well charging higher than 25$/hr cuts both ways I originally started from elance a few years back and gave a low-ish rate but I was being ignored or being asked for discounts on near bottom rates, I realized if you want to be valued you need to have a rate that's respected.

I have tripled that rate and the quality of projects and clients has improved considerably.

ps do give a rough range of budget on elance but never an absolute number, if someone invites me to a project offering 20$/hr I run the other way.

disclaimer: I run marketlytics and generally participate on these sites as a consultant so this maybe more to my benefit.