How we made a safe deal for freelance: give a choice, cut features, compare commissions

Hi, Habr!

My name is Anastasia, I am a freelance product manager. A couple of days ago, we talked about the introduction of a secure transaction . This is a service for freelancers and customers, due to which they can not worry about financial risks during work. With a secure transaction, the amount payable is debited from the customer’s card to a special account with our financial partner before commencing work and transferred to the card by the contractor in the event of its successful completion

A secure transaction is not a new service on the market. Today I want to share with you the insights from our internal analysis of existing solutions and tell you where, how and why we decided to move away from established market practices.
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The operation of the Secure transaction on all freelance sites is about the same. The customer enters the card data on the service, the transaction amount is transferred to the account of the financial partner or frozen on the card. After the job is done, the customer sends a command to the service of transferring funds to the freelancer. If something went wrong, the money can be returned to the customer by the decision of the arbitration. The devil, as always, is in the details. We will talk about them.

Before introducing a secure transaction, we analyzed a lot of competitors ’decisions. The situation in which you need to make the service in the presence of dozens of existing analogues is, in fact, a winning one. We had something to compare our decision with and on whose mistakes to learn.

We identified several important issues during the analysis of competitors:

• Allowing freelancers and customers to work ONLY on a secure transaction is a bad option;
• using a chat inside a freelance exchange is often ineffective;
• for the conclusion of the contract between the freelancer and the customer little information described in the order;
• the commission must be reasonable and transparent.

Why we left the choice of a simple transaction

“Why not leave only secure deals?” We asked ourselves when we first started thinking about a new service. So did many competitors. And at first glance, for us this will result in only positive consequences.

Firstly, we refuse orders that do not bring money to the company (after all, the commission on simple transactions is not removed).

Secondly, we nullify fraudulent transactions. Freelance support service sometimes receives letters from users who find themselves in difficult situations - for example, from freelancers who have not been paid for by customers. And we regret to answer that in this case we can only block the account of the fraudster and explain to the victim how to contact the police. With a secure transaction, we can most importantly - return the money for the order.

Thirdly, leaving only safe transactions, we solve the problem of cheating reviews. Now, in order to leave a review to yourself, it will be necessary not only not to fall into the hands of our vigilant moderators, but also to use two different cards and pay a commission.

Many companies have done so, completely removing the functionality of simple transactions. But we decided that we would not be able to ignore the interests of the group of users who are not ready to work on a safe transaction at the start. They may have good reasons for this. For example, an order with a value below the minimum amount from which you can select a secure transaction. Or re-work of a freelancer and a customer who have long cooperated with each other and are confident in the safety of collaboration.

Therefore, we left the opportunity to choose the type of transaction - safe or simple. The risks of simple transactions will be incorporated into the rating system, which we will soon launch on Freelance. Orders that pass without a safe transaction will have less weight than orders with a safe one.

Why we at the start refused to chat inside the service

Chat is on almost any freelance site - Russian-language or foreign. Communication of participants in the transaction is an important component of the work. The desire of market players to embed a tool that is responsible for this communication, directly into the site itself is understandable.

We also wanted. But, assessing the risks, the need of users, the time and resources needed to implement the chat, we decided that we would launch a secure transaction without it.

At the start, it was important for us to close only two stages in the communication between the freelancer and the customer. This is the first agreement - the response of the freelancer and the discussion of conditions. And the final "job delivery" - when the freelancer shows the customer a completed task. These stages should be fixed on the site. In the event of a conflict, they will be the basis for resolving the dispute in favor of the customer or freelancer. Screenshots and photos from third-party weight services will not be, as they can always be faked.

At Freelance, the first agreements are fixed in the comments under the order and in a special document called “Working conditions”. About him in more detail in the next paragraph. Link to the finished work is stored in the personal account of the freelancer and the customer.

Why we added a separate step describing the conditions of work

When placing an order on a freelance platform, customers most often describe the task in general terms. It is good when the necessary technologies are indicated, mock-ups or even a ready technical task are attached. But often all this is missing and there are only two or three lines explaining what the idea of ​​the project consists of, without details and with the promise to send the technical task later.

After talking with the selected artist, the very essence of the order may change. The professional can advise the best solution or simply agree on a new timeline or amount of the transaction. Communication with a potential executor is something like the first consultation, with the help of which the customer specifies and complements his technical task. Order before this consultation and after - two different entities.

In order to fix this important stage with the clarification of the task, we created the so-called "Working conditions". The customer fills in the conditions after he chooses the contractor. And the performer, in turn, begins work only after he agrees with them. We regard this document as the basis of the order - arbitration will apply to it in the event of a conflict.

How we compared commissions

There are several points for which commissions vary at different freelance sites:

1. The size. The most obvious point. Somewhere 6% of the order amount is removed, somewhere 20%.
2. Additional fees. Often, in addition to the basic commissions, additional sites are charged, for example, to a withdrawal of funds by a freelancer.
3. Dynamics. On some sites, the commission varies and depends on the amount of the order, on some it is constant.
4. Who pays. The commission can be paid by the customer, freelancer or both parties to the transaction.
5. The minimum and maximum amount of the order. The cost of the order with which the customer can choose a safe transaction.

Requirements of players in the Russian market are now:

When deciding on our commission, we were guided by the following things:

1. Transparency pricing. Everything related to money should be simple and understandable for the freelancer and the customer. We do not want the user to spend a lot of time digging into the “Help” section on the site’s website in order to understand how much money he will pay or receive. We have one commission, it is constant, always removed from the customer. There are no additional fees for depositing or withdrawing funds.
2. Any cards. Freelance - a job that is available to everyone, no matter where you live. This is wonderful and we, for our part, want to maintain such infinity. Therefore, it is very important for us not to put restrictions on the methods of payment for the order and receipt of earned funds. Because of this, by the way, we had to raise the commission a little from the level we were initially counting on - to cover bank cards issued in any countries.
3. Reasonable commission. Yes, the commissions of world leaders are at the level of 20%. But this figure can not yet be a guide for companies operating in Russia. Our domestic freelancing market is not yet so developed, there is a great distrust of remote project specialists, and companies are afraid to work with freelancers. Commission must comply with the market.

What's next?

We will continue to improve!

Have you tried secure transactions at other freelance sites? Tell us how it was: what you liked and seemed convenient, and what - no?