accurate predictions.
"Projects are based on the evaluations of a predictive algorithm, and all predictions run a possible risk of being flawed. Though having tested and trained the algorithm, we are positive it is more than capable of accurately attributing a Project as High Value when all the criteria are met, and we will continue to refine it in the future."
This is simply not the case, and never has been. In the Web Development categories I search, over 99% of all jobs labeled High Value have failed these flags. The use of 'historical data' is a convenient arbitrary label for ambiguity. Low budget jobs, jobs with little or poor specification, new buyers with no history, buyers with a very poor award record (the norm), the list goes on.
It was topped off before christmas with a small one-off task/job labelled as high value, and with a budget of $16. Yes, not a typo, $16. This is, after commission, worth less than the cost of the credits!
That a significant proportion of jobs labelled High Value, as well as normal ones, have totally inadequate specifications, and/or have not been vetted by someone experienced in the field speaks volumes. Duplicate posting of the same job is also an issue PPH ignore.
Initially High Value jobs were restricted to those with a set/fixed budget. This coincided with the proposal process flow for buyers steering them conveniently to setting a budget. Recently PPH has been applying 'High Value' to an increasing number of jobs with no fixed budget, primarily ££ and £££.
It's hard not to be cynical at this point. But the conclusions are inevitable. My meta data analysis, over a number of months of jobs being awarded, shows a job award rate of <5%. This is from daily batches of jobs and then checking at 30days for action/expiry. High Value jobs in my experience are NO MORE likely to be awarded than standard jobs. Time is a freelancers primary asset and each proposal takes time and effort. To have them often ignored, as with most queries is suspect at best.
***There are other patterns, especially for very low budget jobs awarded to consistently the same sellers, with fast turnarounds (for the often poor job sec) to the same 'UK' buyers. That is another issue.
***Having proposals rejected without a reason and then PPH suggeting that we waste more credit(s) on "a proposal they can't refuse" is also incredibly insulting.
The bottom line if that PPH as a business is to remain viable, and justify itself to the VCs they have taken financing from, then it has to show income. It is clear that the platform is far from the vibrant one it pretends to be. PPH are using buyers to increase their financial bottom line.
Buyers/freelancers have been systematically squeezed over the last 18months, from reduced free credits, increased credit cost, and removal of the 100credit package, to the compulsory moving of older freelancers to more punitive commission rates - the excuse it promotes recurring relationships doesn't wash when the fact that most jobs are one-off low/moderate budget.
Buyers / freelancers are your primary asset, and the lifeblood you built the business on, yet you continue to ignore them, and use them as some sort of recurring cash cow. Inexcusable and morally repugnant.
The post that you were supposed to use for responses is dead:
https://support.peopleperhour.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115009187868-high-value-job
I don't want a cut and paste response with the url of the original blog post, or a repeat of the 'explanation' post above. I want a full and frank explanation from the CEO why this has been allowed to continue.
As of 01/19 I will no longer purchase any additional credits while HVJ is an active feature, and have moved my primary job search to other platforms and offline/local sources. I will use by allocated credits and no more. I will not promote or recommend PPH in any way. I will report any High Value Jobs that have had no due diligence as to their suitability with the hashtag #ScrapHighValue. I urge others to do the same.
Thanks
SB 01/01/19
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Still keep getting Buyers / Sellers mixed up. Of course when I mention Buyers/Freelancers, I mean Sellers/Freelancers.
It still holds that Buyers have also been affected by higher costs, which also reduce the number of jobs awarded by them.
I await a full response from the PPH CEO.
Thanks
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Yes Stephen!
I am so fed up of PeoplePerHour milking their freelancers, who run their site for them btw!
I just got invited to a £200 high value job.... except for the fact the client is asking for a brochure that is 100+ pages long... With PPH fees that's about £1.50 per page... literally working for peanuts!
The audacity of the company to then charge extra credits for this job (let's not get started on the ridiculous fact that we are forced to buy a stupid currency (credits) that is then exchange to have the opportunity to get a job that PPH already is milking fees from both sides.
A joke. The worst part is this company is a UK Registered company and supposedly founded by freelancers. Lol, just lol. I would love to be included in this response if a response will ever be given! I have sent countless emails over the past 12 months about issues, and no one ever responds properly, just vague copy and pasted crap about how they care etc.
They don't care and I hope that PPH really learns a lesson. I would love to see theme accountable for this. -
I actually got a response from PPH haha! Just classic!
The HIGH VALUE characterization is being governed by our algorithm (AI). I can inform you on certain requirements -not all- that will characterize a Project as HIGH VALUE:- Popularity of the Project theme. Those data are historic in nature.
- Price of the Project compared to other relevant Projects. Those data are historic in nature.
- Possibility of long-lasting relationship with the Buyer. Those data are a combination of historic and personal information.
- Correlation between the Project set skills and the relevant ones of our Freelancers. Those data are historic in nature. If the Project has skill requirements that are addressed to the majority of our Freelancer's, then it is under consideration for the HIGH VALUE characterization.
Each of the above has a specific value/importance set in our algorithm. I apologize but I am not at liberty to share that. The specifics of our algorithm’s functionality are confidential. -
Several high value jobs today under £100. Ridiculous. The people that lose out here are the clients as I know that I'm not the only one that doesn't bid on these job per se. I don't think most clients are aware that freelancers are less likely to bid on a job designated as high value and they get fewer qualified bids as a result.
But hey, that's Peopleperhour, profit before service to freelancers or clients.
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Hi Karl,
I've got some great news for you. As of yesterday, you can enjoy our new fee scheme!
Check our blog post to find out more about this update:
https://www.peopleperhour.com/blog/archive/new-and-improved-fees/We are now proud to have the lowest freelancer fees in the business!
The best is yet to come :)
All the best,
Yannis -
The change in fees is very welcome but in reality it probably won't help many people. From my point of view I rarely charge £200 for a project. Even if I get repeat work I almost never get very far past £250 with a single client, so this will still mean I'm paying 20% on almost all my work.
The much older fee structure was far better because the lower rate kicked in once a certain amount had been invoiced during a month and so accumulating some small and medium sized jobs would lead to the lower rate and there was an incentive to hit that target and get some jobs later on in the month that had lower fees.
What I think is more important than the fee is the hourly rates and budget sizes. This is such a buyer's market that it is incredibly difficult to earn a sensible rate. If you can stop people trying to hire a skilled and experienced professional for £6 per hour and get that up to £30 per hour and more, and I will happily pay your 20%.
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