Contacting Freelancers

Direct contact between a Freelancer and an Employer is a fast and convenient way to discuss project work. Some Freelancers will proactively reveal their direct contact information to registered Employers via the search results pages. From the search results, just click the Freelancer’s screen name to view the profile and contact information.

In contacting Freelancers directly, please note that your contact information will likely be revealed to the Freelancers via caller ID or the “From” field within an email. Additionally, conversations had outside the Guru.com platform are harder to verify in dispute cases. If you would prefer to have an easily accessible record of your conversation with a Freelancer, without revealing your contact information, please send a Project Message.

Note: All registered users, regardless of how contact is made, are bound by the Guru.com Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy.

Use the Project Messages to privately discuss your project, send files, negotiate terms, etc. before or after you post your project.

If you would like to discuss your project with a Freelancer before posting it to our marketplace, simply use the “Ask a Question” button listed within the Freelancer’s profile.

To ask a Freelancer a question before posting a project,

1. From the search results, and click a Freelancer’s screen name to view the profile.
2. Click the “Ask a Question” button on the profile page.
3. Type your message and click the “Send” button.

While your message is being reviewed by our quality assurance team it will be in your outbox and will have a status of “Pending Approval.”

If your message is approved, it will be moved to your sent box and will be emailed to the Freelancer.

If your message is not approved, it will remain in your outbox with a status of “Not Approved” and you will be notified of the rejection reason by email. You will be notified if your message cannot be approved.

The types of messages that cannot be approved are consistent with the types of projects we cannot approve.

Why do we do this? As with any online communication tool, spam and other inappropriate comments are posted. Without the quality check, Freelancers would quickly be bombarded by spam and would no longer value our communication tools.

To check the status of your message,

1. On the top navigation bar, click the “View Messages” icon and click “Outbox.”
2. If you don’t see your message listed in the Outbox, check the Sent folder.

If you’d like to discuss your project with a Freelancer that has already submitted a quote to you posted project, simply use the “Send Message” option listed within the Freelancer’s quote.

To discuss your project with a Freelancer that has submitted a quote,

1. On the top navigation bar, click “My Projects.”
2. Under your project’s title, click “XX Quotes.”
3. Within the Freelancer’s quote, click “Send Message” to type your message and add attachments.

Immediately upon clicking the “Send” button, your message is posted to the Freelancer’s Guru.com inbox and is sent via email.

Receiving Responses

Responses to your Messages will be emailed to you immediately and listed in your Guru.com inbox with the Freelancer’s screen name and the title of your project. If you’ve not yet posted a project, the message will be listed with the Freelancer’s screen name and “New Project.” Responses will also be emailed to you.

To review responses, simply click the View Messages icon in the header at the top of the page.

Unread messages are bolded. Click the project’s title to read and reply to a message.

Closing a Project Message Board

You can close and re-open a message board at any time.

To close a message board,

1. On the top navigation bar, click the “View Messages” icon and click “Inbox.”
2. Locate and click on the record for the discussion you want to close.
3. Just above the text box in which you would type a message, click the “Close Discussion” link.
   

   To re-open the message board, click the “Open Discussion” link.

   Project Messages Terms of Use

   Please help maintain the quality of Guru.com services by following these Terms of Use.

   Abuse of communication tools includes posting any derogatory, harassing, obscene, indecent, or defamatory statements.

   Abuse warnings and penalties

   Guru.com reserves the right to bypass warnings and disable access at any time.

   1. First offense —  Message content blocked. Warning issued.
   2. Second offense — Message content blocked. Use of message board disabled for 15 days.
   3. Third offense — Message content blocked. Use of message board disabled for 30 days.
   4. Additional offenses — Message content blocked. Use of message board disabled for 30 days.

   Note: Warning messages are displayed on the message board. They are not sent via email.

Project Q&A consists of publicly posted questions and their corresponding answers as they relate to your project. If Freelancers have questions after reviewing your project, they may communicate their questions via Project Q&A for you and other Freelancers to review. Only you can answer the questions the Freelancers post.

Project Q&A inquiries will be listed in the Project Q&A section of your project details as well as in your Guru.com Inbox.

To view Project Q&A inquries, click the “View Messages” icon in the top navigation bar.

Project Q&A inquiries are denoted with a question mark icon.

The Project Q&A feature is intended to give Freelancers an opportunity to ask you project-clarifying questions before submitting a proposal. Responding to the Freelancers’ questions will result in higher quality and more accurate quotes.

To respond to a Project Q&A inquiry,

1. Click the View Messages icon in the top navigation bar.
   
2. Click the project’s title to open, view and respond to Freelancers’ questions.

Your answer will be available to all Freelancers who view your project.

Project Q&A Terms of Use

In order to maintain the quality of service on Guru.com, postings to message boards are reviewed by our quality assurance team. Employers and Freelancers who abuse communication tools are in violation of its Terms of Use and will be penalized.

Questions and answers that include the following are considered abusive

• Derogatory or sarcastic statements
• Requests for mockups or samples

Post announcements for all of the Freelancers who have submitted quotes for your project using Project Announcements.

To post or view a Project Announcement,

1. On the top navigation bar, click “My Projects.”
2. Click the project’s title.
3. Click the “Project Announcements” link in the lower, right corner.

Project Announcements are immediately posted to Freelancers’ online accounts. In addition, Freelancers are notified via email every 24 hours when they have received one or more announcements.

Freelancers cannot respond to Project Announcements.

If you have sent a Project Message or a Project Award to a Freelancer and have not received a timely reply, try contacting the Freelancer directly or sending another Message. If the Freelancer still fails to respond, you may want to move on to another Freelancer. If you’ve paid a SafePay request and the Freelancer has stopped responding, please contact the Guru.com user support team.