Top Questions

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Manage teams from your desktop and collaborate with ease using our comprehensive Project Management tools.

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Payment is simple and fast once your project is complete. For added protection, use SafePay.

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We connect you with Freelancers for FREE. Really!

You can search for Freelancers, post your projects, and contact Freelancers at no cost. It can be offered free to you because Freelancers pay Guru.com a 7.45% or 11.95% transaction fee, deducted from their earnings. Freelancers can also purchase subscription-based memberships to get privileged access to  projects and Employers.

Our matching and project management services are FREE for Employers because Freelancers help to defray costs in two ways — through transaction fees and memberships.

1. Freelancers pay a 7.45% or 11.95% transaction fee. This fee is based on the Freelancer’s membership level and is deducted from the Freelancer’s payment for the project.
2. Freelancers can also purchase memberships to receive privileged access to projects and Employers. Freelancer profiles displaying the Guru or Guru Vendor icon paid a subscription fee to obtain this special access.

Yes. However, in order to take advantage of Guru.com services as both a Freelancer and an Employer, you must register two separate accounts with different usernames and email addresses.

You have two options.

• Use the Search for Freelancers tool to search for and connect with Freelancers.
• Post your project and let the Freelancers come to you.

The value of your project is something only you can determine. It depends on the type of work and the desired quality of the completed work. If you need help determining the value of your project, you can look at the completed projects on the feedback tab of Freelancer profiles to give you some ideas. Freelancers profiles also display work terms and rates which may be useful in gauging the cost and appropriate budget.

Need more help? Ask the experts! Discuss all aspects of your project with Freelancers and other Employers in Guru Answers.

Each project posted to our site goes through a quality check to ensure that the Freelancers are seeing legit projects and not sales pitches or spam.

You will start to receive quotes within a few minutes of your project being approved by our quality assurance staff.

Every 24 hours you will receive an email listing the direct contact information and profile links of  Freelancers who have placed new quotes on your project. If you’d rather not wait for the email, sign in to your account and on the top navigation bar, click “My Projects.” Click the “Quotes (x)” link.

The Freelancers have made it clear that they ignore projects where the Employer has invited hundreds of Freelancers. Be sure to invite those that are truly of interest to you rather than just inviting the top 200 Freelancers.

To invite a Freelancer to submit a quote to your project,

1. On the top navigation bar, enter relevant keywords in the “Find Freelancers” box and click “Go.”
2. Refine your search to locate the Freelancer(s) of interest to you.
3. Click the Freelancer’s screen name to view and evaluate his or her profile.
4. Click the “Request a Quote” button within the Freelancer’s profile.
5. Select the project (either new or existing) to which you would like the Freelancer to submit his or her quote.
6. Click the “Invite” button.

You have several options for contacting Freelancers, including direct contact and a variety of Guru.com message boards, Project Q&A, Project Announcements, and Work Room Discussions.

Freelancers will contact you by submitting quotes, posting public questions, or sending private messages. Freelancers do not have access to your direct contact information unless you’ve listed it within your project’s description.

You can review and compare each of the profiles and quotes submitted to you by the Freelancers. Profiles include earnings stats that will tell you how active the Freelancer has been within the last 12 months as well as feedback from other Employers with whom the Freelancer has worked.

Additionally, quotes will be presented to you in order by Recommendation number.

The Work Room is your one-stop-shop to manage all project activity, including: communicating with Freelancers, getting project status updates, sharing files, and making payments.

In a contract work relationship, as opposed to a standard employment situation, the ownership of the work products should be specifically defined in writing.

If the project is not designated as a work “made-for-hire” (according to the 1976 Copyright Act) or if there’s no written transfer of ownership, all rights relative to the project work belong to the Freelancer.

Projects such as logo designs, illustrations, ecommerce websites, and computer programs are not considered works “made for hire.” Employers do not own the rights relative to these projects and cannot reproduce or use the work completed outside the initial project scope. If an Employer wants to gain ownership and copyright protection for works not declared as works “made for hire,” he or she must request that the Freelancer sign a written transfer of copyright ownership.  This document should be part of the Project Agreement discussed with and completed by the Freelancer before beginning any work.

Paying through Guru.com’s mandatory, secure payment system protects your investment. Guru Invoicing offers fast payments, and SafePay guarantees risk-free transactions. With SafePay, your Payment Protection is Guaranteed.

You can pay the Freelancers’ Guru Invoices and SafePay requests via a number of payment methods, including cash account funds, check, credit card, e-check, PayPal, and wire transfer.

If you choose to pay by cash account funds, check, e-check, or wire transfer, you will earn free money back in Loyalty Dollars that you can use to pay future invoices and SafePay requests.

If a Freelancer requests an up-front payment, we recommend making that payment through SafePay. With SafePay, you pay Guru.com and we pay the Freelancer only after you  approve the work. If you are not happy with the work, request a refund.  Our Dispute Resolution Department will step in to resolve the issue.

We recommend against making up-front payments via Guru Invoicing or to the Freelancer directly. In most cases, such up-front payments are non-refundable and we cannot recover the funds for you.

Yes. Don’t pay the invoice. Ask the Freelancer to delete the invoice and create a SafePay request instead. You will then receive an “Guru.com SafePay Payment Request” email.

The 1099-Miscellaneous Income Form (1099-MISC), is the tax form sent to U.S. based independent contractors who have earned more than $600 the previous year.  It is  the freelance equivalent of the W-2 form, which is sent to employees. To  generate a 1099 form, independent contractors must complete and submit a W-9 tax  form to the issuing agency.

1099 forms contain the following  information:

• Freelancer’s name and address
• Freelancer’s social security or tax ID number
• Payer’s name, address, and telephone number
• Payer’s federal ID number (EIN)
• Amount of non-employee compensation

Employer Liability

If a U.S. based Employer pays a U.S. based independent contractor more than $600 for services within one calendar year, the IRS requires the Employer to issue a 1099 tax form.

IRS Penalties

An Employer may be subject to IRS backup withholding at a 28 percent rate if he or she has paid an independent contractor more than $600 for services within one calendar year and has not issued a completed 1099 tax form. Employers may also incur penalties of up to $50 per incomplete or late tax filing.

The burden of responsibility to issue the 1099 form lies with the Employer, not the Freelancer. The Guru.com 1099 service relieves you of that responsibility for the Freelancers you pay via Guru Invoicing or SafePay.

You have 60 days from the day you pay a Guru Invoice or approve a SafePay payment to leave feedback for your Freelancer.

Feedback consists of star ratings (1 to 5) and written comments that are publicly displayed in the Employer Statistics section of the project details and on Freelancer profiles. Public feedback allows Employers and Freelancers to judge each others’ reputations prior to hiring or submitting quotes.

To leave feedback,

1. On the top navigation bar, click “Payments,” and click “Manage Feedback.”
2. Find the appropriate record and click “Leave Feedback.”

Notes:

• You have 60 days from the date the Freelancer is paid to leave feedback.
• Feedback ratings and comments cannot be modified once submitted.

Possibly. It depends on how much blocking power you have. Once feedback is blocked it cannot be unblocked.

To block feedback,

1. On the top navigation bar, click “Payments,” and click “Manage Feedback.”
2. Find the appropriate record and click “View Feedback Received.”
3. Click the “Block Feedback” button in the lower right corner of the feedback record.

Feedback is not immediately displayed on the Freelancer’s profile. The Freelancer has seven days to review the feedback and either publish or block it. If the Freelancer takes no action, the feedback will be automatically published in seven days. If the Freelancer blocks the feedback, it will not be published on the Freelancer’s profile. Whether a Freelancer can block the Feedback will depend on his blocking power.

The same applies to you. You have seven days to review feedback that Freelancers leave for you. You can also publish or block the feedback, depending on your blocking power.