Freelance Doesn't Mean "I-get-to-freely-take-advantage-of-you"

Trying to find work as a seasoned freelancer can be challenging. In slow times I rely on a few creative talent agencies that I trust, however they typically don't pay very well and the mark up to the client can be staggeringly high resulting in less money for the freelancer. As an alternative to the talent agencies I recently signed up to a place called Upwork. I wasn't familiar with them so I decided to give it a go. They charge a modest 20% so you can up your rate a bit to compensate. The reviews for Upwork and Freelance.com are horrifying. Sadly, as with any online company you run the risk of being scammed, but both places claim protection. As I perused the job section some very interesting and unique jobs popped up. Some individuals needed help with a file, another needed a cover illustration for a self-published book, others needed icons, logos, you name it. At first I thought I discovered some awesome free-for-all job paradise and I could cherry pick the gigs I wanted, and then, I dug a bit deeper into the companies. The reviews and testimonials for both companies are atrocious. Upwork was created from merging two huge companies together, some people reported not getting paid and when they inquired about payment the customer service never got back to them or shut down their account. When I read reviews I take them with a grain of salt. Who knows if that person was reliable or delivered the files on time, worked within the budget or was a good fit in general. I decided to go deep and read several pages of reviews going back a few years. Sadly the first few bad reviews were reflected in page after page of bad reviews. I went to another site to read reviews, same story. Some of the people had great success with the company when it was smaller and before it merged into Upwork. I'm still searching for a great way to connect people and companies with qualified designers (including myself) and find the right fit. More importantly, I want to somehow educate small businesses and self-starters (and in some cases larger companies) the value of design and appropriate compensation. I saw several posts with insultingly low wages such as logos for $50.00 and illustrating a children's book (14 spreads with front and back covers) for $200.00.