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I've never done freelance work before, but I have a lot of video-related skills that I'd like to market and find work using. I always make it a point to do research on web sites before I commit to anything. I'd like to join a freelance site, but reviews I've found for a variety of them are consistently bad. I'm not talking one or two disgruntled clients/workers, I mean consistent 1-2 stars and horror story comments across the board.

How do I gauge the safety of a particular freelance site when almost all the reviews I find warn you to stay away?

Edit: Not sure how this is too broad, but I'll try elaborating a bit more. An example of one review site I've checked is SiteJabber. If you search the name of a freelance site such as freelancer.com or upwork.com you'll see loads of reviews from people who claim they've gotten their accounts frozen/closed, lack of arbitration (from sites who claim to have it), and so on. It's hard to know if this is the vocal few or not.

Every review site I check is like this, so clearly I can't base my decision on that. I'd just like to know several freelance sites that are reputable and proven to be safe to join and use when looking for work.

HDL
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  • How would answers here be any different than reviews you've read? They are all based on the opinion of an individual. You'll find some that like a particular site and just as many who may not. – Scott Nov 15 '16 at 21:18
  • Sure it's subjective, but I figured at least here I could get some more focused responses on what things one should actually look for when choosing site(s), and hopefully get much more constructive and informed feedback than just "xyz site is a scam stay away" reviews. Not to mention there are undoubtedly people who've done the same in the past and might have useful answers. They're all opinions but there's no way the two can be compared. – HDL Nov 15 '16 at 21:57
  • I disagree. See, I'd say they are all scam sites and you should stay away. I've had a very long career freelancing and never once needed any of those middleman web sites. – Scott Nov 15 '16 at 22:34
  • You could say that, but that's not at all what I'm asking. I'd like input from people with experience with these sites. I don't understand why my question is a problem here. All I'm doing is seeking help from people who've been through the motions rather than figure things out the hard and painful way if at all possible. – HDL Nov 15 '16 at 22:49
  • There are reviews from reputable websites I found with a Google search, they even list the best/safest freelance/self-employment sites. You just have to watch out for promotional sites. – Freeing my Lance Nov 17 '16 at 21:25

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upwork.com, since the merger of elance and odesk they really worked on their platform, the interaction with freelancers / job posters works very well.

On the down side: they also ask for a bigger percentage.

user3244085
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