243:-type online bulletin board by being enriched with features that would exclude the possibility that employers give out advance payments for work that does not get delivered when agreed or that does not meet their requirements, and the chance that contractors deliver their work online but never hear back from employers who choose not to pay. These protective features included
336:
The bidding system on vWorker differed slightly from that general model. Because vWorker used closed or hidden bidding, a person who submitted a bid did not know the prices that other bidders quoted and could not modify his or her own bid accordingly, so there was no necessary decrease in bid amounts
355:
vWorker's solution was to strengthen its copyright and intellectual property complaint system so that it can be used by site users and members of the public for removing sensitive materials. Professors could use the same system to remove projects for homework because the professor who created the
312:
Employers did not pay any fees to list their jobs and workers were not charged subscription fees. vWorker made money by charging 6.5%–9% commission fees on successfully completed hourly projects and 7.5%–15% fees on fixed price projects; the commissions included strictly enforced arbitration and
286:
On April 15, 2010, the site expanded to a hundred new work categories that included, in addition to programming, also graphic design, writing, personal assistance, paralegal work, and others. To reflect the wider site audience, the company changed its name to vWorker, short for "virtual worker".
308:
vWorker allowed employers to post projects and jobs on the website. Workers who were registered with the site competed for the opportunity to work on the projects by posting bids. Employers chose the bid they preferred and escrowed the funds with vWorker. When job were completed, employer
263:
to build trust and credibility between parties who do not know each other. At the time the features were introduced, Rent A Coder was the first online marketplace to protect both employers and employees with escrowing and arbitration.
332:
type bidding system in which sellers compete to offer the lowest price that meets the specifications of a buyer's bid request, and prices decrease during the auction as sellers compete to offer lower bids than their competitors.
270:
Contributing factors to its growth were improved technological infrastructures (high-speed internet, open source and rapid development tools), increased competition and demand for expertise not available internally, and the
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marketplace in a traditional sense where workers created works on their own initiative, and then try to market and sell them while keeping the copyright to their work. On vWorker, all projects were performed on a
275:, during which employers looked for project-based alternatives to full-time employment, while the smaller number of available full-time jobs in people's immediate physical location made many of them become
267:
vWorker added several innovative features including trialsourcing, in which a competition is used for an initial sample of work, before hiring the freelancer in a traditional outsourcing manner.
236:. Ippolito had previously launched the Planet Source Code website for sharing the source code of computer programs and wanted to create a platform for intermediating paid programming projects.
337:
during the auction. It also turned out that the lowest bid on vWorker was chosen only by 20% of the employers and that most buyers tended to choose the bid that was submitted last.
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As of 17 November 2012, 1.3 million projects had been posted on the site with users earning $ 139 million. At that time, the site had 15 workers and $ 11.1 million in revenue.
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basis in which an employer requested a certain task to be performed according to his or her specifications and received the copyright to the work produced.
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accounts into which employers place the funds for a job and from which the mediating company pays contractors when the work is delivered,
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accidentally released private information about low-income and foster care families on the vWorker website while posting a project.
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5000 ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States for 4 consecutive years from 2007 to 2010.
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495:"Freelancer.com Buys Another IT Job Site, vWorker (aka RentACoder.com), For A Price In The Millions"
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771:"100 Founders Share Their Top 'Aha' Moments -- Guess How Many Jobs They've Created So Far?"
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Workshop on the
Economics of Networks, Systems and Computation (NetEcon '11) San Jose
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Modern freelancing marketplaces are frequently also said to be characterized by a
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of its kind. It organized and streamlined the management of outsourced employees.
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vWorker was also sometimes used by students to hire people to do their homework.
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vWorker was founded in 2001 in Tampa, Florida by Ian
Ippolito under the name of
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793:"Interview with Ian Ippolito founder of vWorker.com on making money on the Web"
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acquired vWorker "for a price in the millions" and the URL was redirected.
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The type of job board that he had in mind differed from a static
893:"Some Students Use Net To Hire Experts to Do Their School Work"
749:"The Influencers: Five to Follow on Twitter for Crowdsourcing"
621:"Internet Marketplaces for Freelancers – The Future of Work?"
454:"Tech guns for hire: 5 places to find skilled IT contractors"
585:"An interview with Ian Ippolito, CEO and Founder of vWorker"
297:
In 2010, the site had approximately $ 3 million in revenue.
177:
27:
520:"Freelancer.com acquires vWorker (formerly RentACoder.com)"
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rating system from previous employers and contractors for
731:"vWorker Named to the Inc. 5000 for Fourth Year in a Row"
713:"vWorker Named to the Inc. 5000 for Fourth Year in a Row"
433:"8 Things To Love & Hate About Outsourcing Employees"
316:
According to the model described, vWorker was not a
844:Wu, Yu; Ung, Hang; Aperjis, Christina (June 2011).
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309:authorized the release of the funds to the worker.
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Required for posting projects and applying for jobs
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193:that enabled companies to outsource projects and
733:(Press release). September 13, 2010 – via
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846:"The Sunk Cost Fallacy in Reverse Auctions"
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944:Internet properties disestablished in 2012
699:"RentACoder to vWorker – A vWorker Review"
614:
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510:
20:
868:"Government Agency Exposes Day-Care Data"
954:Online marketplaces of the United States
934:Employment websites in the United States
939:Internet properties established in 2001
747:Prior, Kara Ohngren (January 6, 2011).
402:
168:Defunct; acquired by and redirected to
820:Witchalls, Clint (November 16, 2005).
655:Kenton, Christopher (April 11, 2003).
634:Flandez, Raymund (October 13, 2008).
601:Phillips, Larry (December 19, 2005).
255:support for settling disputes, and a
7:
538:"Freelancer.com buys RentACoder.com"
493:Lunden, Ingrid (November 19, 2012).
475:vWorker.com: Overview for Employers
213:, it was one of the largest global
949:Online employment auction websites
866:Sullivan, Bob (February 8, 2004).
697:Bhimani, Shappir (June 22, 2010).
619:Recklies, Dagmar (February 2001).
557:Kirsner, Scott (January 1, 2006).
412:"15 Dos and Don'ts Of Outsourcing"
410:Lister, Kate (September 1, 2010).
16:Employment website for freelancers
14:
676:Puranik, Amod (August 19, 2005).
478:. December 29, 2010 – via
431:Hall, Mark (November 12, 2011).
891:Gomes, Lee (January 18, 2006).
768:Hall, Alan (October 15, 2012).
678:"Online Freelance Marketplaces"
543:American City Business Journals
929:Freelance marketplace websites
791:Stowers, Mark (July 2, 2012).
452:Kugler, Logan (May 22, 2012).
290:The company was listed on the
1:
822:"Websites: The $ 60 question"
807:"Bootstrapping Your Business"
356:homework owns the copyright.
197:to find work. Together with
657:"The Woman Behind the Code"
583:Shazada, Usman (May 2011).
347:Livingston County, New York
283:to earn additional income.
247:for pay-for-time projects,
74:; 23 years ago
975:
924:Defunct American websites
636:"Help Wanted – And Found"
559:"The eBay of Programmers"
26:
898:The Wall Street Journal
641:The Wall Street Journal
195:independent contractors
662:Bloomberg Businessweek
603:"Contingent workforce"
245:time tracking software
220:On November 19, 2012,
215:freelance marketplaces
183:
94:; 11 years ago
92:November 19, 2012
43:Privately held company
33:
719:. September 13, 2010.
376:Freelance marketplace
261:reputation management
181:
31:
880:on February 6, 2022.
546:. November 19, 2012.
526:. November 19, 2012.
366:Contingent workforce
345:In 2004, workers in
313:payment guarantees.
172:on 19 November 2012
165:Current status
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191:employment website
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182:The vWorker Office
55:Employment website
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715:(Press release).
522:(Press release).
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61:Available in
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147:Registration
131:Ian Ippolito
107:Headquarters
50:Type of site
32:vWorker Logo
18:
717:PR Newswire
605:. InformIT.
524:PR Newswire
391:Remote work
386:Outsourcing
318:freelancing
281:freelancing
253:arbitration
160:2.5 million
141:Recruitment
913:Categories
701:. biztips.
500:TechCrunch
397:References
341:Criticisms
241:Craigslist
126:Founder(s)
99:2012-11-19
120:Worldwide
88:Dissolved
873:NBC News
360:See also
207:Guru.com
137:Industry
480:YouTube
279:or try
228:History
189:was an
187:vWorker
97: (
77: (
69:Founded
64:English
22:vWorker
777:Forbes
249:escrow
211:Upwork
209:, and
199:Elance
849:(PDF)
156:Users
735:Inc.
292:Inc.
79:2001
72:2001
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
