1. The person on a freelance website that says they will not pay for the work but give you a good referral instead. Forget it. This person will take a job that will supposedly only take 5 minutes and milk it for as many hours as you will tolerate before quitting. And you get nothing in return except a "good" review. I watched one guy do this and then not even give out top reviews. He would complain about poor communications or not finishing the project etc.
2. Always check on the previous programmer/designer or whatever because a sure sign that the client is not to be trusted is a lot of previous freelancers working on the site. One of the things I usually do is ask to speak to the previoius programmer. If it illicits a response of "oh he just took off and I don't know where he is" but the site is 90% programmed, warning bells start going off. Or if the programmers did as they are supposed to do and left a log of what work was done on the site and you see quite a few over a short period of time (2 or 3 in a year or 2) and the client compains that they just weren't trustworthy or whatever, take a hard look at the situation.
3. One that I love is the person who advertises saying "I am a programmer so I know how long this will take ...." and then says the job will take an experienced programmer only 1/2 hour to do. Well this one should clue you in that s/he is NOT a programmer and is trying to scam you into a low price. First, if they are good enough to know that it will take "x" number of hours to do it, then they won't tell you. They will wait and see what you come up with and decide if you are trying to inflate the hours. If they say some silly number like "5 minutes" then they are really clueless. IF they really were a programmer and IF the job was really going to take less than an hour, then it would have been faster for them to do it than to go to a website and write an ad and then screen the responses. They DON'T know what they are doing and are trying to intimidate you into a low price. These types will run up the time and if you try and raise the price they will keep on with "I KNOW how long it should have taken and you are OBVIOUSLY not as good as you said you are .... " Putting the blame on you so they can refuse to pay more.
4. The ultra clueless person. Seriously, I have received emails asking if I will clone E-Bay or PayPal or Amazon for $100 or less. Keeping it professional I decline these jobs. Inside I'm saying "are you smoking dope?" This is how I screen a lot of potential jobs. Look at the scope of the job and the top pay they are willing to give you. If it is a LOT of work for little money, then they obviously want to be working with offshore companies that charge $1/hr.
5. Last but not least and growing in popularity is the "I won't pay until the work is done" scammer. They claim they have been ripped off before and so won't pay any money until the work is completed. Then they take it a step further and say the work has to be on their server for a certain amount of time (I've seen up to 30 days) before they will pay you. Get real. This is like trying to get a custom built car and driving it for 30 days without making a payment. If yo
   Ticket Brokers
   Recently, there have been a decent number of ticket brokers that compete on providing premium venue seating and matchless prices on entertainment and sports events. It’s recommended that you compare ticket brokers before you buy any tickets to get the best price and seat. Below are lists of ticket brokers that specialize in hard-to-get tickets for local and international events:Stubhub.com:StubHub reinvented the ticket resale market in 2000 and continues to lead through innovation. The company
   >Always check on the previous programmer/designer or whatever because a sure sign that the client is not to be trusted is a lot of previous freelancers working on the site. One of the things I usually do is ask to speak to the previoius programmer. If it illicits a response of "oh he just took off and I don't know where he is" but the site is 90% programmed, warning bells start going off. Or if the programmers did as they are supposed to do and left a log of what work was done on the site and you see quite a few over a short period of time (2 or 3 in a year or 2) and the client compains that they just weren't trustworthy or whatever, take a hard look at the situation.
6. One that I love is the person who advertises saying "I am a programmer so I know how long this will take ...." and then says the job will take an experienced programmer only 1/2 hour to do. Well this one should clue you in that s/he is NOT a programmer and is trying to scam you into a low price. First, if they are good enough to know that it will take "x" number of hours to do it, then they won't tell you. They will wait and see what you come up with and decide if you are trying to inflate the hours. If they say some silly number like "5 minutes" then they are really clueless. IF they really were a programmer and IF the job was really going to take less than an hour, then it would have been faster for them to do it than to go to a website and write an ad and then screen the responses. They DON'T know what they are doing and are trying to intimidate you into a low price. These types will run up the time and if you try and raise the price they will keep on with "I KNOW how long it should have taken and you are OBVIOUSLY not as good as you said you are .... " Putting the blame on you so they can refuse to pay more.
7. The ultra clueless person. Seriously, I have received emails asking if I will clone E-Bay or PayPal or Amazon for $100 or less. Keeping it professional I decline these jobs. Inside I'm saying "are you smoking dope?" This is how I screen a lot of potential jobs. Look at the scope of the job and the top pay they are willing to give you. If it is a LOT of work for little money, then they obviously want to be working with offshore companies that charge $1/hr.
8. Last but not least and growing in popularity is the "I won't pay until the work is done" scammer. They claim they have been ripped off before and so won't pay any money until the work is completed. Then they take it a step further and say the work has to be on their server for a certain amount of time (I've seen up to 30 days) before they will pay you. Get real. This is like trying to get a custom built car and driving it for 30 days without making a payment. If y
   7 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Doing Keyword Research - Mistake Number Four
   Mistake Number Four: "Failing to generate enough keywords."My personal philosophy when it comes to keyword research is to act like that old-time salesman who says:"If you throw enough pasta against the refrigerator door, some of it's going to stick".This mantra, if you will, translates to (in keyword speak):"If you come up with enough keywords and test them all, some of them are going to be winners".That is why I initially strive to come up with as many keywords as pos
   hat I love is the person who advertises saying "I am a programmer so I know how long this will take ...." and then says the job will take an experienced programmer only 1/2 hour to do. Well this one should clue you in that s/he is NOT a programmer and is trying to scam you into a low price. First, if they are good enough to know that it will take "x" number of hours to do it, then they won't tell you. They will wait and see what you come up with and decide if you are trying to inflate the hours. If they say some silly number like "5 minutes" then they are really clueless. IF they really were a programmer and IF the job was really going to take less than an hour, then it would have been faster for them to do it than to go to a website and write an ad and then screen the responses. They DON'T know what they are doing and are trying to intimidate you into a low price. These types will run up the time and if you try and raise the price they will keep on with "I KNOW how long it should have taken and you are OBVIOUSLY not as good as you said you are .... " Putting the blame on you so they can refuse to pay more.
9. The ultra clueless person. Seriously, I have received emails asking if I will clone E-Bay or PayPal or Amazon for $100 or less. Keeping it professional I decline these jobs. Inside I'm saying "are you smoking dope?" This is how I screen a lot of potential jobs. Look at the scope of the job and the top pay they are willing to give you. If it is a LOT of work for little money, then they obviously want to be working with offshore companies that charge $1/hr.
10. Last but not least and growing in popularity is the "I won't pay until the work is done" scammer. They claim they have been ripped off before and so won't pay any money until the work is completed. Then they take it a step further and say the work has to be on their server for a certain amount of time (I've seen up to 30 days) before they will pay you. Get real. This is like trying to get a custom built car and driving it for 30 days without making a payment. If y
    The Basic First Steps of Search Engine Optimization
    If you are unfamiliar with the process by which search engines rank and order the listings that appear when someone searches for information, you need to understand a few basic concepts. The search engines all use a variety of different methods to analyze individual websites. Based upon their analysis, those engines then give each website a relatively arbitrary ranking. The higher a page’s rank, the higher up in the listings that website will appear.How exactly do these search engines create their rankin
    faster for them to do it than to go to a website and write an ad and then screen the responses. They DON'T know what they are doing and are trying to intimidate you into a low price. These types will run up the time and if you try and raise the price they will keep on with "I KNOW how long it should have taken and you are OBVIOUSLY not as good as you said you are .... " Putting the blame on you so they can refuse to pay more.
11. The ultra clueless person. Seriously, I have received emails asking if I will clone E-Bay or PayPal or Amazon for $100 or less. Keeping it professional I decline these jobs. Inside I'm saying "are you smoking dope?" This is how I screen a lot of potential jobs. Look at the scope of the job and the top pay they are willing to give you. If it is a LOT of work for little money, then they obviously want to be working with offshore companies that charge $1/hr.
12. Last but not least and growing in popularity is the "I won't pay until the work is done" scammer. They claim they have been ripped off before and so won't pay any money until the work is completed. Then they take it a step further and say the work has to be on their server for a certain amount of time (I've seen up to 30 days) before they will pay you. Get real. This is like trying to get a custom built car and driving it for 30 days without making a payment. If y
    Can Businesses Afford To Think Like Consumers?
    When you are shopping for office copier paper, it makes sense to look for a great deal, even buying in volume if the savings are good enough. But if you get taken in by consumer attitude in some areas of business, then you risk getting buried by more prudent businesses.Can you imagine a corporate attorney advertising guaranteed lowest prices? That would not instill confidence in their professionalism. Fortunately for them, few if any would risk demeaning their trade by offering such absurdity.Most tr
    tial jobs. Look at the scope of the job and the top pay they are willing to give you. If it is a LOT of work for little money, then they obviously want to be working with offshore companies that charge $1/hr.
13. Last but not least and growing in popularity is the "I won't pay until the work is done" scammer. They claim they have been ripped off before and so won't pay any money until the work is completed. Then they take it a step further and say the work has to be on their server for a certain amount of time (I've seen up to 30 days) before they will pay you. Get real. This is like trying to get a custom built car and driving it for 30 days without making a payment. If you go for this deal you need to just hang your head in shame and get out of the freelancing business totally. INSIST on a deposit or that the full amount be deposited into an escrow account that the client can not close out. Have a signed contract detailing exactly what the acceptance criteria for the project is. INSIST at least on getting some money at the time you turnover the project to them for testing. If you don't do these things, you will never see a dime.

How to protect yourself? First, recognize the situations for what they are. Second of all, always have a contract, and 3rd, if in doubt at all, insist on an escrow account. BUT get that 50% upfront.