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Elance Frequently Asked Questions
What is Elance
How to get help
What are the system requirements
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GENERAL:
Q: What is Elance?
Elance is an online workplace where businesses hire and work with qualified professionals to get work done without adding permanent headcount. Whether you are looking for skills you do not have in-house, need something done quickly, or have a complex job that may span months, there are highly qualified Elance professionals interested in working for you. Businesses ("employers") use Elance to find, hire and work with qualified professionals with specialized skills. Service professionals ("providers") use Elance to meet customers, produce quality work and get paid for doing what they do best.
Q: How to get help.
To send us email at anytime, please click on the 'Contact Us' link on the top right of our web pages. You may also call us 8AM – 5PM PT at 1.877.4.ELANCE (1.877.435.2623) Monday - Friday.
Q: What are the system requirements?
The current minimum browser versions Elance supports are IE 7.0, Firefox 2.0 and Safari 3.1
EMPLOYERS:
Account Setup:
Q: Where to go to sign up?
To sign up as an employer on Elance, click the “Sign in or Register” link on the top right of our webpages. Select the “I do not have an Elance account.” radio button and the “I want to hire professionals” option.
Q: What are the Employer fees?
Currently, there are no fees to hire professionals on Elance. We collect our service fee from the service provider when you pay for the work. If you are new to Elance, there is a one-time $10 deposit, which is automatically refunded in 10 days.
Hiring Talent:
Q: Tips for posting a job
Posting your job in the correct category, with the list of skills you are looking for or a clear description of what you need done, and an accurate budget will help you receive the best quality proposals from providers. Research similar job postings by searching for jobs and choosing “Hiring Closed” status filter in the left navigation. For full details, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/help/buyer/posting.html
Q: Are job descriptions viewable outside of Elance?
All jobs posted on the Elance site are posted with a public URL and accessible to search engine crawlers such as Google making your job searchable outside of Elance. If you want your job to only be searchable within the Elance site, during the posting process, uncheck the Visibility Option "Get more proposals. Allow search engines like Google to view this post."
Q: What is a Featured Posting?
Featured Postings stand out and get more attention. This is a good choice when you want higher-quality proposals from more established providers.
Q: What is a Business to Business Posting?
Business to Business Postings are designed for businesses who want to work with other businesses. Only those service providers with Large Business memberships can submit proposals for Business to Business postings.
Q: What is a Sealed vs. Open Posting?
When posting a job, you have the option to allow providers view each others’ proposals or keep them hidden by ”Sealing” the proposals. Sealing the proposal process helps ensure you receive customized proposals from each provider.
Q: What is Elance Escrow?
Elance Escrow is a free service that protects both the employer and the provider. The Employer's funds are held securely until the services are provided satisfactorily by the provider. The provider can begin working on a job knowing that the employer has provided the funding into the Escrow account. For more details regarding Elance Escrow, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/help/billing-payment/escrowprocess206.html
Q: What is an "Invite Only" job?
Sometimes an employer may be familiar with a service provider's work, or see a profile they like, and want to limit their job's proposals to these parties. This is called an 'Invite-Only' job. Only invited providers may submit proposals on this type of job. At any time, the employer can change the job status and open it to proposals from all service providers.
Q: How to evaluate the proposals received
When reviewing the proposals received, keep in mind the amount is only part of the proposal. Be sure to consider the provider’s profile, feedback left by other employers for previous jobs and their communication. You may also interview the providers using the Private Messages, Elance Call and Elance Chat. For more details regarding selecting a provider, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/help/buyer/chooseprovider15.html
Managing Your Job:
Q: How to manage your job
To help ensure a successful job, ask your service provider to set milestones and send you a weekly status report through Elance. Managing work on Elance is similar to managing any professional services engagement: communicate often, provide prompt feedback, pay when agreed and submit objective feedback. For more details on how to have a successful job, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/help/buyer/manage-project.html
Q: What happens after a provider is hired for the job?
After you have selected a proposal and hired a service provider, you may submit an initial set of business terms to your provider or the provider will submit business terms through Elance for your review. You will be able to approve the business terms as presented or make changes, including adding documents. Job requirements, milestones and payment terms should be clear before work begins to avoid any miscommunication or delays. However, you or the provider are free to update the business terms at any time during the job lifecycle.
Q: How to communicate with your provider
During the selection and interview process, employers and service providers may communicate publicly via the Project Q&A or privately through the Private Messages, Elance Chat and Elance Call (where your phone number is not disclosed to the provider). You can also be able to communicate directly with the service provider, however Elance recommends that you use MyElance to manage your job and keep all communications on the Private Messages to maintain a time-stamped, unalterable record of all clarifications and agreements around scope, deliverables, milestones, timeframes, etc. In the event of an Elance Escrow dispute, the Private Messages will be the only record of communication that is referenceable for resolution of the dispute.
Q: What is the Elance Remote Work System?
The Elance Remote Work System (RWS) provides employers and service providers working together a standardized process to set up, manage and pay for remote work engagements. By increasing visibility, improving communication, and streamlining payments, the Remote Work System leads to higher quality results. For more information, click here.
Q: How to cancel a job
You can cancel the job before a provider has been hired or afterwards, if the provider agrees. For steps on how to cancel a job, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/help/buyer/cancelprojpost44.html
Paying:
Q: How to authenticate a credit card
If you want to pay your provider via credit card for the first time, we need you to authenticate your card. When you paid the initial $10 deposit, this was charged to your credit card in two amounts. Retrieve those amounts and enter them for that card from you Account Details section of MyElance. For step by step instructions to authenticate your card, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/help/billing-payment/authenticatecc111.html
Q: How to pay a provider
If your job is using Elance Escrow, there are two steps to pay a provider. First you need to fund the Escrow milestone which deposits funds in the Elance Escrow, where your funds will be held safely until you and the provider agree to release them. Next, you will need to release those funds upon review and acceptance of the work. For more details on Elance Escrow, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/help/billing-payment/escrowprocess-buyer.html. If your job is not using Elance Escrow, you can pay the provider at any time (often when the provider submits an invoice). For step by step instructions on paying an invoice, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/help/buyer/payprovider38.html
Q: What forms of payment can be used?
Employers may use an authenticated credit card, PayPal, E-check or ACH Transfer to pay their service providers through Elance. Never pay a provider outside of the Elance payment system as it increases risk for you, and it is a violation of our Terms of Service.
Feedback:
Q: Why should feedback be left?
Leaving feedback helps other members of the Elance community properly evaluate each other when considering to engage in a job, and by using Elance you agree to also leave feedback about the service provider on our system. When giving feedback, consider the impact that your comments and rating will have on the reputation of the service provider: be fair and objective.
Q: When can feedback be left?
The ‘leave feedback’ link appears when the employer makes the first payment or the final milestone date is reached. Both parties will then have 60 days from the date of the final milestone to leave feedback for each other.
Q: Leaving private comments
During a job's lifecycle, an employer may leave private comments about the job progress and provider that was hired. These private comments will not be visible to the provider, and only sent to Elance. The comments are confidential, and Elance users this data to ensure our providers are delivering consistent quality.
Disputes:
Q: What is the Dispute Assistance process?
In the rare event of a dispute, employers and providers that have an Elance Escrow job can request mediation assistance from Elance. The first step in this process is self-mediation where both parties try to come to a resolution independently. If this does not work, the Elance Dispute Assistance Team can be asked to assist. The Elance Dispute Assistance Team will facilitate a conference call to assist both parties in reaching an agreement. If mediation fails, either party may request non-appearance based binding arbitration. For more details, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/help/billing-payment/mediation204.html
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PROVIDERS:
Account Setup:
Q: Where to go to sign up
To sign up as a provider on the Elance site, click the “Sign in or Register” link on the top right of all Elance webpages. Select the “I do not have an Elance account.” radio button and the “I want to find work on Elance” option.
Q: How much are the Service fees?
Elance charges the service provider a Service Fee of 4% to 6%, depending on the provider’s last 6 month earnings on the Elance site. A fee of 2.75% is applied to cover the cost of payment processors such as credit card companies and PayPal. For full details of the service fees, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/help/provider/projectfeecost101.html
Q: What are the different Provider memberships?
Elance offers different provider monthly memberships ranging from free to paid subscriptions. Each membership has varying level of benefits. To see the full list, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/providers/index.html#membershipcosts
Q: What category to pick when signing up
It is important to select the right category for your expertise when signing up. Be sure to browse the existing jobs posted in each category before completing the account setup process. The categories are Admin Support, Design & Multimedia, Engineering & Manufacturing, Finance & Management, Legal, Sales & Marketing, Web & Programming, and Writing & Translation.
Q: What is the Elance Admissions Test?
All new providers to Elance must pass the Elance Admissions Test before they can start submitting proposals to posted jobs. The test covers concepts found on the Elance University web pages, the Provider Guide, our Terms of Service, and the general Help section. The purpose of this test is to ensure Service Providers have taken the time to understand how the Elance system works before engaging with other elancers.
Q: How to update a Provider membership
At any time, you can update your membership to upgrade or downgrade your subscription plan. All upgrades can either be made effective immediately or at the next billing cycle. All membership downgrades are effective the next billing cycle. To make changes to your membership, login to Elance at go to the My Account > Membership Status page.
Q: When does my current membership period end?
Your current billing period can be viewed from your Membership Status page. The last day of the period ends at 11:59PM ET, and the new month with your new allotment of Connects starts at 12:00AM ET the next day.
Q: What is the Premier Provider Program?
The Premier Provider Program is a merit-based membership developed for and limited to qualifying providers that meet certain quality and experience criteria. Premier Providers receive a seal, differentiating themselves as delivering consistent quality and customer satisfaction. To see the full list of criteria to be a part of this program, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/help/provider/premiermembership.html
Q: What is a Team account?
A Team account is an optional add-on feature to providers with Small or Large Business memberships. Team accounts allow multiple users to organize and work together under one Elance account. For full details on Elance Team accounts, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/help/provider/teamaccounts.html.
Getting Hired:
Q: What are Connects?
The number of Connects included in your provider membership plan determine the level of sales and marketing activity on Elance. Each plan comes with a monthly Connects allocation, and providers use Connects to submit proposals. When there are no more Connects for the month, some providers choose to increase their activity level by adding more Connects to the membership plan, while others pause their marketing efforts until the following billing cycle. To maintain a reasonable level of proposals per job posting, the number of Connects required varies based on the type of job posting and the budget: for example, a job posting with a budget of $10k will require more Connects than one with a budget of $500. For more information on Connects, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/connectcosts.html
Q: What are the proposal amount minimums?
The minimum proposal amount a provider can submit is based on the posted job's budget regardless of category. For jobs posted with a budget less than $500, the proposal minimum is $50. For jobs with a budget between $500 and $1000, the minimum is $300. For jobs posted with a budget of over $1000, the minimum proposal amount is $700.
Q: What is a Sponsored Proposal?
When a provider submits a proposal for a job, they will have the option to sponsor their proposal. This will highlight the proposal as “Sponsored” and will be placed at the top of the employer's proposal list. This gives the provider an opportunity to have one of the first proposals that the employer views. Only 2 proposals with sponsored placements will be allowed per job description, and it does require more Connects when submitting.
Q: What is a Prebid?
Service providers who need clarification about the job description in order to submit an accurate proposal may place a Prebid. A Prebid will not include the proposal amount or comments. Instead, when a Prebid is submitted, the Private Messages will be initiated, and the parties may discuss the job details. Once the details are confirmed, the provider may submit a completed proposal.
Q: Why your proposal is not sealed
If the project is posted as a sealed proposal, only the employer and the owner of the proposal can see the proposal amount, comments and attachments. All other users on the site will see the proposal as “Sealed”. To see the view other users see, logout of your account and view the job.
Q: How to ask a question without using a Connect
If providers want to ask questions about a job prior to submitting a proposal, they can use the Project Q&A. Each job has a Project Q&A where providers can ask details about the job without using any Connects. All messages in the Project Q&A are viewable by all users. To ask a question on the Project Q&A, click the “View Public Messages” link on the job description page.
Working:
Q: What are the Business Terms?
Business terms are milestones set up and managed through Elance which are made up deliverable dates and payment terms. The business terms are initially created by either the employer or provider, but can also be updated by either party during the lifecycle of the job. It is recommended to keep the business terms up-to-date so both parties are aware of the job schedule and deliverables.
Q: How to communicate with your employer?
During the selection and interview process employers and service providers may communicate publicly via the Project Q&A or privately through the Private Messages, Elance Chat and Elance Call (where your phone number is not disclosed to the provider). You can also communicate directly with the service provider, however we recommend that you use MyElance to manage your job and keep all communications on the Private Messages to maintain a time-stamped, unalterable record of all clarifications and agreements around scope, deliverables, milestones, timeframes, etc. In the event of an Elance Escrow dispute, the Private Messages will be the only record of communication that is referenceable for resolution of the dispute.
Q: What are Status Reports?
Status Reports help Providers and Employers stay in touch and exchange information about the status of a job, including tasks performed, hours worked, journal entries, attachments and plans for the upcoming week. Each Monday, the provider submits the Status Report for the previous week for the employer's review. To see more detail about Status Reports, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/help/provider/statusreports.html
Q:What is the Elance Remote Work System?
The Elance Remote Work System (RWS) provides employers and service providers working together a standardized process to set up, manage and pay for remote work engagements. By increasing visibility, improving communication, and streamlining payments, the Remote Work System leads to higher quality results. For more information, click here.
Q: How to cancel a project
If the employer and provider agree to cancel a job after the provider is hired, either party can initate the cancellation process. If the employer does not initiate the cancellation, the provider will want to submi the Fee Adjustment Form to the Elance Billing Department so they are charged the full service fee. Elance will then verify the project cancellation with the other party and refund any service fees assessed to the provider.
Getting Paid:
Q: How to get paid by your employer
Once work has been completed and payment is due, send the employer an invoice for services completed. The Elance Billing and Payment system must be used for all job payments. For details on how to send an invoice, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/help/provider/getpaid79.html For Escrow jobs, the employer will fund and release the milestones are they come due.
Q: When is the Service fee charged?
The Service fee is assessed to the provider immediately after the provider is paid. If they haven’t been paid or sent an invoice for the full proposal amount, the service fee is automatically assessed 45 days after the provider is hired and the job has been accepted.
Q: How to withdraw your earnings
A U.S. provider can withdraw funds from their Elance via ACH Transfer, check, PayPal or their Elance Prepaid MasterCard. For all providers outside the U.S., withdrawals can be done via wire transfer or their Elance Prepaid MasterCard. For details on how to withdraw funds, see our help pages: http://www.elance.com/p/help/billing-payment/withdrawinus121.html (U.S.) or http://www.elance.com/p/help/billing-payment/withdrawwire122.html (non-U.S.)
Feedback:
Q: How is feedback calculated?
Elance shows the total percentage of Positive, Neutral and Negative feedback for a provider based on all of the feedbacks that the provider has received. A positive score is considered to be any individual job score between 4.0 through 5.0. A neutral score is considered to be any individual job score between 3.0 through 3.99. A negative score is considered to be any individual job score between 0.0 through 2.99. To see how the individual feedback is calculated, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/help/provider/feedbackcalculation66.html
Q: Is it possible to get feedback removed or reset?
Elance does not normally allow feedback to be removed or reset in order to maintain the integrity of the feedback system and to ensure the policy is implemented consistently. Prior to posting feedback it clearly states, "Leave feedback only after the project is completed. All feedback is final and cannot be changed once posted.” Only if the feedback violated our Terms of Services will Elance consider removing feedback.
Disputes:
Q: What is the Dispute Assistance process
In the rare event of a dispute, employers and providers that have an Elance Escrow project can request mediation assistance from Elance. The first step in this process is self-mediation where both parties try to come to a resolution independently. If this does not work, the Elance Dispute Assistance Team can be asked to assist. The Elance Dispute Assistance Team will facilitate a conference call to assist both parties in reaching an agreement. If mediation fails, either party may request non-appearance based binding arbitration. For more details, see the help page: http://www.elance.com/p/help/billing-payment/mediation204.html
