A Guide to How Freelancer Bids Work on Freelance Bidding Site

In a freelance marketplace, project bidding function is used as a typical approach. To discuss in depth the project bidding on a freelance site, this article will go through this function’s definition, the reasons why it’s widely employed, and the workflow of how freelancer bids work on your website.  

Freelancing industry is quickly emerging, excellently leveraging freelancer workforce all around the world. With technology being the major driving force, digital services have made profound impact on the working trend and interested a great number of people who prefer to work as freelancers. Building a freelance marketplace connecting freelancers and clients promises potential growth and success; still, it comes with challenges of a proper freelance business model and the main concept that makes your site run smoothly. If business model cares about how to monetize your platform, the main concept is the central workflow your users follow to accomplish the transaction.       

What is Project Bidding concept?

You might have heard of the word Auction, which is most frequent in real estate. Sellers present goods or services and offer them up for bidding. Interested buyers will take bids on the item which is in the end sold to the highest bidder. This is known as Ordinary Auction (also Forward Auction).

There’s another auction type called Reverse Auction in which the roles of sellers and buyers are reversed. The initiator of the transaction is now the buyers while sellers compete to win the contract. However, the buyer doesn’t necessarily choose the bidder offering the lowest price. It’s up to the him to select who’s awarded the job based on multiple parameters provided by the sellers.

Reverse Auction (Reverse Bidding) is the principle behind Project Bidding on a freelance bidding site. A client will post a project on your website, then relevant freelancers will bid for the project, write a proposal to persuade the client into choosing him/her over the others. Client will review freelancers’ proposals, portfolios, profiles, reviews and ratings, etc. to decide who gets the project.   

Besides, another feature available in Reverse Bidding is Bid Invitation. Instead of waiting for freelancers to bid on the project, clients can actively invite their favorite freelancers to bid. Such freelancers might be the ones who previously worked with those clients and had performed excellent outcome that clients want to continue partnering them.  

Why is Project Bidding important for your Freelance Site?

Let us first talk about the benefits Bidding function has on both sides of users. The bright side of project bidding is that it allows freelancers to proactively find, promote themselves to clients and grab suitable projects, rather than waiting for clients to come to them. On the other hand, reverse bidding provides clients with great chance to work with professionals in their fields without much effort browsing through the entire marketplace.
Besides its advantages, bidding has some drawbacks which are mostly seen by new freelancers to site. The lack of reputation, reviews and ratings on site might hinder them from being chosen by clients. That said, bidding is still the practice adopted in many big freelance marketplaces like Freelancer, Upwork, PeoplePerHour. What makes it so important?

Two popular job types in online outsourcing are projects and micro services. The key difference between the two lies in the job scale of each marketplace. In comparison to micro services, projects are bigger in scope, more valuable, hence requiring more thorough consideration. Specifically, while a customer can right away place an order for a micro job, it doesn’t seem effective when applied in freelance marketplace. Since requirements in a project are more complex and take up greater effort to handle, freelancer’s expertise needs to be examined and compared seriously. To solve the issue, bidding function is leveraged, granting customers the chance to select the best freelancer to carry out their project. This perfect match also results in more successful transactions and better reputation for your platform.

How Freelancer Bids work on FreelanceEngine?

FreelanceEngine WordPress theme is built aiming to provide a two sided freelance marketplace. The workflow between employers and freelancers is well constructed by core functions, ensuring every transaction is carried out smoothly.

Project Bidding function in FreelanceEngine is designed following Reverse Bidding principle. Understanding how the bid goes back and forth between clients and freelancers is essential to creating a successful freelance site.

First, the client will tell what he needs done by posting a project with detailed description and estimated budget.

You help client connect to service providers by notifying relevant freelancers of the new project. Or client can actively send “Bid Invitation” to specific freelancers.

Interested freelancers apply for the job by taking a bid. In the proposal, they can insert their cost, time of completion, and reasons why they are the best choice for the project.

The client receives bids and takes a closer look at each bid. Available materials to refer to include freelancer’s proposal, portfolio, profile, review and ratings from previous projects.

After drawing up a shortlist of potential freelancers, the client will access Private Message to have a conversation with them for further negotiation and in depth project discussion.

Upon reaching the final agreements, client will select an expert and proceed to payment.

View post on imgur.com

After having received the payment, you will take a cut in total fee as the commission, and then notify the chosen freelancer so that he can embark on the project. During the job, client and freelancer can communicate via the private workspace on your site.

Once the final result is delivered, client will review, make any necessary adjustments, finish the project, and give reviews & ratings for the freelancer.

To close the project, freelancer also writes review and marks rating for the client. When all steps are completed, freelancer is able to receive his money on the project.

FreelanceEngine – Premium WordPress Project Bidding Theme for your business

FreelanceEngine is a project bidding theme you can entrust to build your own freelance marketplace. You can feel secure about safety and credibility of its bidding system.

• Project bidding functionality in FreelanceEngine is ready to connect clients with the best freelancers on the market.
• As a site administrator, you could effectively manage the bidding process from the very start til bid acceptance and payment transfer thanks to bid status and notifications on site as well as via email.
• Most importantly, all the money is safe inside the Escrow system. Project is only initiated after payment is successfully made, freelancers just receive income after finishing the task, and you could earn revenue from commission fee charged per transaction.

Live Demo FreelanceEngine Theme