Another project (for 2 CA death certificates) went to a low bidder. Who are these people? Let's do the math on this one again. I'm going to shortly start a wall of shame of low bidders...
The bid went for $32!
Whether or not you order the certificates from Fresno County or CA State, the cost would be $12/each = $24.00.
So $32-$8 EC fee = $24 - $24 = $0.00 !
I suppose the only explanations are:
1)The expert may indeed be a robot on Ancestry.com pointing them to vitalchek to get a cut
2)The expert is a robot without calculation abilities
3)The expert charged $32 for the information to order
Any way you look at it, it is highway robbery to those of us trying to actually make money on EC.
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Many California Death Certificates are available free at the FHL
ReplyDeleteWhether or not they are free, is it fair to charge $24 for a trip to a facility and two death certificates? In my opinion no.
ReplyDeleteJosh, just a suggestion. As an example. I won a bid, value stated 600-900 I bid over 2,000 and won. Some clients understand Value! If all Experts understood this, all the projects would not be peanuts. I normally only bid on large projects of value, and if I don't win the bid, to bad, I bid enough to get enough of what I want. I know this might be giving away a trade secret, but I believe if I can get experts to bid high, it will be good for everyone.
ReplyDeleteHey Jehosaphat.
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome! Congrats! I guess I should have labeled this blog entry Low Bid for Record research. While I side with you on your opinion 99% there are other methods to obtain higher bid projects. It may not be ethical or fair but Experts are doing it.
Let's take that 600-900 project. Bid $250 on it...and then at the completion explain there is much more information to get...add a continuation "no bid" project for $750.
Getting back to your original point, Redirecting people to Vitalchek should be considered almost criminal. Why? Because Vitalchek requires that you know the exact place. If you are out even by a little which is very often the case, they will end up paying for nothing because they will be given a NO RECORD result. When you order through other government avenues you can spread the field by just stating a State in Most Cases, although Oklahoma is a real pain and requires the County. Vitalchek should only be used in extreme rush cases. But it is much better to find a Genealogist who will walk in and look, that way if something is off a little, they should still find it.
ReplyDeleteHow were you to see the final bid amount Josh? Just curious...
ReplyDeleteOpen your Projects, choose "Archived Projects" and find the one that was "Awarded to Another Provider". It lists all projects you have lost to another provider.
ReplyDelete