Worker FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

1. Financial: we guarantee payment so you can stop worrying about finances and concentrate on what you do best: working and earning income. Click here for more details.
    
2. Background research: In traditional consulting, you never know what a customer is going to be like until you begin work. On vWorker.com you can always check the reputation of any potential employer before you bid. You can see their...
    
   • Ratings: Review their ratings (from 1 to 10) and reviews written by previous workers. Unlike some competing sites, these ratings are protected with a double-blind system, so you know they're accurate.
      
   • Non-action ratio: View the # of times they didn't choose a worker on past projects, so you can judge whether or not it's worth your time to bid on the project. Click here for more info on the non-action ratio.
      
   • Security verifications: See if they've taken the time verify their identify and payment information, and are serious about selecting a bidder.
      
   • Mediation/arbitration record: View why they have been in mediation/arbitration in the past, and detailed information from the arbitrator on what the final result was. This lets you learn more about how they behave when working on projects.
      
3. Escrow: By the time you begin work, each customer has already pre-paid the bill for the project and vWorker.com is already holding it in escrow.  This means that you don't have to worry about getting 'stiffed'!  If you complete the work as agreed, you can be confident of being paid. Click here for more details on payment guarantees.
    
4. Legal: Should you ever get into a dispute over what has been delivered with the employer, 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 employer (and yourself) have already pre-agreed to abide by their decision.

1. Resume: This is the first look an employer gets of you. Include as much detail as possible.
2. Photograph/company logo: Humans are drawn to graphics over text and you can use this to draw attention to your bids. A photo of a person (or group) is the most effective, and after that a logo.
3. A sample of your portfolio/past work: This helps employers understand what you can produce. A good portfolio is an excellent tool to win more bids.
4. Certifications: Proves your expertise, and best of all it's free! See Expert Rating for more details.
5. Expert Guarantee: Give yourself an edge when bidding gets competitive, by proving you are the most committed. Click here for more details.

• Employer
• Worker

1. If there is winner and a loser:
• The loser cannot place a comment or a numerical rating on the winner.
• The winner can place a comment rating on the losing party. (They cannot place a numerical rating because the arbitrator will be doing so).
2. If the arbitration is closed neutrally (no winner or loser):
• Both the employer and the worker can place a rating comment on the opposite party. Neither can place a numerical rating.

1. Every category of project:
   
   All existing crowdsourcing sites are limited to design projects only (example: “create a logo”). They’re forced to do this because they used fixed pricing (which we don’t…as will be discussed next). So we give the employer the freedom to choose it on each and every type of project (programming, writing, marketing, virtual assistants…you name it)! So the possibilities are limitless!
2. Every sized project:
   
   Ordinary crowdsourcing is great for small scope 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/long 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.
   
   
3. PerfectPricing™:
   
   Many workers complain about the pricing on traditional crowdsourcing sites. That’s because those sites dictate the price based on the broad category of work the project is in. The problem is that every project is different. So the result is a price that’s almost always wrong (too low or too high). Too low of a price costs the worker unnecessarily and results in a poor (or failed) contest for the employer. Too high of a price costs the employer unnecessarily.
   
   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 have the ability to 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.

• 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.

1. 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.
    
2. 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.

3. 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.

• 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:
  1. Tell the employer exactly what is 3rd party in the deliverables.
  2. Explain what the copyright ramifications are to them.
  3. 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).

• 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.

1. Employers will usually wait for your submission when they know it's coming (because they want several submissions to compare). But if you don't tell them, they can't do this and may award the prize before you're finished.
2. You won't be notified when the employer raises the prize and will probably not realize it happened.
3. If it's a trialsourcing contest: the employer won't know what your bid is for the larger, one-on-one portion of the project and you may not win the trial.

Where to formally announce your start

Click here to see full size

• "I wish to change the contest rating because the employer did not properly initiate the one-on-one portion of the trialsourcing project".
• The reason the employer 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).

• The employer will retain the ability to rebut your rating.
• If the employer 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.

1. Hold source files until you win:

   Most projects involve source files which the employers don't need to evaluate your work, but do need if they want to fully use it. If so, then hold these back until you're chosen as the winner. So make sure you wait for this to happen, and don't give them out based on a promise that might not ever materialize.
   
   For example, on a graphic design project for laying out a website, the employer can evaluate your work using .jpg images of your designs. These are viewable but cannot be modified, which protects you because they are time-consuming to reverse-engineer. When you're chosen the winner, you then release the source files (adobe photoshop files) that lets the employer edit your design.
   
   The site will notify you when you are the winner and it's safe to do this, with a message like this:
   
   

   Safe to release source files

   Click here to see full size

2. Delete your submissions if you lose:

   If you lose and want to make 100% sure that other people viewing the contest (or the employer) can't use your work, then you can delete your submission. To do so, click on the "options" link under the posting, and then click "delete posting":
    

   How to delete a posting

   Click here to see full size

   
   

• The normal 24 hour grace period for cancelling projects is not honored on these types of projects, since you actually have the previously mentioned 3 days to make a choice.
• If the guarantee was for the second portion of a trialsourcing project, the employer may choose to rate you 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.

• Option A: Bank Deposit Method
    This is the simpler of the two from an accounting perspective. If you consider Expert Guarantee deposits to be like a bank deposit (as described above), then you do not have to record when you deposited them, nor when you received them back. The only thing you would record (as expenses) would be:
  • Any Expert Guarantee deposits that you FORFEITED that year.
  • Any Expert Guarantee processing fees that you paid that year.
• Option B: In/Out Method
    Record each Expert Guarantee deposit as an expense the year that you escrow it. If and when it's returned to you, record it as an earning in that year. It is considered "returned" when it is either refunded back to your credit card/PayPal account, etc...OR if credited to your worker credits account via a transfer.

1. 10th day
   • Credit cutoff: 10th of month at 11:59:59 pm.
   • Paid on or before 17th at 11:59:59pm EST.
2. 20th day
   • Credit cutoff: 20th day of month at 11:59:59 pm.
   • Paid on or before 27th at 11:59:59pm EST.
3. Last day
   • Credit cutoff: Last day of month at 11:59:59 pm.
   • Paid on or before 7th at 11:59:59pm EST.

Payment Minimum:

You can choose to NOT have the payment sent to you until your account reaches a certain $ threshold amount (called the "Payment Minimum"). If, for example, you set your "Payment Minimum" to $500, you will not be sent a payment until $500 has been accumulated in credits. If you want to be paid each and every time there are credits in your account, then set the "Payment Minimum" to $0.

Payment holdback / carryover:

You can choose to have a certain amount withheld from your payment. This is useful if you wish to use the funds to purchase work on the site as an employer, or for use as a Expert Guarantee. If, for example, you set your "Payout Holdback/Carryover" to $200, then $200 will be kept in your account and carried over for future use. You can also choose to combine the "Payout Holdback/Carryover" with the previously mentioned "Payment Minimum" feature. Let's pretend, for example, you chose a "Payment Minimum" of $500 and a "Payout Holdback/Carryover" of $150, and received $501 in credits. We would issue your payment (because you had met your minimum of $500). You would be paid $501-$150=$351 and the remaining $150 would be left in your account for future use.

Payment Type
Payment minimum
Payout Holdback/Carryover
Credit Cutoff Dates

Billing First Name
Billing Last Name
Billing Company Name
Billing Street Address
Billing City
Billing State
Billing Country
Billing Postal Code
Billing SSN/EIN

Skrill email address
Paypal email address

1. We could not use the WU website because it limits users to $2,000-$3,000/month (and we send hundreds of thousands of dollars a month). So we were forced to go to physical stores that supported WU payments, instead.
2. The stores were fine with regular customers sending 1-2 payments, but quickly realized that when we sent hundreds, it took a long time (7-8 hours). It would tie up one of their employee unexpecetedly for hours, and took away from their other existing responsbilities. We typically would be banned from using a store after doing this once or twice, and would switch to another, but eventually that would have stopped working too and we would have no way to send the money.
3. It was unexpectedly expensive on our side as well to pay an employee to sit for hours and watch over the money (and make sure it was done properly). Even if it didn't have other problems, we would have had to raise our fee to cover this additional expense.
4. There was a security issue with sending an employee to a store with hundreds of thousands of dollars on their person. Even in the safest neighborhoods, a person with that amount of money can be robbed. But the safest neighborhoods would not allow us to use their stores after a few times (see above).
5. WU requires cash and our bank (like most) would not always have that amount of cash on hand. So we often had to wait several days to get the money which delayed payments.
6. Technically, businesses are not supposed to send payments that way through WU, but are supposed to use "business payment" instead.

1. Worker wanted to be paid $85.
2. 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.
3. Employer saw the bid as $100.
4. Employer selected the worker and escrowed $100.
5. Employer accepted the work as completed. Worker was credited with $85. vWorker.com was credited with $15.

1. Worker wants to be paid $85.
2. 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.
3. Employer sees the bids as $100 (the vWorker.com fee* is now included at this point).
4. Employer selects the worker and escrows $100.
5. Employer accepts work as completed. Worker is credited with $85. vWorker.com is credited with $15.

• 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.

• 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").