[pete123]

The gumtree community is being clouded by hundreds of freelance web designers who are offering services at unrealisticly low rates. Many of them use @yahoo or @hotmail e-mail addresses for privacy and operate with mobile phone numbers that cannot be traced. People have complained about low grade services and fraudulent activity as a result of easy come, easy go freelancers.

Even though it is against Gumtree terms & conditions for unregistered businesses or freelancers to place ads in the business services section, it appears that gumtree cannot cope with the influx of illegal ad postings.

Help CLEAN the Business Services section from "freelancers" and REPORT any suspicious ads from unregistered companies that are giving gumtree a bad name.

If you are the victim of a low garde service or have been ripped off by a freelancer, report them to Trading Standards and the Tax Man.

[andysears]

Can you explain why the Gumtree for Luton has under the Services banner the category 'computer / telecom / freelance'

Maybe thats why freelancers advertise there!

So being a freelancer, and also employed should I be reported to the tax man?

If so he will tell you that I am indeed registered as self employed as well as PAYE so pay tax twice.

You really need to check the facts before making accusations.

If you having some sort of problem with a freelancer, then thats for you to sort out. Instead of tarring everyone with the same brush.

Because until we here the freelancers side of things, nobody really knows who is in the wrong, maybe you refused payment, maybe you were an awkward customer, maybe you wanted something for nothing, maybe you agreed a design then kept making changes, maybe you always pay late. I have had them all over the years.

With freelance web design, it nearly always starts off with customers that do not know what they really want. They sometimes have big ideas and no idea of cost. But like anything in this world, you get what you pay for.

http://www.sears-online.co.uk/


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[sm0ke]

I agree with Andy on this one.

As a self employed IT solutions specialist and web developer (note developer not designer), I'm actually classed as a sole trader and have no reason to "register my business" unless sales exceed a certain amount in the VAT threshold - I am required to declare my business for tax and national insurance purposes but you'll find no mention of me on the companies house search engine. Does this mean I am therefore no good at my profession and unable to complete any of my workload to a high degree of quality whilst still keeping prices to a minimum? If it did, I believe I'd have a full time job and no business.

Like Andy says most people approaching web designers / developers / etc dont know what they want, If a customer wants me to design a site, no problem I do always tell them that im a developer not a designer but can put a template together at no extra costs. Or he can have a professional layout and design pay for that from someone else and come to me to have a system worked into the design, costing more but looking better. Then when they take my template and complain they dont like it 3 months down the line so this months payment wont be forthcoming, I look like the bad guy in there eyes because they wanted a professional looking website, they took my basic (very very basic) design template knowing full well that was it, no more, no extras.

If you dont ask up front, you dont get - If you wanted SEO services along with this site / #whatever you paid for, then you needed to discuss this beforehand. Any redesign or change to your specifications can push the freelancer back 24 / 48 hours maybe less, it depends on the job at hand.

Contact your guy, tell them the problems.

Please dont take out personal experiences with one person on a whole commuinity of people