Project Payment Types (for Sellers) (Click here to see this information for buyers)

There are two different ways to be paid by a buyer on a project: "pay for deliverables" and "pay for time". Below is an explanation of the differences between the two.

Pay for deliverables The buyer will pay you a fixed price for delivering the entire project (or portions of it, if you setup paid milestones).  They escrow the funds in advance, so that you know they are "good" for the money. When you deliver to the contract, the buyer must pay you, and if they don't an arbitrator will award the funds to you. If you don't deliver to the contract, then an arbitrator will refund the buyer back the unawarded funds. Advantages If you complete the project to the contract, you are guaranteed to be paid the full price (or partial price if you setup milestones). The buyer cannot arbitrarily quit the project without negative reprucusions (receiving a poor rating from Rent A Coder, and you are paid for the work you completed). The buyer is forced to define (at least) a majority of the project up front in order for you to accurately bid on it. This helps to limit scope creep later in the project. Disadvantages If you estimate too low on the effort involved, you are responsible for absorbing the cost. So good estimation skills are crucial. If you agree to a deadline and miss it, the buyer can receive back all unawarded funds. The Rent A Coder fee tends to be higher (due to arbitration costs), which means you may have to charge the buyer more for the same job. Pay for time The buyer pays you for the time you spend working on their project.  They escrow the funds in advance, so that you know they are "good" for the money. You prove that you are working by logging into a timecard application.  While logged in, Rent a Coder will periodically take a webcam picture of you (to verify that you are present on your computer) and screenshots of your desktop (to verify that you are working on your project).  At the end of the timeperiod, the buyer approves the time worked. If they take more than 3 days to approve you, the timecard is auto-approved. If a picture shows that you were not present or working on something else, an arbitrator will verify it and if so, you will not be paid for the timecard. Advantages You are paid for every hour that you work. If the project requires more effort than expected, you will get paid extra for it (because you will end up working more hours). If you decide to stop at any time for any reason, you can, without receiving a poor rating from Rent A Coder The Rent A Coder fee to you is generally lower (due to no arbitration costs). Disadvantages The buyer does not commit to complete any set # of hours and can pull out at any time or for any reason without a poor rating from Rent A Coder (however you are paid for hours completed to that point).