Rent A Coder Review
Working with RentaCoder
RentACoder (also known as RAC) was one of the first freelancing sites that I joined when I decided that having been published in print I was no longer interested in query/submission process, but wanted to pursue a more regular writing job instead. A friend suggested I take a look at RAC and I liked what I saw – or more importantly, I understood what I saw!
Two years down the road, I’ve quite a lot of freelance experience, especially as a ghostwriter, and I’m still with RentaCoder and that in itself is a good recommendation but the site isn’t without its flaws. For writers who want to follow a similar work path to that I walk, it’s definiately a site that shouldn’t be discounted.
Main Advantages
Free! Well, there are no actual subscription charges unlike some of the other freelance sites that attract writers. They do however take a percentage of what you earn for each project – but the site tells you how much this will be as you submit your bid on each project.
Variety. There’s a huge range of clients looking for many different writing styles and offering a wide spectrum of topics and even writing types – such as web writing, technical writing and white paper writing.
Financially Safe. All clients must escrow their funds before you start the project, and RAC advises you not to start a project until they (RAC) inform you that the escrow payment has been made. You can’t access the funds until the client releases them upon project completion, but once they accept your submitted project, the funds are released to your RAC account.Â
Review System. Many sites offer a review system but RAC is slightly different in that you give your review “blindâ€. Until both the client and writer have given a review, neither review is revealed. This means that you get a fair assessment, not one that’s based on your review of the client.Â
Invitation System. Clients have an option of offering an open project where everyone can bid, inviting a selection of specific freelancers to bid, or even inviting one specific freelancer (especially if they’ve worked with them previously).Â
Personal Page. Here you get to write a bit about yourself, and what you specialize in. This helps identify you to clients looking to invite specific writers to bid on their project.
Main Disadvantages
Fees! Although there’s no subscription charge, the project percentage could take a larger percentage of your earnings than you’d like. You need to remember however that even some of the sites which have a subscription fee also take a percentage of the earnings from each project on top of their monthly/annual fee – it’s lower than RAC but when you add the subscription charges it often works out that RAC still costs less.
Unrealistic Clients. Some clients offer projects with ridiculous budgets – we’re talking $1 for 500 word articles! The upside to this is that you can ignore them and choose to bid on better paying projects. RAC isn’t the worst for unrealistic clients, but it does seem to get a fair share of them.
Arbitration System. This may at first seem like a good idea and an advantage, but having been through this because of no fault of my own, I know it to be a disadvantage because the system is biased towards the client. You can go to arbitration over a situation with a project, but if you lose, your account with RAC is closed – even if you were in the right! Arbitration is often a case of “he said, she said†so unless you are 100% certain that you can’t possibly be found to be in the wrong, it’s not worth it!
Releasing Funds. Although your funds for a project may have been released to your account, you can’t access them! RAC pays out either once or twice a month depending on which option you choose. Payment is sent via PayPal around the 15th and 30th of each month only.
The disadvantages of RentaCoder are not to be dismissed lightly, but when they are looked at against similar sites, they aren’t that different. The advantages of finding work at the site far outweigh any negative points the site has. Despite one not so nice experience, I’m still working with them and have met some of my best repeat clients there. As with all freelance sites, as long as you clarify exactly what’s expected before you accept the project, you shouldn’t have a problem.Â
If you’re looking for a site that will bring you freelance work, RAC is worth at least a second look – after all, it costs you nothing to sign up!  VISIT RENTACODER
Katie-Anne
Another Great Writer Wrangler Reviewer!
Katie-Anne Gustafsson freelance writer and owner of wakeupwriting.com, the site that kick starts your creative muse.â€
Need to rent a coding expert? Choose the perfect coder from over 10,000 at Rent A Coder.com
Hello, My name is Corena and I am a content broker. That means I need writers and graphic designers for contract jobs pretty often. This blog is something I put up to help my writers get honest reveiws..most written by other writers and not some scam. If it is interesting to writers you may find it here. If you're interested in writing some news let us know.I hope that I will post something of interest to you and if not let me know and I will do my best to get something up that will tempt you to come again and again. ~Corena
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Hello
For me the main problem with rentacoder is mental abilities of the staff. They can’t provide consistent arbitration if project is significantly bigger than several hundreds
you can read about my experience with them at http://kamen123.blogspot.com
(After reading this I think it might be a spammer, you can make up your mind)
May 8th, 2007 at 11:45 am
Kamen, for you the big problem is:
insulter “kamen123″ has been banned from RentACoder.
Story of your personal failure:
Kamen Kaburov RentACoder Arbitration
“kamen123†spoil perfect site in revenge !
My name: Sergey I.Grachyov
Nickname: TakeReal
I am famous freelancer.
I have:
875 projects completed via RentACoder
96 projects completed via GetAFreelancer
32 projects completed via Scriptlance
May 31st, 2007 at 8:13 pm
Katie-Ann, I know I’m late to the party, but I just wanted to say THANK YOU for this blog!!!! I have never gone to the RAC before, and I had a BLAST today! I applied to five different jobs, and if I get even half of them, I’ll be in trouble, lol! But I doubt I’ll get even that.
I love the fact that I don’t have to pay any money out of pocket, and that the jobs are all open to everyone, instead of having jobs for people who are subscribers, and people who are not. I would rather pay the 15% fee when I actually got a job, vs paying a fee when I would have no clue if I was going to get a job or not. It only makes sense.
So thanks a lot for the very informative blog – I really appreciate it!
Hava
June 1st, 2007 at 11:44 am
I love rent a coder. It is by far my favorite among all the bidding sites. Despite the many unrealistic clients there are quite a few wonderful clients that I have developed long-term working relationships with. In fact, all of my regular clients off RAC originated on RAC with the exception of the work I find at WW and that was because Carson sent me this way.
May 1st, 2008 at 6:14 am
RACsuccess.com: Learn about Rent A Coder (RAC) and how to succeed in RAC by watching videos!
There are many freelance websites out there which are great and have a lot to offer. However, there is one freelance website called Rent A Coder which is such a great place to do business online. Rent A Coder (RAC) lets you post any project of any size that you want for a coder to get it done by the time you need it done. RAC also let’s you post bids on projects just like on eBay you are able to post bids on products. In this way, both coders and buyers come together into a safe marketplace through the ‘Safe Project Escrow’ system which offers protection to both buyers and coders.
Would you like to learn more about RAC by watching videos?
If you have never heard about RAC before, click here to go to our 100% free videos library that will teach you how to become a member and how to use RAC website.
If you are already a coder/buyer in RAC but you are new or you still haven’t got the best of RAC then click here to go to our paid videos page from which you will be able to purchase the RACsuccess package. The RACsuccess package offers you more than 40 videos and two guides (one for buyers and one for coders) that will teach you with straight to the point advice on how you can succeed in RAC both as a buyer and as a coder.
Trial version of the RACsuccess package is available for download but if you want to purchase it, you can purchase it for just $9.95!
RACsuccess.com also offers both coders and buyers of RAC a place of encounter since it offers a forum on which you can share your experiences, ask your questions and let others respond to your concerns through the RACsuccess community Forum.
URL: http:\\www.racsuccess.com
Sincerely,
Luis Lazo (Owner of RACsuccess.com)
September 12th, 2008 at 10:20 am
From my personal experience RAC is a very risky place to work in. I bid an extremely low price for a big project hoping to get a good rating and more subsequent projects. However, the way that it turned out was that the buyer kept on expanding the scope of the project and it would never end. Frustrated I put the project into arbitration, but lost because of some feature that I tried to do but was not able to do completely. Overall, I lost about a months effort to nothing and most probably the buyer got a lot more than the initial project work for free.
On RAC, you need to be very careful about clueless buyers who will make completing projects a pain.
I would advise coders to stick with an hourly payment cycle on something like odesk.com and stay away from RAC.
October 5th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
I tried to have a simple project completed through RAC. This was my first experience with them so I had high hopes and expectations. I found a coder who appeared to understand the needs of the project and agreed on a 90 day deliverable.
RAC provides a small discount if you pay by check. However, paying by check delayed the project by 2-1/2 weeks for them to allow the check to clear. They make claims on their website that the project cannot start while the money is being cleared however, since they apply this to all projects, they failed to understand that I gave the coder 90 days.
Regardless, the project finally kicked off at the end of July 09. The first month was nearly lifeless as the coder rarely worked on the project and when he did, the results were dismal. In the second month it was the same routine. Finally 30 days before the due date I pulled the plug on the project. The coder wasted a lot of time at my expense.
I’m now waiting for RAC to refund the remaining escrow however, I am sure that this will be another 2 weeks. It appears that RAC is not interested in service levels but more in making interest off the money escrowed in the account and receiving compensation for failed projects (3.5% to be precise).
My opinion is that RAC is not capable of meeting the expectations of the “buyer” and seems to be a clearing house for short interest loans.
January 31st, 2010 at 11:57 pm
My experience: I posted a very simple request for a company logo. I accepted a bid from 1 of 51 responders. I put money in escrow and never heard from the winning bidder. I went around and around with RAC for a refund of my escrowed money. Have not received to date. My experience: don’t bother with this company.
March 1st, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Finally, a good site that isn’t in my face trying to constantly sell me something. Thanks, please keep up the good work.
April 21st, 2010 at 2:15 pm
RAC is horrible. They take too much in fees and the quality of the projects is awful.
September 3rd, 2010 at 10:18 pm
If you decide to work through vWorker (Rent A Coder’s new name), don’t be in a hurry to get paid. Their pay periods end on the 15th and the end of the month and then they have 7 days to get your money to you. So, lets say you finish a project on the 1st of the month. That project will go on the pay period ending the 15th. And then it very well may be the 22nd before you get paid. So, almost a month has passed since you finished the project.
Additionally, when getting paid, even though vWorker has already charged you 15% of the amount that you bid on the project, they still will charge you 2.00 more to process the money for you.
During these possible 21 days, where has your money been? My guess would be in vWorker’s bank account drawing interest that you will never see.