Having some doubts about that work exchange site you pay to belong to? If you're seeing the Seven Deadly Signs, maybe it's time to cancel that membership. Here's what to look for.

1. No one ever answers your emails.

The first clue that you've stumbled upon a quality company is if they've provided customer and technical assistance. If you've sent numerous emails and clicked the Submit My Question button to no avail, that's a good indication that there's nobody on staff. Is this what you pay that monthly membership for?

2. Seems like you're always getting invoiced.

You've contracted a total of one jobs through the site, and yet your credit card is being charged at every turn. First they hit you with your monthly dues, then they get you on the percentage of the total job cost, then they invoice you for the cut they take out of your client's paycheck... when you think about it, who's getting the raw deal here? I suspect it may be you.

3. You often find yourself "lost" on the site.

A good website, even if it contains a large number of pages, should navigate logically and you should always be able to get back where you started. If you've visited the site on more than a handful of occasions and yet you still get Lost in the Labyrinth, maybe you should click your heels together three times and stay the heck out of there.

4. Some of the job bidders give you the willies.

It shouldn't be that difficult to find qualified professionals on a site where you pay $50 a month for a standard membership. Yet, seems like every prospect you come across is some poor-spelling, lousy-detail-giving, weird-screen-name-having, poor follow-upper person who makes you question their skills and integrity.

5. They're sneaky about those "hidden costs."

You may know this feeling. You try to perform an action, such as uploading a portfolio, bidding, or what-have-you. When you click, it appears that you'll soon be carried to the desired page. But then you're launched to a new spot where you're prompted to "Upgrade your Membership... and worse, you can't find your way back to the page where you were!

6. The site doesn't send you email notifications of your money transactions.

If a site is automatically deducting money from your credit card account and not informing you about it with an email, you should be concerned. In fact; maybe it's time to think about cancelling that membership. Who knows what new costs you'll incur that no one will tell you about?

7. The job bidders are offering pay that's so low, it's downright insulting.

Why are you paying top dollar to belong to a site whose members pay bottom dollar for your expert services? Most of these freelance gig sites are not worth it in the long run. The amount of jobs you'll likely land over a course of a year is probably nowhere close to the amount of money you feed them each month to run your piddly basic membership that doesn't even include a portfolio.

In short: perhaps it's time to reassess the real worth of all those job sites you belong to. Just think of all the extra money you'll have coming in when you cancel all those memberships. Probably more than several freelance jobs combined!

Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.