Breaking the Rules

Elance has certain rules, and if you break them Elance can come in and close your account. The idea isn’t that they’re Big Brother and will come swooping down when you don’t sing the Party song. It’s that the goal is to have a safe and professional environment within which to conduct business.

Creating this environment means having and enforcing certain rules. Chief among these is to not accept payment outside of the Elance system. The entire structure breaks down if you do this, and Elance will close you down fast. To get reinstated, if possible, you will have to jump through hoops.

The interesting part about this is, you’re actually safer using the Elance payment system even though it costs contractors up to 8.75 percent per transaction. Nothing can tear up a relationship like money can—ask any family dividing up an estate. In the business environment it’s the same.

TOP TIPS

If you are a contractor and not feeling comfortable in the working relationship you have with a client, you can always call the Elance help desk and ask them what you can do. Maybe you’ve got to stick it out, but maybe not. There’s usually a way to work through, or out of, a difficult situation.

I had been living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for about five months when I got an email from Elance saying that if I didn’t prove my residency I would have my account closed. I’d been working on Elance the entire time I was traveling but had no idea what the problem with my account might be.

It turned out Elance had picked up that I wasn’t conducting business from the same IP address that I had signed up on. This is one way they make sure that whoever signs up for the account is actually the person doing the work.

Not knowing what was going on, I Skyped Elance, explained my situation, and was told that if I stayed in Buenos Aires I would have to change the home location in my profile. Even when I explained I was flying home soon to live and work, they still required that I send them a photocopy of my driver’s license to prove my residence. Elance is watching….

I have also seen them close projects because the contractors were asked to provide free editing or writing in order to determine who was best for the job. Another big no-no, and rightfully so.

In the future, expect more innovation in ensuring both contractors and clients are who they say they are. This is crucial for maintaining a safe and quality work environment.