Community Experts

More often then not, new freelancers encounter this situation where they enter a contest and feel betrayed when Contest Holder disappears. We can not generalize and ask Contest Holders to commit to a particular amount. Let me elaborate:
1. Why does new freelancers fall for the bait? Much like new freelancers there are also new employers. When a contest is held, they might undervalue their project due to lack of knowledge on how to price their requirement. This can be countered by commenting #increaseprize. This informs the CH that there are freelancers who are interested in the contest but request for a better prize.
New sellers often forget to award the project as they do not understand the process of contest. They assume once they are happy with an application the contest ends. It is hard truth but we cannot do much about it immediately. freelancer has a policy where it waits for a minimum of 30 days after contest ends before they take any action. If the time period ends and no contestant is awarded then it moves to check if the contest is 'guaranteed'. If guaranteed, then it is shared among top rated contestants by the employer. If no one is rated then the prize is divided equally among the contestants.

2. New Freelancers do not familiarize themselves with functioning of the platform. Freelancer should not waste time on every contest which they feel have a better chance of winning. One should check if the CH has payment verified. If the contest is not guaranteed then it should be requested. Entering contests with guaranteed prize will avoid situations where no one is awarded.

3. Contests are publicly held if it is not sealed. There is every chance of someone stealing the idea or design. We should not worry about it as it happens everywhere. CH may also just hold a contest just for gathering some ideas. To avoid feeling betrayed always enter a contest which seems genuine. Freelancer.com also filters fake contests but it is also the duty of the freelancer to decide before entering the contest.

There was a contest "Pharmacy History In Current Practice", it was guaranteed and still, they didn't announce the winner...

There was this contest for ' the marketing social' and it just vanished

Thank you, Ashwin for explaining all these situations about the contest.

Thanks for elaborating detailed answer....
Regarding your Point No. 1, in the later part, you mentioned that if the contest is guaranteed, then Freelancer will divide the money as per its policy. But my question is , what about the contest which is not guaranteed. Will Freelancer divide the money among top rated contestants... Kindly reply please...