It may be best that you don't use such services at all because you need to work hard on your research skills (you may be 1 of 1000 experimental people who would fall for an African email scam).

Regarding the OP question - if they in fact mean 'most expensive' (instead of 'most expansive') - the winner is most likely UK Essays. Runner ups are other UK-based sites. But a smart student knows that the same writers that work for the most expensive services also work for the best (and not that expensive) legitimate writing services located in the US. So by ordering from a trustworthy US-located service (or an academic freelance writer) they get the same paper for approximately 30-60% less.

I'm sure you'd be easily hired as a contractor/freelance writer by many services, but the question is if you'd be willing to work for, let's say, $8 per page (I guess that would be an average rate you'd get offered if you apply and get hired by 10 random services). The best ones would probably pay $12-$15 per page / 300 words, but there may not be enough jobs at this time to offer them to a completely new/inexperienced freelance writer.

The best is that actually pays for completed work and has enough work (which may not always be the case any more for some reason). What is your background and why do you think freelancing is the best way to go? :)

One way or another, collecting pictures of freelance writers holding their picture ID has an icky sentimentality. Still, I'm very sure there are ways around that - "get a picture of me (I look intelligent) holding my ID for 5 bucks on fiverr!" :)

As much as they may be able to afford - you can try to charge a lot, but it doesn't mean they'd be willing to pay ;)

One never knows how they're going to use it, so the risk is always there. Maybe they would want to use the pictures for marketing purposes; I'd hope they don't do racial profiling or something related.

One cannot expect that freelance writers have enough resources to hire outside 'managers' to process their complaints in a fair way (my main point was about academic paper services that may trick their own customers on purpose).

It takes a lot of time and patience to try to find and interview people online. Most students won't be willing to do it (it may be more productive for them to actually start working on their assignments instead).

1995 is nothing; I found one serving students since 1969 :) Obviously, their claim is bogus.

I personally don't use any (except for search engine queries using keywords between quotation marks) because the risks are far greater than the potential benefits. Here is some very useful comparison - essayscam.org/truth-plagiarism-detection-tools/

Whenever a student uploads their copyrighted essay to check it for plagiarism, they risk their copyrighted essay to be used without authorization and for free by the service (it applies especially to checkers not based in the US or UK, but there are maybe only a couple of those out there).

It appears you've been a victim of a fake reviews website where the same group of freelance writers who 'review' the website under false names are also the ones who get paid when you order from them. These days, I'd suggest to stay away from any website that features the keywords: 'top,' 'reviews', etc.

When ordering from an untrustworthy company, a 'UK writer' typically means 'a writer who selected [UK] as their country location' (there is no verification of that, so out of 10 writers who appear to be from the UK, 8-10 are in fact from Africa, Eastern Europe, or Asia). It's a similar story with US/Australian writers.

You should have probably chosen a shorter deadline (even though 10 days is a LOT of time for a skilled freelance writer to complete 8 pages; some of them can do as many as 30 per day). But you're right - article spinning / plagiarism should not be acceptable though.

Are they really based in the UK or just use .co.uk address and are in fact located in a different country?

What are the titles / descriptions those sites typically use? I guess google relies on automation and while they probably won't allow to use the 'hard-core' terms 'custom essays' or 'custom term papers', they may ignore phrases like 'tutoring services' or 'academic paper editing' etc.

110. Receive a feedback, like: "I personally think the research paper is great, but I had my friend review it and she thinks it needs to be improved. Could you revise it again?"

108 is classic ;) Some students would ask for a 'free' trial page (contacting 5 different writers and getting 5 pages, almost a complete essay, for free).

The US economy has been struggling for years now (debt doubled in the last decade), so a chance for change of economic direction may only have a positive outcome. IF taxes on small businesses (and bureaucratic regulations) go down as promised (and, as you should know, freelance writers are in fact small business owners), it would be a very welcome outcome. Freelancers depend directly on their customers/students - if students have more job opportunities and less debt, it can only benefit freelance writers in the long term.

Who determined it was only worth 1-star, you or your tutor? Maybe a partial refund would be the best solution in this case...

It may depend how they pay their writers. If they pay using bank transfer or check, I think they are required to have W9 from contractors. And/or if they pay over $600 during a tax year. But the safest for them is to require W9 from all of their contractors because the job is fluid and when the contractor isn't interested working with a company any more, getting the form may be difficult or impossible.

Yes, the IRS accepts 1099s and W9 from all companies (in reality, it's always better for a company to have a W9 than not, even if it's not technically required). But it depends on how these workers are treated; if they are treated as independent contractors, the company issues W9; otherwise W2. It is important for a company based in the US elsewhere to determine the status of their workers. The form itself doesn't determine anything; a company may only issue W9 form and their workers may still be classified as regular W2 employees if the company treats them as regular employees. It is crucial to familiarize with the law and consult with a licensed business accountant or the IRS itself (I believe they have a form that can be filled out by US companies and they will help you out determine the legal employment status of your workers).

Btw - the writer's country location or nationality alone aren't the deciding factors; even if a writer is based outside of the US, the company MAY be required to collect 30% of their wages. It depends whether the US and the other country have a mutual tax agreement. It's not as simple as some business owners may think, so again, consult with appropriate organizations to learn more.

What is the traditional sense? You don't believe in being 'stronger together'? In theory, two freelance writers could be stronger together than a single freelance writer to compose an excellent dissertation.

What was your recent project, subject?

The site is using a Russian web analytic tool (normally not used by services in Western countries). No information about the service location or services - just an insecure form to enter email and create password (which may happen to be the same as your email's password). Anyway, what do you - as a freelance writer - think about the legitimacy of the site, how do you like it?

I know a student who used to order papers from a freelance writer and then got hired by the same freelance writer to help him out if needed. It could be that some smart students 'help' less smart students for money (and they charge significantly less than professional freelance writers)?

It feels it's not just you. The overall trend has been downwards for a couple of years, unless I'm wrong? Still, it's just the start of October and it should pick up in a couple of weeks or so. Have you been doing anything differently in the last years (advertising, etc.)?

Many of us (including me) have been wondering for years why some foreign 'companies' have hundreds of different websites (all of them related to student research services). The OP's post may be the answer.

Why? According to yourself, you found a review site that looks dishonest or suspicious. Still, there is something that makes you not forget that site. It looks your job is to 'keep looking' until you get others to visit the site you're currently working on.

One more reason proving that working with an unestablished individual freelance writer may be risky (they are not bound by any company's policies and privacy rules).

Then your identity may be stolen and you may be blackmailed if you don't accept yet another fine or don't do what they want you to do.

Book-a-writer discounts are both friends and enemies of freelance writers ;)

Considering the listed prices it may not be scam, but are you - as a freelance writer - prepared to write a 100-page (30,000-word) Master's thesis, due in 10 days, for $499 (minus applicable fines)?

Regarding:

1. You may be partially right. But the days of QUALITY freelance writers (but not pseudo-experts) are not over. I'd say that there is brutal competition for poor and average-level papers that quite often may be successfully written by ESL writers, but when it comes to high quality / professional / specialized assignments the competition is quite low.

2. Partially true. It's probably 4 months, not 6 though.

3. Yes, the example academic research is mostly a seasonal job; still, there are people (usually adult students) who may partially compensate for few orders during the summer months.

4. Mostly correct. Easy orders taken by ESL writers from less advanced countries who are okay with working for $2 per page. The problem (for good writers at least) starts when complex orders only pay $8 per page and their failure rate and research time are great.

5. Mostly true. Quite often a student who gets the best deal / discounted price gives most of the headaches.

6. It may be true for foreign sweat-shops, but the ones from the US or UK tend to treat their writers as an important asset and usually cover the cost (don't give any 'penalties') as long as the writer did its job well and followed the customer's instructions.

7. Hm, have to read the news about ITT (haven't heard of that).

8. Yes, students aren't typically helping when it comes to advertising of a freelance writer or a writing service (even if they achieved great results with them). You'd think they have 5K followers and they'd mention you if satisfied, but it's rarely happening. They just don't care and some of them don't want to discuss it in details anyway.

If someone wants to 'frame' you, they can always find a way to make it happen. Even if you told someone you are a 'regular' ghostwriter, they could claim you write p#r*n stories on the side. In my opinion, having experience in running a business, doing a customer service, doing *something* will always be considered valuable to your potential employers.

I don't think it would negatively affect you. Just the opposite; having a working / professional experience would always be something to be proud of. Working as an example research writer / editor is pretty much similar to working as an academic tutor (as long as you make it clear you don't condone plagiarism). Having said that, 'taking online classes' is not something you should do. Revealing the name assigned with your Paypal account is possible, but very difficult if you use a DBA name (or have a business account). If I was going to go back to school, my ghostwriting / academic tutoring experience would have no effect on that.

But have you heard about them (I haven't until yesterday). Prices on their page are unreasonable too, like (Writing, Ghostwriting):

$50-60/hr
26¢-50¢/wd

--- even at $0.26 per word, a one-page essay would cost about $78 per page. Besides, who is charging per hour for a writing service : )

I found a similar website (Editorial Freelance Writers Association - the-efa.org) - I imagine it is a lot of work to manage it all.

There are some freelance writers who post here who claim that academic paper services rip them off because they take a large portion of the fee paid by a customer. It may be a good opportunity for them to help establish such an organization so that they know the true cost and effort of running a business. Probably the hardest and the most expensive part would be marketing; building a brand and professional recognition may take years (unless there's enough budget for serious advertising in both online and offline venues).

The question is, how much you value your time; you need to deduct your typical hourly rate from whatever profit you made ;) It seems there are a lot of people who share the story - "I personally don't use social media websites, but.... I hope others use it." If you don't use it (other than to promote your service) and personally don't know anyone know who use it in an 'organic way' (for other reasons than to spam), the logical conclusion is that few people actually use it.

But do you realize starting such an organization would require much more than a free Wordpress script and a very substantial upfront investment?