At long last I've earned something from
oDesk. I've got the payment last July 28, 2009 after completing my first fixed-price job of writing DIY articles. At the same time, I've got a 4.8 feedback from my buyer, 5.0 being the highest. I rated her 4.7 in return based on the given criteria. Here's my financial activity. I intend to keep my earnings there and withdraw it at a later date since there's a $1 charge for every Paypal transaction.

I choose fixed-price over hourly rate jobs at oDesk since I am a full-time Technical Support Engineer already. Working with Odesk is more of a sideline or creative past time.
The good thing about fixed-price jobs is that you don't have to use the Odesk Application which includes work diary, screenshot and odesk team. This means that you can browse through several websites and do miscelleneous stuff without worries unlike with the HOURLY rate wherein your every move is being monitored.
There is a risk though for accepting fixed-priced jobs.
While the majority of oDesk projects end successfully, please keep a few things in mind:
1. Payment is not guaranteed on Fixed Price Jobs. oDesk only guarantees payment on Hourly Jobs.
2. The Buyer decides whether to pay and how much to pay. Before you start the project, you and the buyer must agree to requirements and a budget. Once the work is done, the buyer has full discretion over whether to pay and how much to pay. oDesk verifies the buyer's credit card at the beginning of the project, though we do not hold the money in escrow.
3. oDesk does not offer mediation or arbitration services. If you do the work and the buyer refuses to pay, oDesk will not be able to help. However, you will be able to leave negative feedback for the buyer.
Here's how my profile looks like:
Here, you can hire, manage, and pay remote contractors as if they were in your office. And workers can earn unlimited cash.