Last Updated on May 4, 2022
Is TextBroker legit? It has never been the best time to be alive as a writer! The field of opportunities to make money online is vast and abundant, and one of the best pick of flowers in this field is freelance writing.
A lot of these freelance writing websites has bloomed over the years, especially now that blogs and websites in need of written content solutions are more relevant than ever.
One of these freelance writing websites I have recently encountered is TextBroker. While most netizens make you believe they are some kind of hotshot in this industry, I have a few teabags boiling on my stove and I’ll be serving you the hottest and best tea to either calm down or heat up your mood!
There are a few things I found out about TextBroker and it’s not going to look pretty from this part onwards. Without further ado, let’s get right into this TextBroker review!
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What is TextBroker All About?
TextBroker is a written content provider which serves as a content marketplace for small business owners, social media communities, e-commerce websites, publishing houses, and publicly traded corporations. All this while providing freelancers the chance to write content for these clients and earn money from it.
This is one of the leading providers of unique and customized content ever since 2005. It was founded in Germany by Jan Becker-Fochler, and it is now currently based in Las Vegas and New York. Jan Becker-Fochler has built this company to a significant number of registered authors which creates more than 100,000 written content every month.
TextBroker provide writers a wide range of projects to write on and a thousand topics of your liking and interests. Collaborate with clients on different kinds of content like blog posts, new stories, press releases, product descriptions, social media posts, technical articles, web copy, and white papers. You see, there are a lot of opportunities here at TextBroker.
But the real question still prevails – is TextBroker legit? While I believe the answer to this question is urgent and needs to be addressed, I also believe that it’s fairly and relatively important for us to understand first how this written content provider platform works from the inside.
How Does TextBroker Work?
TextBroker is made for two groups of people. First are the clients. If you are an independent blog and website owner or even if you work for a big corporation looking for written content to purchase for stacking up or your own personal pursuits, TextBroker is one of the largest high-quality content provider out there.
Of course, the next group of people would be you if you’re the type who loves to write and want to get paid for writing content. Your freelancing writer ventures all start by signing up on their website, and you can do that for free without having to pay for anything at all.
In exchange for free usage of the platform, TextBroker will be asking for a lot of personal information. They ask for more personal information than most freelance writing websites out there for some reason I am not aware of. You can formulate your own inferences on this but still, their company – their rules.
Information you would have to provide are the following: name, email address, phone number, date of birth, full address, and your gender. One of the most important standards is that you should be a US resident and you’re going to provide a US-government established ID for you to be verified.
While TextBroker makes it look like they exclusively cater to US residents only, when you dig deeper into the website, you’ll find out that they also accept writers from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the Republic of Ireland. Other than these countries, the doors are closed.
After you have signed up for TextBroker, you are obliged to submit a writing sample to showcase your writing skills, tone, and your general style of writing. Take note, this is very important since you only get one initial chance to be assigned a quality rating. This quality rating will be determining the articles you can write and how much you can earn. You can be assigned a rating, with 1 being poor and 5 being excellent.
Here’s where you have to wait at least 2 weeks for you to hear back from them and a TextBroker editor will assign your quality writing. Once assigned with this rating, you can now start writing. The platform provides you with projects to work on based on your assigned quality writing. It also ranges from a wide variety of topics so you can find something to write that’ll pique your likes and interest.
Search for projects to write on, and as time passes by and you get to write more content, clients can ask for you directly and instruct you to write content for them specifically. Here, you now have the privilege to set your own per-word-price with your client.
How Much Can You Earn With TextBroker?
TextBroker pays you based on your quality rating and the number of words you can write. Being rated with 2 stars implies you could earn $3.50 for 500 words. 3 stars mean you get paid with $5.00 for 500 words, as well. For 4 stars, earn $7.00 for writing 500 words and as for 5 stars, TextBroker then pays you with $25.00.
Now, you see it’s important to definitely nail the sample writing you sent during the application process. But what if you want to climb up the quality ratings? TextBroker provides you with a chance to do that. In fact, they uphold a double rating system.
What’s up with that? For every 5 ratings, an editor will reassess your quality rating and you’ll be given the second opportunity to either make or break your reputation as a writer on TextBroker. I also think it’s important for you to choose projects which you are comfortable to do so that you get to increase your chances of being highly rated.
TextBroker will pay you through PayPal at the beginning of each business week as long as you request for a cashout on Thursday and you have at least $10 in your TextBroker account. There’s a tab on the website which indicates “Account – Pay-off” where you can request for a payout.
Is TextBroker legit? There is a thin line between the legitimate and the scam. In this post, I am going to put TextBroker in its place by giving you reasons in which I found it not worth my time.
Reasons Why TextBroker Sucks
Outdated Interface
I don’t really mind the layout of the website so as long as everything is in its right place and I can navigate everything easily. Not only does TextBroker’s interface look outdated as if something that was created using Windows XP, it has little buttons which are honestly just unnecessary and distracting. My life would be easier if the interface was more easy to navigate.
Low Amount of Payment
You can get paid with just a few dollars for writing content, especially if you don’t get rated with 5 stars. There’s like a significant gap between the pay for 5 star writers and those rated with 4 stars and below. That’s why you should always prioritize ranking up or maintaining your rating if you’re already there.
However, for content with only 500 words (It might seem like a lot, but it’s pretty fast to achieve) the pay is pretty much fair and reasonable. But of course, compared to other content mills, this one pays lower.
I’ll Wait For You
It will take you 2 weeks, at the very least, to hear back from TextBroker and be rated. Only then can you start writing for real. That’s a lot of empty days to fill up, but I’m pretty sure the platform has its own reasons.
Lots of Requirements
For a written content solutions provider that employs freelance writers, this one asks you for a lot of personal information. Though, there are no reports of TextBroker exploiting your information for shady purposes, it might still be an issue for you if you take your personal information very seriously.
Not Much to Write About
Some of the writers are complaining how there are not much projects to work on. Hence, there seems to be a surplus of writers compared to clients. However, there could be various factors to this like your quality rating. For writers with only 1 star, you might find it nearly impossible to find something to work on.
Expensive Client Fees
You see, what you’re receiving is only a percentage of what the client really pays for. You can’t just say that you’ll only write content worth $25.00 when the client expects an article worth $36.00. TextBroker is a business, so of course they’ll be cutting off their share from the fees.
Among the whole freelance writing platform industry, TextBroker’s fees are one of the most expensive with 30% to 47%. In light of that, I found out the client rates are:
- 2 star – $6.50/ 500 words
- 3 star – $9.00/500 words
- 4 star – $12.00/500 words
- 5 star – $36.00/500 words
You Don’t Get Credited
You will get paid for your hard work, but people will never know that it’s you who’s pulling the strings from behind. As a writer myself, I could say not being acknowledged for your work does not feel great. But what can you do? This is just how freelance writing works.
What I Like About TextBroker
Free to Use for Writers
You don’t have to pay for anything when you use the platform, and that’s honestly just great. I mean, who wants to invest money in something that’ll only disappoint you in the end? At least with TextBroker, you won’t feel like your money is wasted because you never spent some in the first place!
Keeps Up With Their Part of the Bargain
You can throw TextBroker all the shade about being one of the lowest-paying companies out there in this field, but at the very least, they make sure to pay you on time. You can trust TextBroker that they will not withhold the money you worked hard for.
Wide Range of Topics
The projects you can work on could range from a wide variety of topics. TextBroker guarantees you that there are topics which will suit your likes, interest, and taste the best.
Available for a Lot of Countries
I first thought TextBroker is only available to use for US residents, but after some digging, it turns out they expanded their reach to other countries such as United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the Republic of Ireland. Although they do not cater internationally, this is still a big improvement.
Fair Rating and Payment System
You don’t have to worry about bad and unfair clients rating you with stars you don’t deserve. You will only get rated by the editors of TextBroker and nobody else. As for the payment system, projects are automatically paid for if the client does not respond in the span of 4 – 8 days.
Plus, if you happen to come across a bad client that rejects your work unfairly and refuses to pay you, TextBroker will step in and assess the situation. If they think your work is unfairly rejected by the client, you will get paid.
Closing Thoughts! Is TextBroker Legit?
TextBroker is definitely a legit company which is reliable for both clients searching for content to purchase and writers who want to earn some money by writing freelance for these clients. You can write for a topic and client of your liking whenever and wherever you are.
Plus, you can be guaranteed that TextBroker will pay you on time even though their pay is lower than most content mills ever. They won’t withhold the money you worked hard for and even go out of their way to make sure you’re paid even in the most unfair and inconvenient situations.
But of course, when you think about it clearly, all of this is still just freelance writing. You can’t make a fortune by writing freelance for clients, nor can you make it your source of full time income. Plus, are you sure you want to earn insignificant money for all the work you do?
You only get paid for the content but you may also be asked to edit and revise over and over which is just unfair. Plus, you don’t even get credited – one of the worst things you can do to a writer.
If you’re okay living like that, well, go on then. No one’s stopping you. However! If you don’t want to keep on living with the pain of freelance writing, why don’t you put your writing skills into good use through blogging and affiliate marketing?
Unlike freelance writing, once you get the hang of all this, it could be your next source of sustainable income. I’ll do you one even better, it even becomes passive! Yes, sign me up!
Let me just warn you though, it’s not all fun and games. You would still need the skills, passion, and determination in building your own online business. But of course, it’s all worth it in the end. If you want to see more of what I’m talking about, check out my Wealthy Affiliate Review now!
