Important alert: Nov 18, 2012 11:44:32 PM EDT.

vWorker is proud to announce that it has been acquired by Freelancer.com! During the transition the site will be in read-only mode and will give you an error if you try to perform any actions (post a message, a new project). For more information click here

Project Payment Models (for Workers)
(Click here to see this information for employers)

It's an unfortunate fact that 42% of traditional freelancers are paid late or never at all, and lose $4.7 billion a year. On vWorker we protect you by guaranteeing payment, so you can forget financial concerns and instead concentrate on satisfying your clients, making more money and growing your business.

There are three different ways to be paid by an employer on a project and each comes with an industry-leading payment guarantee. Below is an explanation of the differences.

Fixed-price (for small projects and establishing credibility with a new employer)

You do the work and are paid when you deliver the entire project (or pre-agreed upon milestone) to the employer.

Guarantees:

Payment guarantee^*: vWorker.com guarantees that if you fully complete the contracted work by the deadline (or pre-agreed upon milestone), and it is up to industry-expected standards, then you will be paid.
You guarantee to refund the employer if you do not do all of the above.

How? ( More...

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The employer will pay you a fixed price for delivering the entire project (or portions of it, if you setup paid milestones). They escrow the funds in advance, so that you know they are "good" for the money. When you deliver to the contract, the employer must pay you, and if they don't an arbitrator will award the funds to you. If you don't deliver to the contract, then an arbitrator will refund the employer back the unawarded funds.

Advantages

You are guaranteed to be paid the full price (or partial price if you setup milestones), if you complete the work per the contract.
The employer cannot arbitrarily quit the project without negative repercussions (receiving a poor rating from vWorker.com, and you are paid for the work you completed).
The employer is forced to define a majority of the project up front in order for you to accurately bid on it. This helps to limit scope creep later in the project.

Disadvantages

If you estimate too low on the effort involved, you are responsible for absorbing the cost. So good estimation skills are crucial.
If you agree to a deadline and miss it, the employer can receive back all unawarded funds.
The vWorker.com fee tends to be higher (due to arbitration costs), which means you may have to charge the employer more for the same job.

Hourly (for larger projects, recurring work or a repeat employer)

You log your time in the AccuTimeCard™ and are paid for each hour you work.

Click here to read more about the AccuTimeCard™.
Guarantees:

Payment guarantee^*: vWorker.com guarantees to pay you for every hour you truly work on the employer's project. You prove this by logging into the AccuTimeCard™ tracking system. This system confirms your billed punch in/out times are accurate and records your desktop (and optionally your webcam).
You guarantee to refund the employer if you bill for time you weren't really working on the project, or were absent from your computer. (See the rules of arbitration for full details).

How? ( More...

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The employer pays you for the time you spend working on their project. They escrow the funds in advance, so that you know they are "good" for the money. You prove that you are working by logging into the AccuTimeCard™ application. While logged in, vWorker.com will periodically take a webcam picture of you (to verify that you are present on your computer) and screenshots of your desktop (to verify that you are working on your project). At the end of the time period, the employer approves the time worked. If they take more than 3 business days to approve you, the timecard is auto-approved.

If a picture shows that you were not working on the project, an arbitrator will verify it and if so, you will not be paid for the timecard. Examples of refunded time include: unauthorized breaks, playing games, unauthorized talking on the phone, and sleeping on the job

Advantages

You are guaranteed to be paid for every hour that you work.
The vWorker.com fee to you is generally lower (due to no arbitration costs).
If the project requires more effort than expected, you will get paid extra for it (because you will end up working more hours).
If you decide to stop at any time for any reason, you can, without receiving a poor rating from vWorker.com

Disadvantages

The employer may not feel their interests are protected as well as via fixed-price and may supervise you more closely.
The employer does not commit to complete a certain number of hours and can pull out at any time or for any reason without a poor rating from vWorker.com (however you are paid for hours completed to that point).

Crowdsourcing contest

This applies to all crowdsourcing / trialsourcing projects.

Guarantees:

If the employer selects your submission as the winner then we guarantee you will be paid the prize amount.
If the employer guarantees to award the prize, then we guarantee that there will be a winner.

Click here for more information on crowdsourcing and trialsourcing.

Project Payment Models (for Workers) (Click here to see this information for employers)

Project Payment Models (for Workers)
(Click here to see this information for employers)