The only strategy that I used was to show that i know what I'm talking about in my replies. So don't just say "Yeah, I can do that" or something similar. Ask questions, tell them why what they're asking for is easy or hard or how it will work. Even if they were non-technical folk, just make sure you can get the message across.
Again, just how you would behave in real life.
(If you're just starting out, take one or two jobs at a reasonably low rate to get the ratings before you ask for your desired rate. Its a compromise, but it will get you there.)
So a buyer coming in with a new request won't have this person available to him, and should he find a person, he will also try to monopolise the persons time, taking him out of the market.
After a year or two of freelancing and if you're good, you'd pretty much get to choose the projects you work on. I usually go with the projects that are interesting to me(research projects from my local university) or that come from good clients or friends.
Nope. It has developers from all over(I live in Lebanon). Freelance programmers are simply programmers that don't work exclusively for one client. I am guessing you don't mean this in a bad way...
- "The availability of particular skills is very limited."
I started my freelance career on RAC 4 years ago. 6 months into it, i was taking on bigger projects using some of the technologies you mentioned(I'm a python guy but also do C# and Java...). Roughly 8 months into it, i was working with start ups and people were contacting me directly even though my rates are not the cheapest.
I no longer look for gigs on RAC, but its certainly a viable lively hood if you're picky with the projects you take on. The trick is to always be honest and decent, the way you should behave in real life.
I also found it funny that some Indian companies started outsourcing projects to me.