No Buyers Fees. Just a 10% surcharge to pay the Freelancer...

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Adam

HI,

This is the first time I have used PPH and to make it very clear, I have been very happy with the freelancer I've made contact with. 

Does this service warrant a fee for the buyers? Possibly.  Would I happily pay one if asked to? Probably.

What I'm not hapy about is feeling conned.  I got charged an extra 10% when I put the money in ESCROW and assumed I had paid the deposit twice. After 30 mins of trying to clarify whether buyers paid any fees I couldn't find anything and so just left it.  I have now just stumbled across an article which explains "PPH doesn't charge Buyers any fee for using the marketplace to find and use freelancing talent"

There are however fees they charge to process your payments 0.5%? 1.5% maybe?  No, an additional 10%.  If that isn't a buyer fee - what is?

I feel like I've been conned and I will do whatever I can to ensure I don't get ripped off again.

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6 comments

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  • Official comment
    YannisS
    • Edited

    Hi Adam,

    Thank you for letting us know about this. Since you are a new member of our community, I want to ensure you enjoy using our platform.

    But first, let me please try to understand what was the main reason you feel this way.

    1. Yes, there are fees for buyers and they are clearly listed in our Terms page, par. 8.1 (https://www.peopleperhour.com/static/term) 
    2. Once you accept a proposal and are about to pay for the deposit, the service fees are clearly displayed at the top right of the checkout page BEFORE you decide to proceed with the payment. There is also a tooltip that elaborates on the service fees. See screenshot below:

    So I don't understand why you feel you have been conned. Please do let me know if there is anything else I might be missing.


    Thank you,
    Yannis Sliman
    Product Manager @ PeoplePerHour

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  • Simon

    Yannis,

    You really need to go away and think about what you have just written:

    "Yes, there are fees for buyers and they are clearly listed in our Terms page, par. 8.1"

    The fact that there is a 10% fee is buried in the terms and conditions when it needs to be made clear, so that the buyer is under no illusion that the budget for their project is going to have 10% added to it. It should also be made clear that the freelancer will also be charged 20% and they are not receiving as much as the buyer is paying.

    As a freelancer, when I submit a proposal and if I notice that the buyer is new to PPH, I will tell them about the 10% fee, so that they are not surprised when they come to pay the deposit. So, if they are a UK buyer offering a budget of £100, I will have to explain in the proposal that that is £83.33 + VAT from me, and that PPH will charge a 10% fee and they will have to pay £110. Then if they are VAT registered they will be able to reclaim the £16.67 VAT that I charged. I don't mention that I will lose a further £16.67 in PPH fees and that I am only actually working for £66.67, not the £100 that was offered. I then live in fear that your "Support Ninjas" or whatever you call your filtering algorithm is going to pick up on forbidden words about payments and hide the project from the buyer.

    It would be better if PPH could make this process clearer for all concerned. As Adam says, it is the feeling of being conned that leads to problem. I had a buyer a couple of years ago who was ready for me to start a project but he wouldn't pay his deposit when it came up at 10% extra. He raised a support ticket and wasn't very happy with the response. Despite this, I still managed to get the project and complete it, but you are not making our lives easier with any of this.

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  • YannisS

    Hi Simon,

    Even if someone doesn't read the Terms, especially on potential fees, before they sign up (since by signing up a user accepts our Terms (this is written on the registration form)), they have the chance to read about the 10% fee at the checkout page (shown on the attached screenshot in my previous message). 

    However, I agree that we should be informing new users about the 10% fee earlier than we do at the moment. This is already an item in our backlog and we are currently running 2 experiments in order to research on the optimal solution to this particular issue.

    If you have bought any of our services lately, you must have observed that we have revamped our checkout page so that potential buyers are informed about the 10% fee right before they complete the purchase. Now we are aiming to improve this experience even further, so that we don't surprise potential buyers unpleasantly.

    Thank you for your understanding and patience.

    All the best,
    Yannis

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  • Olivia

    I can't find any recent documents terms or find any updates on buyer fees since this message above. Is this still the case that you have to pay 10%? It seems a little ridiculous to me. If PPH want to keep people on the platform they need a clear and fair fee policy for both buyers and freelancers

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  • Henry

    Hi Olivia

    I wanted an answer to the same question. It looks like you still need to pay a 10% fee if you want to pay the freelancer for the work done. I'd be fine with this, but I agree it is not clear. I really struggled to find this explained. It is made all the more confusing when the sign up button has no hidden fees under it.

     

     

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  • Louis

    I just canceled 2 times now 1st was the one I prepaid the job post and 2nd for cancel right after becasue freelancer can not do it so got it back the money however still you charge me a buyer fee twice even I cancel which it is illegal so I am waiting to get back the buyer fee for both. You can not take a a buyer fee if it cancel. It is like if i buy in Amazon and cancel they will not charge me a fee for to order or for cancel it etc. Even if it is a refund you can not charge a buyer fee.  

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