New Enhancements Improve Project Collaboration
We are excited to announce the latest product release to the Elance community, which includes improvements that make it easier for buyers to award, collaborate on, and manage their projects. We’ve also made it easier for providers to get repeat business.
Key Enhancements:
- MyElance Redesign for Buyers
- Repeat Projects
- Business to Business Job Posting
- Bid Minimums
- Buyer Award Process
- E-checks
- Referral Program
MyElance Redesign for Buyers
We’ve redesigned the MyElance interface for buyers to make it easier to collaborate online and make it more effective to manage projects. The redesigned interface simplifies the day-to-day management of jobs by giving buyers one convenient dashboard to manage all their Elance activity and projects.
In one at-a-glance screen, buyers can monitor all of their jobs and:
- Easily view and sort messages and email by date or jobs
- View time-sensitive “To Do” lists and deadlines with one-click access for more detailed information
- Receive important reminders and alerts so nothing slips through the cracks
- Get a snapshot of vital statistics like award rate, feedback, and job spend – of all jobs or just one
We’ve also added a new project workroom for each project to help buyers manage each project more effectively. Each workroom gives a detailed view of each project and enables buyers to:
- Manage day-to-day tasks at the job-level
- Easily access all information related to any specific project – such as private messages, files, payments, business terms and proposals – basically all information that helps buyers manage their jobs
- Access at-a-glance highlights of key milestones and dates
- View status updates from service providers to understand progress towards key milestones
- Communicate with providers via one-click access to private message boards, chat and call functions
Repeat Projects
We’ve also made it easier for buyers and providers to continue working together on Elance. Both buyers and providers can now create repeat projects without having to complete new project requests. Other highlights include:
- Buyers can rehire providers in a single step
- Buyers and providers can create milestones and continue to choose hourly or fixed price contracts
- Buyers or providers engaging in repeat projects can now use Escrow as the payment type
Business to Business (B2B) Job Posting
Buyers with complex request for proposals (RFP’s) who wish to work only with Large Business providers can publish their RFP as a Business to Business (B2B) posting. With a Business to Business posting, buyers limit the proposals they receive and ensure their proposals are only from businesses with Large Business memberships on Elance.
Bid Minimums
Bid minimums are now tied to project budget.
The new bid minimum ranges are:
- Project value less than $500 – minimum bid is $50
- Project value between $500 and $1000 – minimum bid is $350
- Project value greater than $1000 – minimum bid is $700
Buyer Award Process
Buyers can now jumpstart their projects and ensure project success with the ability to send draft business terms as part of the award process. Buyers can propose business terms without having to wait for the provider to send terms upon project acceptance.
Now pay with E-checks
With E-checks, US-based buyers now have another convenient option to pay providers. E-checks allows US buyers to pay providers directly from the buyers' bank account.
Referral Program
We’ve now made it easier for you to earn money when you help grow the Elance community. Tell your friends and colleagues about your profile or post on Elance, and we’ll pay you $50 for every qualified referral*. You now have three easy ways to refer:
- Send emails directly to your network
- Forward any Elance profile or project, including your own, to a friend
- Place an Elance badge directly on your website, blog, networking profile, email signature – any way you reach friends online
Elance Badge:
Learn more
* A new Elance member you sent to Elance that spends or earns at least $1,000 within 12 months of your referral.
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Jun 6, 2008 6:37am
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Can elance post some more comments on B2B type of projects. From the snapshot that ypoon has posted in above thread, it seems to cost $50 to a buyer to be able to post a B2B project. Thats make some sense to charge the client to reach the large business. However i just opened a project which is marked a B2B i can see it costs 30 connects to submit proposal and 20 additional connect to make it a sponsored proposal. So it costs a total of $50 connects for a featured proposal. It looks Elance is trying to make as much money as possible out of the providers ? Isn't it ? |
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Jun 7, 2008 10:34am
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Bid Minimums = AWESOME! Thanks for this! I believe there may be an issue with the Repeat Projects section, though. http://www.elance.com/p/node/3152 ~Ms. VBA~ |
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Jun 8, 2008 7:48am
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Dear York. I appreciate this. We do need a preferential outcome and action required organizer like widgets which can put/auto put on top and bottom reminding stage wise actions. This will solve the problem of going from message to accepted projects page to accounts etc. I feel all things can be organized in a single page. -Manuj |
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Jun 9, 2008 1:08pm
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I fear I am very confused about the Bid Minimums listed above! If a "Project value is between $500 and $1,000", how can the minimum bid be $350? (The same, obviously, goes for projects with a value greater that $1,000, which feature a minimum bid of $750. Can anyone clarify? Thanks Thomjon |
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Jun 13, 2008 9:23am
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Thank you for establishing bid minimums. It definitely is a step in the right direction. However, I feel if the project value is over $1000, then the minimum bid allowed should be $1000. |
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Jun 16, 2008 8:46pm
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Hi RUBYKUBE, Thanks for your feedback. The level of detail you seek for each of your projects can be found in the Workrooms for each project. For each project in the Workroom, there is a “To Do” list and a list of project milestones to help you simplify the management of your jobs. To access the Workroom area, find the project in the Workrooms area on MyElance. If you can’t find the specific project, click on the “Workrooms” link from MyElance and then click on the specific project for which you’d like to see more detail. Best, Jim |
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Jun 16, 2008 8:48pm
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Hi Thomjon, Bid minimums are automatically enforced by the Elance system. For example, if the value of a project is between $500 and $1,000, the system requires that a bid be at least $350. If you bid below $350, the system will not accept it. You can certainly bid below the project value, but you can’t bid below the bid minimum. In the case of the example above, you can bid below $500, but must bid above $350. The primary reasons bid minimums are enforced are to help ensure only real, high quality bids are posted, help us maintain the highest quality provider network and ensure a better match between buyers and providers for the project. Best, Jim |
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Jun 16, 2008 8:50pm
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Hi Aptlogix, One of the reasons we launched the new B2B posting option is that we had heard from both buyers and providers the request to create a way where RFPs for large projects were targeted solely to large providers. This made sense to us because it is consistent with our goal of continually targeting the highest quality buyers. In addition, B2B postings also address buyers who want to use B2B postings often have specific requirements (such as certain certifications like CMM, Microsoft Gold certification, etc.) that only larger businesses can meet. In the past, we saw many individual and small business providers wasting their Connects by submitting proposals without understanding the specific requirements. We will monitor the results of the new B2B option and will make adjustments as needed to achieve the goal of facilitating the best possible match for buyers and providers. Best, Jim |
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