Spring '07 Release - SurePay
So you've found a voice over talent using Voices.com. Now you have to go to an entirely different web service to pay them - and another to receive the audio files - who can remember all those websites, usernames and passwords?
Thanks to SurePay, now there's only one name you'll need to know: Voices.com.
SurePay is an online payment system developed by Voices.com especially for the voice over marketplace. It allows you to quickly and easily hire voice over talent for job opportunities.
Along with a payment and file transfer service, we've also made it even easier to offer a job to a talent, or to invite talent(s) to audition and quote for your work.
There's also a concise new layout for viewing job responses:
The Job Offer
The SurePay process starts with a “Job Offer”. Job offers originate from one of three places. You can create a job offer:
1. After receiving responses to a “Public Lead” (standard job posting) that you posted at Voices.com.
2. After reviewing responses from voice talent through a “Private Lead” that you invited several voice talents to participate in.
3. Directly from a voice talent’s personal website at Voices.com. Usually, you’ll listen to a few voices before offering a job. In this situation, there is no need for an audition or job posting (you already love their voice), so you can simply send the voice talent of your choosing a “Job Offer”.
Viewing the Job Offer
You can view all “Job Offers” you have made under the new “Jobs” tab within your account at Voices.com. The Job Offer consists of three unique sections:
Contact Information
Complete contact information is displayed from both parties (yourself and the voice talent), so you’ll know whom you are offering the contract to. If you need to clarify some details you can pick a phone and call them or send them an email.
Job Details
Each job has a unique ID as well as the job title and final script as a file attachment. It’s recommended that you include a complete (final) script before giving any job offers and presenting the work to a voice over professional.
Payment Details
In this section, you’ll see the deadline for completing the work, terms of payment and the voice talent professional fee (ex. $1000.00). You’ll also see the SurePay Escrow fee, which is 10% on top of the professional fee (ex. $100.00) and the total to be deposited by you, the client ($1100.00).
Agreement Details
If you have any special instructions regarding technical requirements or artistic direction, make those comments here.
Take Action
At the bottom of the “Job Offer” are three buttons; “Yes, I Accept”, “Make Counter Offer”, and “Sorry, I Decline”.
When a voice talent clicks “Yes, I Accept”, you now have a legally binding agreement between you and the voice talent. This will keep everyone accountable, and will avoid misunderstandings about the original project requirements. Congratulations, you’ve hired a professional to record your voice over!
By clicking “Make Counter Offer”, the voice talent has the opportunity to reply to you and may edit any of the Job Offer details, such as terms of payment, deadline or even price. When a counter offer is made, voice talents will leave comments below your comments, similar to a thread. This thread is your communication history and is always attached to the job details.
If a voice talent clicks “Sorry, I Decline”, it’s recommended that they let you know why they declined your job offer. Perhaps they weren’t comfortable recording the material, or maybe they are simply too busy or on vacation. Whatever the reason, we encourage voice talents to have the courtesy to leave a one or two sentence reason as to why they had to decline your project. By doing so, they have shown you that they are a professional and know how to communicate, keeping the door open for future opportunities should they be given.
The Counter Offer
If you’ve sent a “Counter Offer” back to the voice talent, they now have the option to click “Yes, I Accept”, “Make Counter Offer” or “Sorry, I Decline”.
When the voice talent clicks “Yes, I Accept”, you’ve got a deal!
When the voice talent clicks “Make Counter Offer”, the counter offer is sent back to you and the cycle continues, until you reach a deal by someone clicking “Yes, I Accept”. If you’ve ever purchased a home, this is often how the transaction occurs. This is negotiation in its simplest form.
If no deal can be reached, either party can click “Sorry, I Decline” at anytime, and the negotiation is terminated.
Most jobs will result in a fair agreement (you did negotiate after all) and so the next step is for you, the client, to make a deposit.
The Deposit
The deposit is for the full amount as displayed in the “Payment Details” of the agreement. In our example, this amount would be USD $1100.00.
You are then prompted to send a deposit of $1100.00 to Voices.com’s secure escrow account. This is a neutral bank account that will hold the money in trust until the job is completed. The funds will be processed through Paypal; however you do not need a Paypal account in order to complete your end of the financial transaction.
As soon as Voices.com receives the deposit, the voice talent you are working with will receive an email notification informing them that they “Have New Funds” being held in trust. With the deposit managed by Voices.com, they can record the work with the confidence that they’ll get paid.
The Recording & File Delivery
As is the normal practice, your voice talent will record the script in their recording studio (or at a local recording studio). If the job requires music and sound effects, they are responsible for adding those too.
Once the recording is complete, the voice talent will simply login to Voices.com and upload the files to our server, where the will be stored for you to retrieve.
Downloading the Files & Accepting The Work
The voice talent has fulfilled their end of the agreement, and now you just need to download the material and accept the work as complete.
An email notification is sent to you letting you know that your audio files are ready for download.
Next step: Login to your account at Voices.com, and proceed to download all the files. After you’ve listened to the work and have confirmed that the voice talent has done an excellent job, you complete the process by clicking “I Accept”.
Your Payment
When you click “I Accept” this action also notifies Voices.com to release the payment for the voice talent which is sent to them by PayPal. This way, you can be sure that the talent has fulfilled their end of the agreement before funds are released.
Payments sent to a voice talent’s PayPal account through Voices.com are then withdrawn into their personal or business bank account.
Giving & Receiving Feedback
The final step is for you to leave feedback on the financial transaction.
Giving and receiving feedback is an important part of any business transaction. As either a buyer or a seller within an online marketplace, feedback is often used to see if the other person is trustworthy and operates their business with integrity.
Your Feedback consists of a “Rating”, a 5-star rating with 1 being a poor experience, and a 5 being an excellent experience, as well as a “Review”. “Reviews” are written comments offering an explanation and reasoning for the above “Rating”.
Congratulations!
You made it! You’ve reached the end of the SurePay process and the end of this post. If you like the idea, let us know by leaving a comment below. As a voice talent seeker, would you use this service?
Have a great day!
When it comes to receiving audio files from voice talents, how do you prefer that they send them to you?
