| 1)
I have a business (or personal) project I need completed. How does
vWorker.com help me? |
| |
vWorker.com lets you plow through your excess workload, staff up
instantaneously or get a hand with personal chores...and lets you do it
faster, cheaper and safer than traditional hiring.
Just post your project here and it will be distributed to
0 workers
around the world, who will eagerly bid to complete your project. The results are
amazingly quick: within 24 hours you will receive an average of
12.4 bids. You can find the
best worker by reviewing each bidder's responses, resume,
certifications and
previous work history (including comments and ratings left by
previous employers).
Once you find a worker that
you like, you can hire
them on the spot.
Unlike traditional workers, your virtual worker's work is
guaranteed.
And if your deadline is
especially tight, you can require your worker to further guarantee
on-time completion with a forfeitable deposit called the
Expert Guarantee.
And unlike
some
of our competitors we don't charge you a posting fee, service charge or
finder's fees.
So you can try it completely for free and without any obligation. Just click
"Post my project" below to give it a try.
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| 2)
What protections are there for employers? |
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vWorker.com has a number of features to protect you:
-
Financial
Our unique and industry-leading money-back guarantees
allows you to stop worrying about finances and concentrate on your project. Click here for more details.
-
Background research:
Choosing the right worker is crucial to the success of your project.
But with a traditional consultant, you have to rely on
resumes and work histories which are all to often
"fudged". On vWorker.com, we give you a much clearer picture of your
potential worker
with an array of tools that let you make a more educated choice:
-
Ratings/comments: Past employers
leave ratings and comments so that you know how a potential
worker actually performed in the past.
Unlike some competing sites, these ratings are protected with a
double-blind system, so you know they're accurate
and free from retaliatory ratings and rating-exchanges.
-
Certifications: A traditional consultant can claim
they took a class that they didn't, or are certified in something they
aren't. But on vWorker.com,
all certifications are conducted and verified through
ExpertRating.
You can view your potential worker's
actual score on thousands of ExpertRating tests
in hundreds of different subject areas.
-
Mediation/arbitration record: View your potential worker's
mediation/arbitration history and read detailed information from the arbitrator on the
final findings. This lets you learn more about how they behave when working on
real-life projects.
-
Posting a project:
-
Crucial deadline: The vWorker.com money-back guarantee protect your money if a worker doesn't deliver.
However, if you have a critical deadline, it may be more important to you to pick the most
committed and expert
worker in the first place...rather than having to exercise those guarantees.
If this is your
situation, then you can require your
worker to place an
Expert Guarantee. This means they put down a
forfeitable deposit. If they fully complete the
contract, they will get the deposit back, but if they don't, they will lose it.
This is a excellent tool to find a worker who
is fully committed to your project. (Click here for full details on the
Expert Guarantee).
- Trade secrets: If you need to protect trade secrets
(i.e. intellectual property or IP),
vWorker.com
offers a
non-disclosure agreement
feature
for maximum legal protection of your IP.
If you need to protect programming source-code, the
Chaperon environment will do this through creation, transport,
storage and retrieval.
- Assistance: If you have difficult choosing the best worker for your situation, a Rent
a worker
Facilitator
with experience in project management is available to assist you in choosing the
best worker for your needs.
-
When working with a worker:
-
Escrow: Rather than making a risky advance payment to your chosen
worker (and
perhaps losing your money and getting nothing in return) you
escrow the funds with vWorker.com. Then, only when you've
100% verified the deliverables/timecard, do you authorize it's release.
Click here for more details on money-back guarantees.
-
Legal:
Should you ever get into a dispute over any of the money-back guarantees,
you can enlist the help of a 3rd party, for free. Just place the bid into
arbitration with a vWorker.com
arbitrator. They will determine what has actually been delivered
(or not) and the
worker
(and yourself) have already
pre-agreed to abide by their decision.
Click here to view additional
security,
safety and reliability features.
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| 3)
What does this service cost? |
| |
vWorker.com strongly believes in only being paid if you are successful. There
are no posting fees, activation fees, or subscription fees charged to you as
an employer (unlike
many competitors).
If you do find a good worker and ultimately release funds then we
charge a percent of those funds (called the
vWorker.com fee).
However, this is not added to the bid amount you see, because the fee is already factored in. Instead we
take it out before releasing it to the worker. In other words, if you accept
a bid for $100, you pay $100, and nothing more.
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| 4)
How do I physically pay the worker? |
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With a traditional contractor, you often have to make a risky advance payment
to get them to begin work (and sometimes even additional advance
payments at various milestones). Unfortunately, this can result in you
losing some of all of your money.
On vWorker.com, you do not pay the worker
directly. Instead you escrow the amount via credit card, PayPal,
postal mail check or
bank to bank
wire transfer with vWorker.com. (Note: wire transfer involves a
small surcharge
to cover our expenses). Only after the contract is
fulfilled and you sign off on the deliverables/timecard, are the
escrowed funds released to the
worker.
If the virtual worker
fails to deliver on any of the money-back
guarantees, you can immediately place the project into
arbitration, where we verify your money-back guarantee
preconditions and refund your money.
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| 5)
What is the difference between fixed-price and hourly projects? |
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With fixed-price projects, you pay the worker for the final deliverables, so
by using this method gives you the most protection (such as arbitration).
With hourly projects, you pay the worker for the hours they've worked, and it's the
cheapest and most flexible way to pay.
Click here for more details on both payment types.
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| 7)
I've heard I can save 40-80% by choosing a worker from an
emerging economy. What are the pros and cons of employing this type of worker? |
| |
It's true that workers from
emerging economies are often happy to do the same work for 40-80% less than a worker in
a mature economy. These workers pay substantially less for rent, food, goods and services as people in mature
economies, so it can be a mutually beneficial economic deal for both parties.
However, these same countries
do not offer the intellectual property protections that mature economies do, which
could be important to you. Additionally, there are other factors to consider. Below
are the pros and cons of each type of worker, so you can choose the best for your situation.
Emerging economy (includes most countries. Examples: Romania, India, China, etc.)
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Pros:
- Cost: Price charged is often 40-80% cheaper than a
worker from a mature economy.
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Cons:
- Legal: If your project involves intellectual property (IP)
that you need to protect, the
worker's country may not
have any laws that are enforceable to protect it. As an
extreme example: an unethical
worker might try to
resell your IP to others, and you might not be able to
enforce a non-disclosure agreement, nor sue them for
damages. If this is a concern, then consult with your
attorney concerning the IP laws in the country you are
considering, before hiring them. (Note: Regardless of
the laws in a country...if the above scenario
happened, vWorker.com.com would
ban the worker
permanently from the site).
- Time Zone: The worker's time zone may not match
yours very closely. In extreme cases, it may be night for
the worker when it is your morning (and vice versa), which
can make prompt communication difficult. If this is a
concern, then ask the worker how they will deal with the
difference, before hiring them.
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|
Mature economy (U.S., Western Europe or Australia)
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Pros:
- Legal: If you have intellectual property (IP) you
wish to protect, there are strong penalties that you can
enforce on someone who tried to take it. In an extreme case,
this includes the ability to enforce a non-disclosure
agreement as well as sue the other party in court.
- Time Zone: The worker's
time zone may match yours
fairly closely. If it does, you can communicate faster
and contact them quicker in the event of an emergency.
- Buying Locally: You may prefer to buy from your
own country (i.e. "Buy American" or "Buy Locally") whenever
you can.
|
| |
Cons:
- Cost: Price charged is often 200-300% more than a
worker from an emerging economy.
|
|
A final factor to consider is
the English proficiency of your worker
(which is often related to the economy type). If English is a second or third
language, you
may experience communication delays or breakdowns that affect the speed of your
project.
When you post your project, vWorker.com lets you choose your economy preference
(emerging, mature or both) and English proficiency preference (native, non-native, both).
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| 8)
What is a preferred payment method and how does it help save money? |
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When you escrow funds via a means that is cheaper for
vWorker.com to accept and process, vWorker.com
passes the savings on to you.
If you use any of the following to escrow funds all of the funds
for the project:
- Bank to bank wire transfer
- ACH (Automated Clearing House) transfer
- Snail mail check
- Transfers from your worker deposit account
that did not originate as Credit Card or PayPayl transfers
from your employer deposit account
- Transfer from your worker credit account
...then the
vWorker.com fee is reduced, which reduces the amount you need to escrow.
The fee is normally 6.5%-15% of the entire project amount
(depending on the type of auction). But with a preferred payment discount, that fee is reduced
another 2.5% (of the entire project amount). This can be a great way to save money with
very little extra effort. The preferred payment discount method began on
8/26/2004.
Note: All the funds on the project (for
fixed-price) or the timecard (for
hourly) must be escrowed using a preferred payment method to take advantage of the
discount. If some of the funds are not, then the discount will not be given.
As an example, let's say you escrow a timecard using a preferred payment method. Doing this
would give you the preferred payment discount. Then let's say you decide to increase the hours
on the timecard. When you do this and escrow the new funds for it, you would have a choice.
You could choose to again use a preferred payment method and if you did, you'd receive a
discount on that as well (since the whole timecard is covered by preferred payment methods).
However, you could also choose to use a non-preferred payment method. If you did that then
you would not get a discount on the added escrow. And since the entire time card is no longer a
preferred payment method, you would need to escrow a little more for the discount that you formerly
received that no longer applies (called a "lost previous preferred payment discount").
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| 10)
How much do wire transfers cost? |
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Wire transfers involve a small surcharge to cover our expenses.
|
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| Domestic (sent from within the United States):
$15.00 USD
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| International
(sent from outside the United States):
$40.00 USD
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| 11)
How are employer and worker disputes handled (arbitration)? |
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85-90% of transactions are completed harmoniously, but sometimes
an employer and worker cannot come to an agreement. If this happens
to you then you can simply
request one of the
vWorker.com
arbitrators
place the project into arbitration to determine if the contract was met or not. During
a court-like process, the arbitrator follows the rules of arbitration to determine
what has and has not been delivered, and may even test the final deliverables to
verify an employer's flaw list. (For complete details, see the complete rules
of arbitration in either the
employer
or
worker
legal agreements). To ensure fairness, all parties have already agreed
in advance to abide by the vWorker.com settlement.
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| 13)
I need help choosing a bid/worker. Can you help? |
| |
If you are a new employer, it can be exciting to receive numerous bids on your project,
but also a little intimidating too. How do you choose the best worker? Here's some important
tips on narrowing down the field. Remember that as you learn more
about a bidder, you can record notes on them, and hide/unhide
them from your list of candidates too.
- Bid:
Did they just post a generic bid that looks like it may have
been spammed to hundreds other employers? If so, then stay
clear. Instead look for bids where the person references
specific things in your project (to show they pay
attention to detail). If they ask specific questions about your
project is a very good sign. Interact with them using the
site: do they communicate well? Can you work with this person?
If the answer is no, then weed them out.
- Resume:
Make sure their resume matches the skills required to
accomplish your
current project. Don't hire a brick-layer to
perform your brain surgery project (and vice versa).
- Certification(s):
A true pro will be ExpertRating
certified in the important areas of your project.
But if they aren't certified and they look good for other reasons,
you should consider asking them to take the test(s) before
weeding them out.
It's free for them, and will not be a problem if they are
a legitimate professional.
- Ratings:
Ask yourself, "Do I have a tight deadline that I must get this
project finished by?"
-
"Yes, I have a tight deadline."
It's very important to make sure the candidate has done work
on the site before in projects about the same size as yours
(click on their name to see their work history).
Don't pick a $100 a job worker to do your $10,000 job
and vice versa. Then, make sure the worker has received favorable ratings from
past employers. Consider any negative comments made and
weed out the bidder if the issue would be problematic for you.
If a worker has 2 or 3 or below average ratings (below 5)
then that is also red-flag and you should consider moving on to
someone else.
-
"No, I have a flexible deadline."
You're very lucky because time is on your side and you
should strongly consider taking a chance on
a worker with little or no work experience on the site.
You can generally get quite a discount this way (because
they will bid lower for a chance to prove themselves and
earn more with your good rating). And you
can do it safely, since the
vWorker.com
Safe Project Escrow
protects your money should they not deliver. In the worst case you can
simply pick another worker at no charge,
but in the best case you pick up your project
for substantially less money.
-
Expert Guarantee:
If your deadline is really tight, then require
the worker to guarantee on-time completion
with an Expert Guarantee.
Since they forfeit the funds if they don't deliver on-time, it's an
excellent tool to identify the most committed and experts bidders.
-
English Proficiency:
Non native English speaking virtual workers can be
50-75% less expensive than native-English speakers.
So if you have a well defined project (meaning a thorough,
well-laid out requirements document), then considering only
non-native speaking workers can be a great way to save a lot
of money.
However, if you have a less well defined project,
and will be relying a lot on the worker to communicate with you
to 'flesh out' your project, then you should consider only
native-English speakers.
-
Country:
If you have a project that involves intellectual property (IP) that you want to keep
secret,
you'll want to legally protect it with the site's non-disclosure agreement (NDA)
system. However these agreements
(like any contract) have no teeth if the worker is from a country that won't enforce it.
In such countries a worker can walk away with your IP
and you will have no recourse. So to protect yourself, after having
your attorney draw up an NDA, ask them which countries you should avoid. Generally
mature-economy countries have excellent intellectual property laws and agreements, but
you start to take a risk once you go to a country that is an emerging market.
Your lawyer can advise you of the specifics depending
on your contract, and make more specific recommendations.
 "Sample and Hire Only the Best":
After this, you may still have a 4-5 excellent candidates left. How do you choose the
best one then? A technique that vWorker uses when hiring our own virtual
workers on the site, is to
pick a small portion of the job and get all 4-5 to do it.
The one who performs best then wins the actual remainder of the contract.
Even though we must pay everyone who completes the project, the cost is small.
And this ends up being much cheaper and faster than hiring a single candidate who
doesn't work out.
It also allows us to sample them before committing to something bigger.
If all of the above is not enough (or you're lost and need some help)...you can
always contact the
facilitator
with your project URL along with your 'short list' of virtual workers (if any) and they
can give you some advice.
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| 14)
What is a bulletin board auction and how do I post one? |
| |
The new Bulletin Board auction has more lenient posting
rules than the Project auctions. This bulletin board auction is ideal
for:
- Job position postings
- Announcements
- Requests for pre-completed projects
- Any other situations that do not fit into either of the
fixed-price or hourly
payment methods.
For more information as well as information on posting a bulletin board auction,
please see: Bulletin Board Auction Info.
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| 15)
What is a Project Sherpa™
(or a Tech Sherpa™)? |
| |
In mountain-climbing, a sherpa is an elite mountaineer with years of climbing experience and intimate knowledge of the local terrain. They guide other climbers safely up and down an otherwise dangerous or un-climbable mountain.
A Tech Sherpa™ is a cross-discipline expert with years of success both "climbing" (doing technical work) as well as "guiding" (managing others who do that work). A Tech Sherpa™ can take over some or all aspects of managing your project, and free you to focus on more productive things. Prices range from $25-$95/hour, depending on their skills and location in the world.
A Project Sherpa™ is the same as a Tech Sherpa™, but is an expert in a non-technical / non-computer related field (such as writing, marketing, translations, paralegal work, etc.).
For more information on Sherpas, please see see the Sherpa FAQ.
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| 16)
What are "vWorker.com Sourcing Best Practices"? |
| |
Since we started doing business in 2001, we've seen hundreds of thousands of outsourcing projects finish successfully. Unfortunately, we've also seen tens of thousands that didn't. Too many of these happened because the employer didn't understand how to outsource or use site features and protections properly. And these easily avoidable mistakes unnecessarily cost employers countless sums of money and man-centuries of wasted time and effort. So we created the Best Practices Outsourcing Model to educate employers on how to avoid these problems in the first place. The practices also discuss 'black-belt' techniques that take project success rates to the next level.
Click here to see the vWorker.com Sourcing Best Practices.
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| 17)
What is an on-the-job trial? |
| |
Are you having difficulty picking the best worker for your project? If so,
you’re not alone. Picking the best worker was the biggest challenge for all
employers in our 2011 survey.
And there can be a ten fold difference between the
best and the worst workers. Unfortunately few employers have the
technical ability to distinguish between the two.
And even those than do,
often can't
afford to spend the large amounts of time required to do it properly.
So we’re very excited to announce the solution.
Instead of interviewing you can now try out your potential
workers en-masse in an on-the-job trial. So instead of
guessing who the best worker is, you’ll know with 100% certainty!
On-the-job trials are available on every category and size of project.
Short projects
(two days or less) are handled with next-generation
crowdsourcing (which includes such innovations at PerfectPricing™).
Larger projects are handled with trialsourcing.
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| 18)
Why is crowdsourcing ideal for my
graphic design projects? |
| |
Graphic design projects include things like designing:
- Websites
- Logos
- Mottos
- Business cards
- T-shirts
- Holiday cards
- Graphics
Before crowdsourcing, these types of projects were challenging
because you had to try to pick the best designer
in advance. Even if others said they liked their work,
there was no guarantee that you would.
And there was no way to figure out
if their portfolio samples were copied from
others, or not.
Crowdsourcing solves all these problems. Instead of choosing one designer
in advance, many of them compete to do the job in exchange for a prize.
There’s no more guess work: you’ll know which one is best and be able to
cherry-pick the design that you love the most. And unlike competitors,
our next-generation features allow you to always get the perfect
price, and crowdsource every type of project. Click here for
more
details.
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| 19)
How is vWorkers's next-generation crowdsourcing
different than competitors? |
| |
Our next-generation crowdsourcing gives you more power and versatility
than any competitor.
Other sites
restrict your crowdsourcing to narrow categories (design related),
can only handle smaller projects,
and have overly-rigid and inaccurate pricing that costs you too much
money. But we've eliminated all those problems.
-
Every category of project:
Other crowdsourcing sites are limited to design projects only (logo design, web design, graphic design, etc). They're forced to do this because they used fixed pricing, which can only be done reliably in limited categories of projects. We use PerfectPricing™ pricing instead (see below). Not only does this have numerous other benefits (described below), but it allows you to crowdsource every type of project. Programming, writing, marketing and virtual assistant projects can all now be crowdsourced!
-
Every sized project:
Ordinary crowdsourcing is great for small projects
which take a contestant two days
or less to finish. Good examples are projects
like designing a logo or website home page. But it’s impractical on
larger/longer projects because funding the prize becomes too expensive.
Trialsourcing solves that problem by pairing the superior
candidate screening of crowdsourcing with the superior cost
savings of outsourcing in one project! It’s an amazingly cost
effective way for employers to screen workers. And it's a
fantastic way for superior workers to identify themselves
to employers. Click here to learn more.
-
PerfectPricing™ (and no forced minimums):
A common complaint about other crowdsourcing sites is that the prizes are too much (or not enough). Too high of a price costs you more money than necessary. Too low of a price results in poor (or no) participation and a failed contest. Both situations are bad. The reason these sites have this problem is that they force you to guess a good prize amount at the beginning and receive no feedback from the market-place on your guess. Also, if you have an unusually easy project, you are forced to use a minimum prize that will be too high for your situation.
We’ve solved that problem with PerfectPricing™. We suggest an
amount for the work
category based on our experience of what it takes to have a successful
contest. But the employer decides how much it should be (for example, if
it's an easier than usual contest). In all situations,
if any worker want to participate but finds it too low, they let the
employer know what price they need it to be.
The employer can review their resume and history and if they
want the worker to participate, they raise the prize amount (and the
worker is notified).
This allows a fair price that works for all parties to be set
each and every time.
Plus there are other improvements as well.
Click here for the full list.
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| 20)
What is trialsourcing? |
| |
Trialsourcing replaces the bidding and interview process of
outsourcing, with an on-the-job trial. But unlike crowdsourcing,
its designed for larger projects
(that take a participant
two days or longer to finish).
It is a vWorker "best practice" and we are proud to be the only
site that offers it.
Here's how it works. You split the projects into two parts:
- Small trial contest portion:
A crowdsourcing contest used to pick the best candidate.
- Larger one-on-one portion:
An outsourcing portion used to do the bulk of the work with
the selected candidate (at a much cheaper price than crowdsourcing).
In the first portion, contestants not only do the work and submit
it to you, but
also place a
bid for completing the one-on-one portion. You award the prize
to the
best contestant and then transition to the one-on-one portion.
That part
of the project is completed using outsourcing (to minimize your
cost) and
your money is fully protected with our money-back-guarantees.
Click here for more details.
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| 21)
What are the crowdsourcing / trialsourcing options? |
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There are several options to choose from in these sourcing types:
- Employer prize guarantee:
If the employer chooses this option they guarantee they
will award the prize to someone. This reduces the risk
to workers and increases the amount of participation in the
project. However, it does commit the employer to selecting
someone.
If the employer does not choose this option, they have the
option to decline choosing a winner and receive a refund of the
funds back to their site account.
We recommend that employers who do this double their prize
amount, to avoid losing participation in their contest.
IMPORTANT note on refunds:
There is no fee to have funds refunded to the employer's
site account,
where they are held for them to spend later. However, if
they choose to have funds physically refunded, then we
incur some small costs, and charge a small cancellation
fee to cover them. Click here to
learn more.
- Co-contestant visibility:
The employer can choose how much contestants can see
of other contestants' submissions and communication.
More public visibility maximizes the power of the crowd.
Less public visibility
increases the privacy for the employer.
The choices are:
-
Public (recommended):
This maximizes the power of the crowd
because contestants can work off of the
feedback and guidance the employer has given to others
to customize their own work and more quickly
tweak it to their
unique likes/dislikes. It also reduces
the amount of repeat guidance the employer needs
to give each worker.
All contestants and potential contestants can see:
- "Contest / Message Summary" page: A list of all contestants who have responded
or been invited to the contest. The list includes the following for each
contestant: highest rating received from employer on submissions,
number of messages, number of submissions, if/when they
officially announced
starting the contest.
-
"Compare All Contestants' Uploads" page:
The submissions sent by each contestant to the
employer,
any message attached to it,
and what the employer rated it.
-
"Public Messages" page: All onsite communication
between the employer and each contestant.
-
Semi-public:
This still allows the employer to harness some
of the
power of the crowd, but also keep
specific communication private. This will
increase the amount of time
it takes contestants to produce the final work and
decrease the number of contestants. So it is
only recommended if the employer has intellectual
property needs that require it.
All contestants and potential contestants can see:
- "Contest / Message Summary" page: A list of all contestants who have responded
or been invited to the contest. The list includes the following for each
contestant: highest rating received from employer on submissions,
number of messages, number of submissions, if/when they
officially announced
starting the contest.
-
"Compare All Contestants' Uploads" page:
The submissions sent by each contestant to the
employer,
any message attached to it,
and what the employer rated it.
They cannot see all other onsite communication between the employer
and other contestants.
-
Private:
This gives the employer the maximum privacy
at the expense of minimizing the power
of the crowd. This will
increase the amount of time
it takes contestants to produce the final work and
decrease the number of contestants.
So it is
only recommended if the employer has
very strict intellectual
property needs that require it.
Allows contestants (and potential contestants) to see:
- "Contest / Message Summary" page: A list of all contestants who have responded
or been invited to the contest. The list includes the following for each
contestant: highest rating received from employer on submissions,
number of messages, number of submissions, if/when they
officially announced
starting the contest.
They cannot see anything else.
- PerfectPricing™ pricing feedback:
If the employer chooses this option (which is highly recommended),
then workers are
able to tell the employer if they are interested
in the contest, but the prize amount is too low.
The employer can review their resume and work history
and decide if they want to raise the prize to get their
participation. Click here to learn why this feature
is revolutionary.
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| 22)
How does copyright work on crowdsourcing / trialsourcing projects?
|
| |
To keep the process safe for both parties, the following rules
apply to copyright on these sourcing types.
- Employer:
The employer will receive copyright to
the deliverables from the contestant /
worker
when they award the prize funds to them.
Unless/until they do, they do not
own copyright to it. Before awarding
funds they may not modify, redistribute
or use it in any way, other
than to verify awarding
the prize. Any employer who knowingly
violates this
prohibition will have their
account
permanently closed for copyright fraud.
Additionally,
they expose themselves to potential
criminal and
civil charges in a court of law.
(If you see a violation, please
click here to report it).
- contestant / Worker:
The worker guarantees that they
currently own full and
exclusive
copyright to all work they submit.
If they wish
to
include 3rd party work of any
type, they must document the
following, onsite:
- Tell the employer exactly
what is
3rd party in the
deliverables.
- Explain what the copyright
ramifications are to them.
- Have them agree (onsite) to the
above.
Any worker who knowingly submits
3rd party work in
their
deliverables without doing the above,
will have committed copyright
fraud and will have their
account permanently closed.
(If you see a violation, please
click here to report it).
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| 23)
What happens when I increase the prize amount?
|
| |
When you increase the prize amount a notification is
sent to:
- All contestants who had already registered as starting the
contest.
- All contestants who said they would participate if
the prize was increased to the new amount.
When the prize increases, it is increased for everyone: both
existing contestants and new ones.
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| 24)
What are the 5 star ratings on contest submissions and how do they work?
|
| |
We strongly encourage every employer to not only respond to each submission, but also give it a
rating from one to five stars. This gives the worker valuable feedback and may allow them to
change the entry so that
the employer likes it better. It also allows other contestants (and potential contestants) to
understand more quickly what the employer is looking for, rather from all of them starting from scratch. (Note:
this information is only visible to other contestants if the employer has allowed them to see it, via the
"co-contestant visibility" setting on the project.
The ratings are as follows:
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| 25)
Can a crowdsourcing contest work on a project that takes a
contestant longer than two days
to finish?
|
| |
Yes crowdsourcing actually works on any sized project.
We just typically don't advise it's use on projects longer than
two days
because it gets very expensive for the employer (and recommend
trialsourcing instead).
However, there are a few situations where it makes more sense to
do a larger sized project as a crowdsourcing project.
For example:
- Experimental projects:
If the employer is not sure the
project can be done at all, it can be cheaper to use
crowdsourcing. That way, they know they will either
get the successful end result or a
refund. On a trialsourcing project, the winner may
complete the smaller trial
but fail on the larger one-on-one portion...which the employer must pay for.
An example of this is the X-prize, which is a contest
used to encourage researchers to create break-throughs that
no-one else has before: such as creating a car that drives
itself or a space elevator to the moon. The contest prizes are
in the millions, but are "all or nothing" because they are so
experimental.
- Deep pockets:
If the employer has a large budget then offering a large
prize can useful for generating a huge marketing splash.
We have set the default upper limit on a crowdsourcing contest to
three months.
However, if you require a longer period of time, then please
contact us.
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| 26)
How do I protect the privacy of the final files when I select a winner
on a public visibility contest?
|
| |
Public visibility contests are viewable by the public, which gives
them their "power". However, once you select a winner, you may
wish to receive the final files from them privately, so that the
public does not have access to them.
To do this, just let the site
know. When you click on "award prize", it will ask you if there
are any additional files (or information) that you still need to
get:
When you select this, all conversation between you and the winner
after that point will be private to the two of you, and not
viewable to the public. It will also inform the winner that you've
chosen them as such. This will let them that it's completely safe to release
the final files to you.
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| 27)
What happens if the worker doesn't follow through on the second
portion of a trialsourcing project?
|
| |
The second portion of a trialsourcing project is the larger,
one-on-one portion, and is the most important part of
it. If for some reason the worker doesn't properly initiate it
(e.g. declines it, suddenly requires
more money to do it, etc.), then you can rate them for it. If you can't rate
them yourself
(because you didn't place a rating in time or placed a positive rating
before you knew what would ultimately happen)
then we will change it for you. To do this,
contact a facilitator
and tell them:
- "I wish to change the contest rating because the worker
did not properly initiate the one-on-one portion of the trialsourcing
project".
- The reason the worker did not properly initiate it.
- The project id (or URL).
- Your new numeric rating (from 4-10) and the rating comment you want.
(The rating cannot be below a 4 because those
ratings are reserved for users who have lost arbitrations).
They will verify that the other party did not initiate it and
place your new rating. Please note that:
- The worker will retain the ability to rebut your rating.
- If the worker started the one-on-one portion but did not
do a good job, then you should rate them on that that
project (which has a separate rating) rather than the contest.
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| 28)
What is the Expert Guarantee?
|
| |
The Expert Guarantee is a useful feature, if you happen to be
an employer and...
- ...have a crucial deadline and MUST find an expert who will finish the project on time.
- ...OR...have too many "look-alike" bidders and aren't sure how to separate the experts from the amateurs.
The Expert Guarantee is also useful, if you happen to be
an expert worker, whose bids are getting crowded out by a throng of less qualified bidders.
|
|
| |
| If you fall into any of the above categories, then the
Expert Guarantee solves your problem, by quickly connecting expert workers with serious employers. Here is how it works. At the beginning of the project, the expert worker
puts their own money "on the line", to prove that they have the skill to complete the project and are also 100% committed to completing it on time. They do this by placing a deposit into escrow, which is a percentage of the bid amount (for example 10%).
|
| |
- If the expert worker completes the contract as promised (100% by the deadline), then they receive the deposit back (along with full payment for the work, as usual).
- If the expert worker does not complete the contract, then they
forfeit the deposit. The deposit is used to pay for the employer's cancellation charge, and the remainder is donated to a non-profit charity. (The money is not kept by vWorker.com nor the employer).
- If the employer is responsible for the project failing (for example: by pulling out prematurely, withholding important information, etc.) then the worker
receives back the deposit. A worker does this via the arbitration process.
|
| (Note: To reimburse vWorker.com for the cost of processing the deposit, the worker
is sometimes charged a small, non-refundable
processing fee when making their deposit. The worker
can eliminate or reduce this fee by choosing a less expensive method of payment). |
| |
| The above is merely a brief overview of the Expert Guarantee feature, and there are many additional important details that are not included here. Please DO NOT USE THIS FEATURE, until you've read and understood all of those details. Links to frequently asked questions and the detailed legal agreements are below: |
| |
|
|
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| 29)
On what types of projects can I require an Expert Guarantee?
|
| |
You can require an
Expert Guarantee
on any fixed-price project that is large enough to justify the additional overhead, and long
enough to handle the possible delay of verification. So you can require
it on any project that is one of the following types*:
- Enterprise Business Project:
$58,823.53 USD+
- Very Large Business Project:
$29,411.76 USD+
- Large Business Project:
$5,882.35 USD+
- Medium Business Project:
$588.24 USD
Small Business Project:
$117.65 USD+
- Unsure of Project Price or Beginner Assistance
...and has a minimum deadline of
3
days.
- *Bidding Type*:
- These estimated sizes are for open-auction bidding types
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| 30)
What are the minimum and maximum percentages I can set for
the Expert Guarantee |
| |
The
Expert Guarantee can be
from
5%
to
100%
of the bid. The typical percentage is
10%.
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| 31)
How long do I have to wait for the worker to make
their Expert Guarantee?
|
| |
The worker has up to
3
business days to make their
Expert Guarantee. During
that time we also send them daily email notifications to prompt them to respond. Please
do realize that the worker's circumstances may have drastically changed since the
time they initially bid (for example, they may have won additional projects in the
meantime and no longer have spare capacity). As a result they may choose
to decline your project during this time at no penalty (other than noting the incident
as a neutral item on their rating).
Once the worker escrows the
Expert Guarantee you will
both be notified and work will begin.
If for some reason, the worker neither escrows funds, nor declines the
project in
3
business days, they will receive a negative rating. If this happens,
you will be notified and can choose to switch to another worker at no charge.
Note:
-
Due to the delay usually required for a worker to complete the escrowing
of the
Expert Guarantee, it
is not recommended to use
Expert Guarantee
on a project with a very short deadline.
-
If the guarantee was for
the second portion of a
trialsourcing project,
you have the option to rate the worker
poorly on the first part (for backing out).
When the second part of a trialsourcing is
aborted, the non-cancelling party has the option to
revise their rating on the
first part, to reflect what
happened.
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| 32)
If I choose to extend the deadline for the worker, how does that affect
the Expert Guarantee?
|
| |
If you extend the deadline, then the old deadline is discarded
and the newest one is enforced. As long as the worker completes the work
100% by the newest deadline, they will receive back their
Expert Guarantee.
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| 33)
Why are forfeited
Expert Guarantees donated to
charity?
|
| |
After covering the employer's cancellation charge, the remainder
of the
Expert Guarantee
is donated to charity. We do not keep the funds, so as to avoid even
the appearance of a conflict of interest during the arbitration process.
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| 34)
What if I don't know how much to set my maximum bid to?
|
| |
If you are unsure of how much your project or problem is
worth, you can leave the bid blank and workers
will suggest different bid amounts
to you.
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| 35)
How can I accept more than one bid/worker on my project?
|
| |
To do this, you will need to navigate to the "Bidding/Message Summary"
tab of your project. Under the list of bidders, you will see a link that says
"Employer help on bidding." Clicking this link reveals the link to
"Accept more than one bidder’s bid"
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| 36)
How long do I have to accept a bid?
|
| |
You have until your self-specified bidding expiration date
to accept a bid (which you can modify at any time). After this, the site
will give you an additional week to further decide on a worker. If you
still haven't selected a worker at that point, the system will close out your
project so as not to clutter up the site with 'dead' projects. If
this happens, and you change your mind and want to reopen the project,
you can click on "Reactivate this project" in your
project control panel to reopen it.
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| 37)
I've accepted a bid at one price, but now want to increase the amount.
How do I do it? |
| |
Just:
-
Add the funds to your account. Go to
'my financials' (under 'My account...' in your employer menu),
and then click on 'Deposit additional funds into my employer
account'.
-
Contact a facilitator and we'll
apply it to your project. Make sure to give us the
id # (or internet address) of your project so we know which one to
apply it to. Click here
to do this.
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| 38)
I've hidden one or more bidders, but now want to review them again. How can I view or restore a bidder I've hidden?
|
| |
To view or restore a bidder you've hidden from your project
page, do the following: First go to your project page, and
click on the "Show bidders I've hidden" checkbox.
The hidden bidders will show up in grey with the heading "This bidder was hidden
by you". To restore them, click on the hide/unhide check box to the right
of the bidder and then click on the hide/unhide button.
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| 39)
Can I setup milestones and/or negotiate partial payments for milestones?
|
| |
Yes. Simply negotiate these with your worker before
beginning work. When you accept work at each milestone completion, you
can use the 'accept work' feature to accept a percentage of the entire payment rather
than 100%.
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| 41)
Is contact information allowed in projects and bids? How
about in projects > $500?
|
| |
To protect our fee, contact information is never allowed
in any bid, no matter what the project amount. However, to facilitate
the requirements gathering stage of larger projects, the site "Information Release"
system allows the worker to release information to you without having to post contact
information. For complete information click here
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| 42)
What information in my project and bids is private and what isn't?
|
| |
|
The Worker and Employer may exchange one or more bids and
replies on the project. Exhedra wishes to make clear in this section
exactly what is shown and what is not shown to other people on the site
regarding projects and bidding. |
| |
| Profiles: |
| |
Both employer and worker profiles are publicly available. Profiles are
viewable by clicking on the person's name at various places on the site,
including bids, projects and ratings. 3rd party search engines
outside of the control of Exhedra (such as Google) may index and show these
profiles on their sites. If you wish to keep your identity private,
you are advised to use the 'Screen Name' feature of the site and use a name
different than you real name or company. |
Open Auctions (with no NDA):
|
Project Details: (description, etc.)
|
Project details are viewable by the public.
|
Bids/Replies:
|
While the bidding is open, the auction is conducted as a 'closed
auction' and bidders cannot see the bids placed by other bidders.
Once a winning bidder is chosen, the accepted bid (made by the winning bidder),
and the last bids (made by losing bidders) are made public and are viewable by
the general public... to show that a fair and honest auction was
conducted. This does include the screennames and site links of the bidders.
Everything else remains private...including the text and attachments of all
comments made. The project page itself is removed from general public
access on the site's search system. However, the general public can view the
title of the project on the winning bidder's resume. Clicking on the link
will allow a person from the general public to view the project itself and
the information stated above. Additionally, 3rd party search engines outside of
the control of Exhedra (such as Google) may index and show this information on
their sites.
If an employer wishes to hide the details of their open project from the general public,
they may choose to 'privatize' the open project once a worker is chosen.
This converts it into a private auction (see below) which, as the name implies, is much more hidden.
Click here for instructions on how to do this.
|
Open Auctions (with NDA):
|
Project Details: (description, etc.)
|
Project details are viewable only by those Workers whom the Employer
approves for viewing by accepting their NDA. The general
public or those rejected may only view the "Pre NDA" message that the
Employer posts for the public.
|
Bids/Replies:
|
While the bidding is open, the auction is conducted as a 'closed
auction' and bidders cannot see the bids placed by other bidders.
Once a winning bidder is chosen, the accepted bid (made by the winning
bidder), and the last bids (made by losing bidders) are made viewable by those Workers who had their NDA
approved by the Employer...to show that a fair and honest auction was conducted. This does include the screennames and site links of the bidders. Everything
else remains private...including the text and attachments of all comments made.
The project page itself
is removed from general public access on the site's search system.
However, the general public can view the title of the project on the
winning bidder's resume. Clicking on the link, however, does not
allow a person from the general public to view the project itself.
|
Private and One-on-one auctions
|
Project Details: (description, etc.)
|
Project details are viewable only by those Workers whom the Employer
invites to the auction. The general public may not view the project
details.
|
Bids/Replies:
|
While the bidding is open, the auction is conducted as a 'closed
auction' and bidders cannot see the bids placed by other bidders.
Once a winning bidder is chosen, the accepted bid (made by the winning
bidder), and the last bids (made by losing bidders) are made viewable only to those Workers whom the Employer
invited to the auction...to show that a fair and honest auction was conducted. This does include the screennames and site links of the bidders. Everything
else remains private...including the text and attachments of all comments made. The project page itself
is removed from general public access on the site's search system.
However, the general public can view the title of the project on the
winning bidder's resume. Clicking on the link, however, does not
allow a person from the general public to view the project itself.
|
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| 43)
Why would I want to privatize my project?
|
| |
In order to demonstrate that a fair auction was conducted, some of the information
about workers on open-auction projects is made visible to the public:
-
For outsourcing projects:
The following information about all bidders:
- $ amount of bid
- # of bids/comments
- Worker's screen name and link to profile
- Whether they won the bid or not
As well as a few other miscellaneous items, which are fully described in your
employer legal agreement.
-
For crowdsourcing /
trialsourcing projects:
Certain items (depending on your project "visibility") as fully described at in your
employer legal agreement.
Some employers may not wish to have this information known to the public. If you
wish to hide these details from the
public, you can do so by 'privatizing' your project/contest. This
changes your auction from an open project/contest to a one-on-one project/contest to
give you maximum privacy; while still allowing your selected worker/contest winner and yourself
full access. This can
be done on a project by project basis, or you can set a
setting in your profile to automatically
privatize every future project, the moment you choose the worker.
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| 44)
How do I privatize my project?
|
| |
You can privatize individual projects from the control
panel of your project. Or you can choose to auto-privatize all future
projects that you choose worker's on, using the
auto-privatize feature
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| 45)
How does auto-privatize work?
|
| |
Auto privatize automatically converts your open auctions
into private auctions after you select a worker. It's a handy feature
that combines the flexibility of an open project during bidding, and the privacy
of a private project once you select your worker. It works like this:
- Before you select a worker, your auction is open to the public, so that virtual workers can
bid (this is necessary because you don't yet know which worker you wish
to pick, and normal private auctions require you to provide an invitation list of
authorized virtual workers...which you cannot yet create).
- Once you select a worker, the
site automatically converts the auction to a private auction and auto-invites your
selected worker. This enables only you and the worker to access the
project from this point on.
You can activate auto-privatize by checking the box in 'My alerts/other'
in the Employers menu, under 'My account'. It's important
to understand that when you first activate this feature, it can only convert new
auctions (when #2, above, occurs). Any old auctions where you've already
chosen a worker will not be converted. However, you can privatize individually,
as described above.
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| 47)
What is ExpertRating Certification and how does it work?
|
| |
Click here
for full details on the ExpertRating certification program.
| |
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| 48)
The workers
I hired keep
missing deadlines. What can I do to stop this?
|
| |
Calculating a Realistic Delivery Date from a Worker's Estimate:
|
Do you have a good worker, whose only problem is that they can't seem to deliver on time?
This is actually very typical in many industries.
For example, the Standish Group found that there is a 75% chance that
any software project will not be delivered in the time estimated, and
other industries are similar.
The good news is that there
are ways to manage this. By completing the
vWorker.com
requirements wizard, you can greatly increase the chances of on-time delivery. But
even this is not enough, because a competent worker can still estimate incorrectly
despite this.
To avoid an unpleasant surprise, we highly recommend that you
take the delivery date that your worker estimated and calculate a realistic delivery
date. That date will be either 5x or 2x longer than the
worker estimated. You will not reveal this date to the worker, nor will
you enter it into the site as an official date (since that would defeat the purpose).
Instead, if the worker misses a milestone deadline and is still doing a good job,
you will dole out some of the extra slack time that you have. And if they
are not doing a good job, then you can still hold them accountable to the original
date, and take the project into arbitration for a refund
(via your money-back guarantee). This puts you in
the driver seat.
Why are competent workers so bad at estimating?
There are a number of reasons. The main ones are:
|
Only 25% of projects are completed on time. 50% are late/over budget and 25%
never get delivered at all.
|
- Unforeseeable problems:
Many of the problems that come up during development are unforeseeable.
If you have ever started a "simple" home improvement project and later found it
was much more complicated than you realized, then you know first hand how programming
can be...even for the experts.
- Misunderstood/unclear requirements:
When the requirements are unclear, the worker usually underestimates what it
takes to build your project. To
use an analogy, they may estimate your project as if you wanted a
comfortable house. Only mid-project do they
realize that you were expecting the Taj Mahal, and realize that
they under estimated.
So, how do I handle this?
With a few simple but innovative management techniques, you can handle this problem so that it doesn't derail your project:
- The Realistic Estimate:
Take the worker's estimate and secretly calculate a more realistic
estimate by multiplying their estimated time by 5. If the worker has given
you the estimate after all of the requirements have been fully documented in a formal
document (and/or prototype) and finalized, then you only need to multiply it by
2. (Click here to learn where
these numbers come from.) Then, use this realistic estimate in your planning,
rather than the worker's estimate.
It's important that you NEVER share your realistic
estimate with the worker. If they feel they have too time to spare, they
will not work as hard on your project and it will defeat the whole purpose of this
technique. Do NOT enter the date into the vWorker.com web site or put it
anywhere where the worker might learn about it. Instead keep it like a secret in
your "back pocket".
- Managing a missed deadline:
Managing missed deadlines properly actually begins
before the worker starts your
project.
If you wait until the end of your project to start managing them, your options will
be much more limited than if you did it earlier. To do this, tell
the worker that before they start,
they must list out all of the
tasks in the project and how long they will take to reach each milestone.
Each task length should be 2 days or less. If it comes out to be more, then
they should split into smaller sub tasks that are 2 days or less. This method
has been
proven to produce more accurate estimates.
Then let them start the work and have them report to you when each
task is complete. If they finish every task as planned, then that is great.
But if they don't (which is more likely), then the minute they miss one, tell them
to re-estimate it (and the remaining items, as described below). Remember,
the slippage won't cause you a problem, because you will have accounted for it in
your realistic estimate.
- How a worker should re-estimate tasks:
It's important that the worker re-estimate properly. First,
to ensure that they are doing a good job, require them to increase their commitment
to your project (see "commitment
terms" for more details"). Once they do, then tell them to re-estimate
the time for the current task. Software estimation experts have found that
if a milestones was missed by an amount (say 20%), then the worker should add
at least 20% to all other milestones as well. Workers
are often tempted to gloss over this, but you should insist on them doing this.
- Stay in the driver's seat:
It's important to understand that as long as you DO NOT reveal your
secret delivery date to the worker, you are in the driver's seat. You
can decide to dole them more time from your secret estimate. Or you can decide
not to and take them to arbitration for a refund. However if you make the
mistake of telling the worker that your realistic deadline is their "real" deadline,
then you no longer have that option, and MUST give them ALL of that time.
So it is always better to keep it hidden "in your back pocket".
Where do we get these numbers from?
These numbers (and some of the techniques as well)
are taken from the book "Software Estimation:
Demystifying the Black Art" by guru Steve McConnell. McConnell
graphed the inaccuracy of estimates on tens of thousands of projects that were done
by expert estimators and found some interesting patterns. At the beginning
of the project, their estimates were off by as much as 4x. When the formal requirements
were complete, it was reduced to 1.5x. However, since most workers are
not experts in estimation, we recommend using 5x and 2x instead.
If you are interested in learning more about this concept, a good synopsis is at: http://www.construx.com/Page.aspx?hid=1648 |
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| 49)
What is bidding spam and how does the site protect
against it?
|
| |
Bidding spam is a generic comment or bid that a worker
places on one or more projects without first
attempting to read or
understand what the project is about. It may
be done by accessing the website normally, or it may be
done through an automated program.
Bidding spam
distracts employers from the
legitimate bidders and unnecessarily slows down the
bidding process.
When an employer posts a project, they can check a box
called "Bidding spam detection" in the "advanced options"
section of the page. When they do this, it requires
workers to guarantee they are not posting bidding spam.
Further, to demonstrate it, they briefly summarize the
project in their own words, which is shown to the
employer.
Workers that simply copy and paste some or all of the project
description, post nonsense or otherwise demonstrate they
responded without reading the project, can be easily
rejected by the employer and not considered for the project.
Additionally, employers can also
record a formal complaint (for
disciplinary action) against workers who
send them bidding spam. A formal complaint
is recorded on the worker's record and they
are notified of it. If a worker receives
3
complaints (from different employers),
then their bidding privileges (ability to post on new
projects) will be suspended for 24 hours.
If a worker who was previously suspended receives
2
more complaints,
then their account is forfeited and
terminated (after a manual review by
vWorker.com).
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| 50)
Can I reply to the other party via email?
|
| |
Yes. In addition to replying via a form on the site and
instant messaging, you can also reply to them
directly from your email. When you receive an email notification,
just hit "reply" in your email client. Then type your
response between the
two lines indicated, and then hit send:
The site will then post this for you automatically:
 |
| How it looks on the site |
It's important not to delete or change any information in the
email or the site will not know which project you are posting
on. If you're unsure if you did it properly, check the page manually
by hitting "refresh". Note that during peak times there can be a 10-15 minute
delay in posting your responses via email. If time is of the
essence, then you should reply to them using the site form instead.
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| 51)
What is the project matchmaking system?
|
| |
Project matchmaking is a free service that connects
employers with suitable workers. When it finds these
workers, it sends them a personal invitation to
bid on the employer's project (or participate in their contest).
Employers who select matchmaking on their projects can invite up to
180 workers
in the following categories:
- Top ranked:
Have the highest all coder competition score
for all the categories the project is in.
- Newest and freshest:
New workers who are often eager to work
- Other:
There are many good workers who are not
the very top ranked, nor brand new. This option
will randomly select these types of workers to
round out the invitation list.
If a worker does not want to receive matchmaker invitations, they
can disable them in several ways:
- Block matches on projects of a certain type,
size or category.
(Go to "my account",
"My registration / settings" , "My filters").
- Block being matched with a particular employer.
(Go to "My account", "My block list").
- Block ALL matchmaker invitations. (Go to "my account",
"My registration / settings" , "My alerts / privacy").
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| 52)
How is my financial and personal information kept safe?
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All sensitive information is protected via the highest level
of SSL encryption (128 bit) to prevent it from being intercepted by unauthorized
parties. Once the information arrives at our data center, it is password-protected
in a datastore. The data store is additionally fortified by an ICSA Certified
firewall that blocks out intrusion attempts. Additionally, we subscribe
to vendor security notification lists, and install new vendor patches as promptly
as possible...most often with 24 hours. Finally, 3rd party security experts
go through all of our systems on a routine basis looking for holes, and anything
they find is promptly sealed and documented.
The above is just a partial list of security features. For more information, click here.
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| 53)
How can I protect my trade secrets/confidential information?
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The vWorker.com 'Non-disclosure Agreement Protection' feature allows you to safe-guard any trade secrets you might have, by requiring virtual workers who wish to bid on your project to sign a legally binding non-disclosure agreement before you reveal any confidential information about your project to them.
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| Here's how the NDA process works:
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- You select that you want your project protected by the 'NDA Protection' feature.
(see screenshot...)
- The only information made initially public to the worker, is the project title, bidding type,
project type, category(ies) and a pre-NDA public message of your choice.
(see screenshot...)
- Workers who are interested in learning more, must first download your NDA, sign it, scan it back in and re-upload it.
(see screenshot...)
- Upon receipt of their signed
NDA, vWorker.com will notify you via email (see screenshot...). You can then review that worker's background and choose to approve or reject them for further access to your confidential information...all from your project page. (see screenshot...)
- Once the worker is approved, they receive an email informing them of your approval (or not)(see screenshot...). If approved, they are given a link where they can see the full project information that you have setup including the project description, deliverables, platform, etc.
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| You are in control of the release of confidential information at all times, ensuring you the safest experience possible.
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Click here for more information on non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
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| 57)
What protections are there in the rating system?
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The rating system is a crucial tool for you to determine who you want to work with, and it's
vital that it be as accurate as possible.
To give you the most information possible, we encourage parties to rate
each other based on the following project
details:
But while this is helpful, it is not enough. In a typical
unprotected rating system (like
many
competitors use),
it's dangerous to
rate another party poorly because they will retaliate and do the same. That's why vWorker.com
protects all ratings with a double-blind system. The other party cannot see what you rated them
until they have already rated you (and vice versa). This protects you from
retaliatory ratings and also prevents two parties from swapping
inflated ratings too.
In addition to the double-blind protection, you'll also notice vWorker.com
arbitrator ratings on many peoples' accounts. If we uncover
anything that another party has a right to know, while we are doing an arbitration, we document it
publicly on the rating (including who
won the arbitration and why). This gives you complete information when deciding whether to work with
that person or not.
For complete details, see the complete rules of arbitration in either the
employer or
worker legal agreements.
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| 58)
I'm getting a warning about my Internet Explorer browser being old and possibly buggy. What is this all about? |
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You are running an old internet browser (Internet Explorer
v5.x) that Microsoft has found a number of bugs in. These bugs will not
only cause problems for you on some of the advanced features of vWorker.com (like
posting bids and attachments), but also exposes you to security risks on all sites
on the Internet.
Microsoft provides new and upgraded versions of its software
for no charge via download from the Internet, or via CD for a nominal charge. You
are highly recommended to take advantage of all the latest bug fixes and security
advances by downloading the free newest version of Internet Explorer. To
learn more click here.
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| 59)
I'm a U.S. employer. Do I have to mail a yearly Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 1099 form to all
the workers I hire? |
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No you don't. Yes, your workers are independent contractors, and if you had hired them in the
offline world,
then you would have to fill out this time consuming tax form for each one of them.
However, on
vWorker.com
we handle this thankless task for you for free, so you can focus on your projects. Per
IRS rules, we
automatically
issue all U.S. virtual workers who made $600 or more in the past year an IRS 1099 form
at
the proper time of the year.
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| 61)
Can I give another user in my company or team
access to certain sections of my account?
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| |
Yes, you can give another user partial access to your account.
To do this, go to your 'my account' menu and then the
'my sub-account' sub menu. From here you can give another
user access to your account as well as optionally notify them
of their new permissions via email (and an alert).
After you've done this, the user will have
a new option to
sign-in as your sub-account (the next time they sign in). Note: that for
your protection, they
sign-in as a sub-account using their own userid and password, rather than
yours. You should never give out your own sign-in credentials to
sub-account users.
If you've just been assigned as someone else's sub-account and are not
seeing the sub-account option, you most likely told the site to save your
login credentials. To see it,
sign-out of the site first (using the link in the upper right hand corner)
and then sign-in again.
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| 62)
How did bidding and the vWorker.com fee change in August of 2011? |
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Prior to August of 2011, bidding and the
vWorker.com fee* worked like this (on an open-auction fixed-price project with
15% fee):
- Worker wanted to be paid $85.
- Using the bid calculator on the bid screen, the worker calculated that they should
bid $100, to take into account the
vWorker.com fee*. The worker bid $100.
- Employer saw the bid as $100.
- Employer selected the worker and escrowed $100.
- Employer accepted the work as completed. Worker was credited with $85.
vWorker.com was credited with $15.
After August of 2011, the same scenario works like this:
- Worker wants to be paid $85.
- On bid screen, the worker is instructed not to raise their bid for the
vWorker.com fee* anymore, because we will do it for them instead. Worker bids $85.
- Employer sees the bids as $100 (the
vWorker.com fee* is now included at this point).
- Employer selects the worker and escrows $100.
- Employer accepts work as completed. Worker is credited with $85.
vWorker.com is credited with $15.
In both scenarios the employer pays the same amount, and both the worker and vWorker.com receive same the amount.
However, after the change, it is much easier for the worker to place their bid, because they did not
have to calculate the fee. And the entire project is much more likely to enjoy a 2.5% discount on the fee,
from a preferred payment method.
That's because the discount was formerly not applied/noticeable until
after the employer released the funds. And at that point, most employers probably didn't even notice
it was occurring. However, now the employer sees the effect a discount during escrowing and its very
apparent they can save significantly by paying this way. So this allows the entire project to be done
cheaper.
- *vWorker fee*:
- This example uses 15% as an example, but in actuality, the percent ranges from
6.5% - 15%, depending on the type of project and method of payment.
- Both "prior" and "after" the 15% fee is calculated as 15% of the entire
escrowed amount (i.e. worker credit + fee). If you reverse-calculate this as a
percent of the worker's bid, the amount is 17.xx%
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| 63)
Has the vWorker.com fee gone up since the August of 2011 bidding change? |
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No it has not. For example: on an open auction, fixed-price project, the fee has been
(and remains) 15% of the entire escrowed amount. In both scenarios, this percentage can be
reverse-calculated as a percent of the worker's bid at 17.65%. (Click here for more information on
forward and reverse percentage calculations) Note that this 15% is just an
example fee used here. It can be reduced significantly by using a preferred payment method,
a different payment method or auction type. Click here for a list of all the
possible reductions.
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| 64)
Why is the reverse-calculated percentage of the vWorker.com fee different (and more) than the forward-calculated percentage? |
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The vWorker.com fee is a percentage of the entire amount escrowed by the employer at the beginning of
the project. We call this the "forward-calculation". However, you can also calculate the percentage
in a different way: as a percentage of what you get at the end project. We call this doing a
"reverse-calculation". It is mathematically impossible for the two to be the same, because they are
not actually mirror images of each other, but instead use two different base points. Additionally,
the reverse-calculation will always be a little more than the forward-calculation. Neither one is
more "correct" than the other. They are just two different ways of looking at the same thing.
Here is an example:
The vWorker.com fee on an bonus is 10% of the escrowed fees. If the employer escrows $100, the fee is
$10 and you receive $90. So the forward-calculation percentage of the is: 10 / 100 x 100% = 10%.
This is exactly what you'd expect. However, if you instead choose to reverse-calculate it as a
percentage of what you earn at the end (rather than what is escrowed by the employer at the beginning),
you will get a different number. If you do that calculation you will get: 10 / 90 x 100% = 11.11111...%
(with an infinite # of 1 digits). As usual, the reverse-calculation is slightly more than the
forward-calculation.
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| 65)
How did bonuses change after the bidding change in August of 2011 |
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Employers did not see any difference after this change.
Before the change they would post $100, we would subtract a 6.5% or 10% vWorker fee and the worker would
get the remainder. After the change, it works the same way.
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Instant Messaging (IM) information: