I have been using Thumbtack for over a year now and I can say that for now, I am pleased with the results. I would like to stress that it took me some time to find the real projects. Yes, I do believe that not all of the project are real. So here are my rules for spotting real projects and getting hired.
1. Bid Description:
If the description of the project is minimum or has no context on this section, I will completely avoid it. A real customer , a customer in need, will be as descriptive as possible to make sure that the freelancer understands what they need. A fake customer or a customer just shopping for prices-will be brief or have blanks in the project details.
2. Study the Project Bids for a week before gettting started
If you are new to Thumtack or haven't had luck, study the projects that are coming in for a week or two. Why do you ask? Because this is how you start creating an eye for the fake projects. I will talk about this next...
3. How to spot Fake projects
I started noticing that a project would come in from one place of the US, and within an hour that same project would come in from a different part of the US. Same everything -description, target industry, amount of work etc. I went ahead an paid to place my bid on the projects, and I never got hired for any of the jobs.
I did this for a few weeks-bid on projects that had the same info and they will never hire me.
How would I spot these fake projects? Again-minimum project detail, and had exact info from another project that came from a "different location."
How To Get Hired
Ok here is the thing with placing a bid. Once you place your number, it is not over. You do not sign out and hope for the best. Thumbtack has a feature that allows you to send follow up messages to customers-USE IT. Send a a quick message, right after you place your bid. This has made a huge difference in me getting hired for many projects.
If the client writes back and said they went with someone else, this is not the time to tell them off. You simply say "thank you for the oppurtunity for allowing me to see your project and if it doesn't work out feel free to contact me."
I cannot begin to tell you how many times a client came back because I was polite.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. Wishing you all much success.