Project Posting

Posting a project on Guru.com is FREE and easy. Posting your project is the first step towards outsourcing your work on the Guru.com marketplace.

You can post your project publicly to receive quotes from skilled Freelancers all over the world, or you may opt to fine tune your search to locate Freelancers from a specific region and invite them to a private project.

Please review the projects that Guru.com cannot post.

To post a project,

1. On the top navigation bar, click “Post.”
2. Provide the requested information.
3. Click the “Post Your Project” button.

The project description contains the most critical elements of your project. To begin, choose a simple and straightforward title to highlight your project and to catch the attention of the Freelancers. Next, provide a description of the required project tasks or services. Generally, your project description should contain at least the following:

• An outline of the desired task or service.
• A general description of the business requirements of the project.
• A timeline detailing expected start and completion dates.

Clear and concise descriptions tend to be more effective, however please feel free to give as much detail as you see fit.

Your privacy settings will control who sees your project, and who is able to apply. Your privacy options are:

To change your Privacy Settings, click the icon.

Notes and tips: If you post a Private – Invitation Only project and do not invite at least one Freelancer within 24 hours, the project will be converted to a public project and posted to the site.

Once your project is approved, you will have to repost it to change your privacy settings.

Click the Add Location icon to set your location preferences.

You will have the option to configure your location preferences by country, up to 3 cities or by U.S. Zip Code:

You will still receive quotes from Freelancers outside of your preferred location, however you will be able to easily filter local Freelancers on your Quotes page. 

To attach files to your project, click the Attach Files icon.

While there is no limit to the number of files you can attach, there is a total size limit of 10 MB.  Acceptable file types are:

.ACCDB, .AVI, .BMP, .DOC, .DOCX, .EPS, .GIF, .JPEG, .JPG, .MDE, .MOV, .MP3, .MP4, .MPE, .MPEG , .MPG, .PDF, .PNG, .PPS, .PPSX, .PPT, .PPTX, .PSD, .QXD, .SWF, .TIF, .TIFF, .TXT, .WAV, .WMV, .XLS, .XLSX, .ZIP

The skills you add to your project are the keywords that will be used to match it to Freelancer profiles. Freelancers will be alerted to your project when a match exists. The more skills you add, the more Freelancers will be alerted to the projects. To avoid irrelevant quotes, be sure to only include the skills required for the project.

To add skills, simply start typing the skill and select the appropriate match from the list. You can add up to 50 different skills.

The value of your project is something only you can determine. Your project budget will depend largely on the nature of the work to be performed, and your expectations in terms of quality. If you need help determining the value of your project, feel free to look at the completed projects on the feedback tab of Freelancer profiles to give you some ballpark ideas. Freelancer’s profiles also display work terms and rates which may be useful in gauging the cost and appropriate budget.

If you remain unsure, feel free to post your project with the budget shown as Not Sure/Confidential. You may get a lot of “placeholder” bids in return, but that will give you and the Freelancer room to negotiate. Be sure to include the final cost of the project in the Project Agreement.

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

The payment structure for your project can be configured within the Budget section. If you are seeking to pay your Freelancers at an hourly rate, select the Hourly option to post an hourly project.

Then enter the estimated project duration and hours required per week. This information will help Freelancers submit accurate quotes.

If your preference is to pay an hourly rate, you will want to consider using our Time Tracker application to keep track your Freelancer’s time on task.

Projects can remain open for quotes indefinitely, however keep in mind that most projects will receive their highest rate of response within the first few weeks.

To view the status of your project,

1. On the top navigation bar, click “My Projects.”
2. The status will be one of the following.

You will receive an email if your project is not approved.  Please review the projects that Guru.com cannot post.

To determine why your project was not approved,

1. On the top navigation bar, click “My Projects.”
2. Click the “Why?” link to the right of the “Not Approved” text.

All projects posted to Guru.com proceed through a quality review before they are approved and released to the Freelancer marketplace. Your project will be Pending Approval until it is reviewed. The review will occur within hours.  If the project requirements are unclear, or if the project does not comply with our marketplace standards, we will contact you via email. Otherwise, your project will be approved and you should start receiving quotes shortly.   

If you’ve been notified that your project is not approved, you will have the option to modify the project information to meet to our marketplace standards.

To modify the project:

1. On the top navigation bar, click “My Projects.”
2. Select the appropriate option from the Actions drop down to the right of the project title.

After the project is updated, it will be submitted once again for review by our Quality Assurance team.

To view, update, close, re-open or delete a project,

1. On the top navigation bar, click “My Projects.”
2. Select the appropriate option from the Actions drop down on the right.

Notes: 

• To update the location or privacy settings, you will have to repost the project. A different subset of Freelancers will be matched to and notified of your project.
• When you close a project, you’re simply letting the Freelancers know that you’re no longer accepting quotes. Your project posting does not have to remain open while the project is being completed.
• If you have an open dispute case, you will not be able to delete your project.

To repost a project,

1. On the top navigation bar, click “My Projects.”
2. From the Actions drop down, select “Repost.”

Note: Change the title of your reposted project so that you can easily differentiate it from the original posting on the My Projects page.

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,

1. On the top navigation bar, click “My Projects.”
2. Click the “Quotes” link.

Employers generally receive quotes from Freelancers within a few minutes of the project being approved by our quality assurance team. If your project has been approved and you have not received quotes, it’s possible that your project’s match criteria are set too narrowly. You may need to add skills or broaden your location requirements in your project posting.

If you need assistance, you can ask the experts by posting your question in Guru Answers or you can contact Guru.com.

Email: Send an email via the contact us page.

Call: 1.888.678.0136, option 1 (toll free)

Office Hours: Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. ET

If you posted a Private: Invitation Only project, you must invite at least one Freelancer to submit a quote for your project. If you do not invite anyone within 24 hours of posting, your project will be changed to a public project and released to all Freelancers.

You can invite Freelancers to submit a quote for public projects as well. Freelancers can only be invited to open projects.

You can send a Project Announcement to all Freelancers who have already submitted quotes for your project. Project Announcements are immediately posted to Freelancers’ online accounts.  In addition, Freelancers are notified once every 24 hours via email when they have received one or more Project Announcements.  Please be aware that Project Announcements are intended for one way communication, only.  Freelancers are unable to respond to Project Announcements.

You are welcome to request samples of previously completed work from Freelancers. You cannot ask for samples developed specifically for your project as a means to choose Freelancers.

Our quality assurance team will reject projects and message postings with requests for free mock-ups – samples created specifically for your new project prior to hiring – and contest entries.

Employers and Freelancers are free to discuss and negotiate the terms of work for a project in private messages and conversation and may agree that free mock-ups are part of the terms of work. Freelancers who choose to provide free mock-ups do so at their own risk. Furthermore, Freelancers may only offer free mock-ups within the context of their quotes and private discussions with Employers.

Guru.com will not post projects of the following nature:

1. Projects with invalid email addresses
   If your email address is invalid, Guru.com cannot send you quotes. Check your email address for accuracy to avoid delays.
2. 100% commission-based projects
   Employers must offer a reasonable project rate, hourly rate, or a low hourly rate plus commission.
3. Projects requesting free mockups from Freelancers
   Employers may not request free mockups from Freelancers. Employers must use Freelancers’ displayed samples of work to determine their style and level of expertise.
4. Contests
   Employers may not request a free contest entry from Freelancers. Employers must use Freelancers’ displayed samples of work to determine their style and level of expertise.
5. Full-time/Part-time employee required
   Employers may not seek full-time or part-time employees. Guru.com only offers its free project posting service for freelance and contract positions.
6. Joint ventures or partnerships where profits are shared contingent upon  success
   Employers must offer a rate per hour or a total estimated payment (or a rate per hour/estimated payment plus partnership opportunity) to a Freelancer once work is completed.
7. Projects that include bartering or trading
   Employers must offer a rate  per hour or total estimated payment (or a rate per hour/estimated payment plus bartering opportunity) to a Freelancer once work is completed.
8. Royalty-based or contingency-based projects
   Employers must offer a rate per hour or a total estimated payment for services performed. You may offer an  hourly base rate plus royalty or bonus opportunities, but payment to Freelancers cannot be dependent upon the success (or failure) of a business transaction.
9. School projects or homework assignments
   School-related work is intended to be completed by the student, not a Guru.com Freelancer.
10. Projects that require Freelancers to supply an up-front investment
    Employers may not require Freelancers to pay  money prior to receiving work.
11. Sales pitches or event announcements
    Employers may not post projects to make sales pitches or  announcements. Guru.com will only post requests from Employers who are seeking Freelancers  to work on their projects.
12. Job fair listings
    Employers may not post job fair listings. Guru.com will only post requests  from Employers who are seeking Freelancers to work on their projects.
13. Pro-bono or volunteer work
    All Freelancers on Guru.com are seeking work for pay. Employers must offer a rate per hour or total estimated payment to a Freelancer once work is completed.
14. Projects that are illegal or questionable
    Employers may not post project content or request work that is illegal or questionable. This includes projects that may be a violation of another site’s terms of services. I.e., “I want a clone of eBay for $250.”
15. Payment outside of the mandatory Guru Billing system
    Per the Terms of Service, all  payments related to a project or Freelancer on Guru.com must be sent and paid  through either SafePay or Guru Invoicing. Protect yourself, and  never directly pay a Freelancer.
16. Projects with unreasonable expectations or a poor chance of success
    Guru.com reserves the right to reject projects that have little chance for success in our marketplace or  projects that contain unreasonable expectations from our Freelancers. This includes projects with budgets less than $25.