What if there was a transparent and fixed hourly rate for all developers? Developers would be forced to compete on other aspects than price. At least it would solve the issue with devs from third-world countries bringing down prices for everyone. Ratings and reviews would mean something - no more "works great considering what I paid for it" reviews.
Also, this would serve as the natural quality control - with hourly rate being reasonably high, low-value projects and clients would simply skip the platform. Of course, this could only work for a more niche market than upwork.
If one fixed hourly rate is just too limiting, then there could be 2-3 price tiers. Just keep it simple.
This might be already implemented somewhere. In that case, does it work well?
The three tiers scheme sounds interesting, this way each dev would be paid according to their ability, and would be able to get work according to their needs. I think this could be a pretty revolutionary concept as far as work goes, and what's there to lose anyway?
Also, this would serve as the natural quality control - with hourly rate being reasonably high, low-value projects and clients would simply skip the platform. Of course, this could only work for a more niche market than upwork.
If one fixed hourly rate is just too limiting, then there could be 2-3 price tiers. Just keep it simple.
This might be already implemented somewhere. In that case, does it work well?