I have decided to open this thread to gather the information needed for the transition to Guru.com as a payment vehicle.

As far as I have been able to understand:

1. We need the billing code from FDM to be able to create an invoice for the payments due.

2. Before this, we need to receive a Project Award from FDM to be able to create a Project Agreement and then use the Invoicing method (as the work has already been done).

This has been quoted from Guru.com site:

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How to receive a Project Award

No project posted. No bid placed.
If an employer contacted you via the Quick Discussion Board, the employer probably has not posted a project on Guru.com yet. To transact safely with the employer, you must ask the employer to post a project and invite you to it. This will allow you to (1) Receive an official Project Award, (2) Upload an online Project Agreement, and (3) Use SafePay Escrow.

The below instructions assume that the (1) employer has not posted a project on Guru.com, and (2) you have not placed an online bid for the project.

To receive a Project Award from an employer who has not posted a project yet:

1. Ask the employer to post an Invitation Only project.
Direct the employer to this URL to learn how: http://www.guru.com/help/emp/project_posting.cfm#invite
2. After posting the project, ask the employer to invite you to the project using the search pages.
Direct the employer to this URL to learn how: http://www.guru.com/help/emp/searching. ... tact_quote
3. After the employer invites you to the project, we will send you a Project Invitation via email and online alert. Place a bid on the project. (Learn how)
4. We will notify the employer that you have placed a bid. Ask the employer to send you a Project Award. (Learn how)

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This means that FDM will have to be registering one project award for each and every translator who is yet to receive the payments.

Regards

ESCROW vs. INVOICING
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There are two methods for freelancers at Guru.com to request payment.

Escrow is when the work hasn't been done yet and the employer places the funds previously under the "protection" of Guru.com as a guarantee of payment for the freelancer.
THIS IS NOT OUR CASE.

After all the procedures (Project Award - Project Agreement - obtaining the billing code from FDM) we should be creating an INVOICE for the work done.

The thing is, that we need from FDM two things:
1) Their billing code
2) The project award that is going to be agreed and invoiced by us thereafter.

It seems to be quite complicated as there is a lot of actions to be done on our side. But it is important that everybody does the same actions, to avoid unnecessary delays.

I wonder if FDM Administration is aware of all the steps that have to be undertaken for the payments to be effectively transferred, especially of the fact that they have to issue one project award for EACH AND EVERY translator.

Wasn't IKOBO much easier? I wonder.

This is what FDM administration (as well as us) has to perform (as the employer) in order for us to get the payments.


How SafePay Invoicing works - in detail

1. Award the Project to the Best Pro
First, select the professional(s) you wish to hire by clicking the "Award" button next your chosen professional's bid. This sends the professional a message that asks him or her to accept or decline the project.

2. The Pro Uploads a Project Agreement
Once the professional accepts the project, ask the professional to create and upload an online Project Agreement. Once the professional has done so, we send you an email that asks you to approve or decline the agreement.

3. The Pro Completes Project Work
Review the completed project work and ensure that it meets the terms of your agreement.

4. The Pro Creates an Invoice
Once the professional clicks to accept the project, we reveal your SafePay Billing Code to the professional. This allows the professional to create an Invoice in the agreed-upon amount.

5. Pay the Invoice
Once the professional creates the Invoice, Guru.com sends you an official Guru.com Invoice email. You review the Invoice and pay the amount to Guru.com via Check, E-check, PayPal, Credit Card, Wire Transfer, or SafePay Account Funds. (More info)
! NOTE: Guru.com recommends that you do not pay an Invoice until you have reviewed the work and are satisfied that it meets the terms of your agreement.

6. We Send the Funds to the Pro
Once we receive your payment, we immediately send the funds to the professional after deducting any applicable fees.

7. Give Feedback
You and the professional leave feedback on each other.

Another detail that translators should be aware so there are no complaints thereafter...

This is from the Guru.com site:

How do we make money?
Our service is free for employers because we charge the professionals in two ways:

1. Professionals pay us a 5% or 10% Project Fee. This fee is based on a project's payment value, and is deducted from the professional's payment for the project.


2. We also offer subscription-based Guru memberships to professionals who want privileged access to projects and employers. Professionals with the Guru icon paid a subscription fee to obtain special access to employers' projects.

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Be prepared then, to pay the 5 to 15% fee to Guru.com and make your calculations accordingly.

Now, we have to add one step more to get money reasonably on time...
Payment - Guru fees - Paypal fees - Xoom fees = a few cents in my pocket thereabouts

Here is a copy of the email I have sent to Guru.com in order to get more information about the procedures or steps to perform in order to receive the payments:

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Hello,

We are a team of about 450-500 translators and recently our employer had to change the payment method and chose Guru.com as intermediary. We were required to register here as freelancers, so to be able to receive payments already due.

However, I am afraid that it is a little bit more complicated than just registering and then receiving the payments from our employer... I see there are a series of steps to be done, and I would know if this is the only procedure that exists, or if for example an employer has already completed a working relationship and wants to use Guru.com to pay its personnel, it can do this without having to post all those individual projects and such and thereafter the project agreements, and the invoicing, etc...

The question is: can an employer just deposit in a freelancer account? We already did the work and the payments are due, so in fact there is no "pending project" to be agreed upon as it has already been performed.

Besides, we are being asked to state our Guru.com ID in order to receive the payments. Which would that be?
There are three IDs:
1) The Profile ID number
2) The email address
3) The username
Which one of those is considered to be the Guru.com ID to which the employer can perform the payment?

Thank you very much in advance for all the information you can give us, I am speaking in the name of all the team because I guess it can become quite complicated to understand for some of them how all this works.

Much regards
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Though they say they reply in two business days, I am still waiting for their reply. As soon as I have their answer, I will post it here.

I haven't received any response from Guru.com despite the fact that I sent a second email asking for the reply to the first one... this to let you know how efficient is their support department. I hope we won't be having to communicate with them much...

However, I did get an answer from FDM Team, which has also been posted in the News section of the private interface, and I transcribe it here:



This then confirms what I was wondering above, that indeed we have to follow all the procedures that are explained in the Guru.com website.
I would recommend everybody to start creating a profile and to check everyday to see if the invitation to the private project has been sent, and thereafter do the steps required including the invoicing.

Regards
Caroline

It is simple.

As soon as you receive Guru.com email (or just in case, you can check periodically):
- Log in to your Guru.com account.
- Click on the link in My Admin, under "Check your responses" tab, "Project Invitations", you will see a (1) new if the invitation is there.
- In the new window, you will have to click on the BID button, which brings you to another window where you will have to enter the amount of the BID (that would be the amount owed to you by FDM).
- After all the "continue" buttons, your bid is now in the Project Tracker, where it will be awaiting confirmation or approval from FDM I presume (the bid has to be AWARDED to the freelancer by the employer).

That's about it by now.

Update:

Received notification of the project Award (no mail, just happened to check my Guru.com account and there was a "Project Tracker Alert" under the "Check your responses" tab (My Admin).

When this happens, you then have to:

1) Accept the award
2) Make the invoice

Follow all the instructions (and be careful when accepting the award as the "decline" button is very close to the "accept" one), make the invoice and fill the appropriate boxes, check that everything is ok and confirm the invoice.

You will then be receiving an email from Guru.com with a copy of the invoice sent.

Will post more when there's more.
Regards

Forgot to add that the Invoice will then be under the "Manage Invoices" link on the "Manage Payments" tab at "My Admin".

What about how to make the invoices? I have an amount that has not yet been paid, although according to the FDM system, it's been paid. On top of that, I have another amount from a following month that has not yet been paid, and is "pending" in the system as well. Should I make a separate invoice for each, or just one with both amounts? What about the minimum? Does that still apply? Together, they more than pass the minimum, but separated, the second month is way below, due to the lack of translations available lately. Does it matter how we fill in the invoice, or is it just another formality to be performed so we get the payment through guru?

To Martin (and anyone still waiting):

Be sure of checking a few things:

1. That you indeed have a "freelancer" account (and not an "employer" one).

2. That your username and screen name are easy to find (I just checked for another translator friend and her profile didn't show up even if placing her screen name correctly...) so in that case:

3. It is better to create a profile and send an email with that number and all the rest (username, screen name, profile ID, email address at Guru, etc) to FDM and add it to the profile here on the payment method box. Freelancers can easily be found through their profile ID number. Better to be safe on that side.

4. If all the above is ok, keep checking the guru.com "my admin" space as the mail might have skipped your inbox and be in the spambox. In fact, when the bid is awarded (after having received the invitation and sent the corresponding BID) one doesn't receive any mail. It has to be tracked in the "Project Tracker".

Regards
Caroline

I would recommend to join both amounts in a single one, specifying thereafter in the invoice the time span and details of each month.

Example:

February $25.00
March $48.00

Total amount to place when doing the BID (after you have received the invitation): $73.00

After the BID has been AWARDED and you ACCEPT the award so to be able to make the INVOICE, the invoice could state:

Time span: from 2008.02.01 to 2008.03.31
And in the description:

15 translations performed during February 2008
50 translations performed during March 2008


Should you have any other questions, just let me know if I can be of any help.

(Note: in the present case, the minimum that would apply is Guru.com minimum bid price and/or invoice price, I think it is of $25 but am not 100% sure, you would have to check in your "My Admin" space.)

Forgot to say that the payment in full of the invoice was made on the same day later on, and I am now waiting for Guru.com to transfer the funds to my Paypal account. It says it can take two days approximatively.

For those of you who will use Paypal but haven't yet added it as a payment option: you have to go to "Manage Payment Methods" (under "Manage Payments and Feedback" tab in "My Admin"), add the Paypal email address, and CONFIRM the Paypal account.

The default option is "check", but you can add a Paypal account AND/OR your Wire Transfer data.

Correction to my statement above where I said that Guru.com didn't send an email when project is awarded.

They do send it... but seems to be arriving "a little" later, lol...

Got it just now ("You've been selected!"), about three hours later after I had already received their "Payment Received" mail

Better later than never, isn't it? But anyway, better to check your "My Admin" just in case.