Trusting Third Parties?

[Gabby]

Hello
I would like to hire out some things but I'm way leary in doing so here as a result of my past experience with another forum's Third Party Services. I had a scary incident with one paid member and another one never completed the project. The other forum did nothing and continued to allow this person to sell. I don't want to run into the same problem here. As a non tech person, I am far more likely to get ripped off. Now I know better and try to do much of this myself but somethings I will never be able to do and don't really want to learn that much coding.

What to do? Is there some sort of rating system in place?

I think kindness and integrity is a virtue not easily found in tech forums-I'm sad to say.

Thank you kindly

Gabby

 

[Forsaken]

Hello
I would like to hire out some things but I'm way leary in doing so here as a result of my past experience with another forum's Third Party Services. I had a scary incident with one paid member and another one never completed the project. The other forum did nothing and continued to allow this person to sell. I don't want to run into the same problem here. As a non tech person, I am far more likely to get ripped off. Now I know better and try to do much of this myself but somethings I will never be able to do and don't really want to learn that much coding.

What to do? Is there some sort of rating system in place?

I think kindness and integrity is a virtue not easily found in tech forums-I'm sad to say.

Thank you kindly

Gabby

Your best bet is to always research the person before you contact them. If you can, ask some previous clients and ask them questions (Without pestering).

Also, be sure it's someone you can work with. If you don't get along, a client relationship will never workout.

When you do talk to them, be sure to feel them out as well. If you get a bad vibe immediately from talking to them, don't do business with them.

 

[Gabby]

Thanks Forsaken. I generally get along with everyone and have never had a person or personality conflict with any of the people I've hired from well known services such as skin developers. However, people from forums were a whole different ball game for me. The first person I hired had some mental health problems far outside of forum life and it was too late to back out of the deal. And as far as the other person, I emailed three times over the course of two months (doesn't seem excessive) asking for my product, never heard a word back from this person, although during this time they were posting to the other forum's site AND taking new jobs. It was just a fifty dollor 4 status icon job, that luckily I can do myself now. But still fifty bucks is fifty bucks. And the third person, a logo designer, kept asking for entire balance before completing the project. A $200 logo in two weeks time is pretty good plan, half down, remaining when complete but this person comes back 24 hours later wanting all of it with no completed logo as if he had an urgent need for the money. Yeah no.

I know I will only work with people from certain countries now as sad as that may be. I've learned my lesson well. One thing you said has me thinking... "Talk to them". I never actually physically talked to them, it was all done via email or forum so I guess that was my first mistake.

Thanks again for your reply.

Gabby

 

[John55]

As a non-technical person myself, most of the people on XF are highly reputable from what I can tell. They're really engaged in the XF product, and as a result, the atmosphere here is very supportive of promoting the XF software and helping people (like me) understand and develop their forums.

I highly recommend SchimitzIT (Peter and Lykke) if you need help with your Xenforo installation/migration, minor skin customizations, and design work. They're very affordable and you are getting way more bang out of your buck with their expertise and support. Here is their services thread:

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/schmitzit-xenforo-services.26449/

Good luck.

 

[Slavik]

Moved the thread... couldn't work out where was best though

The 3rd party forum is for advertising rather than discussion

 

[we_are_borg]

If possible use a escrow service for payments and make sure that you describe in detail when you make payments.

 

[borbole]

Hello
I would like to hire out some things but I'm way leary in doing so here as a result of my past experience with another forum's Third Party Services. I had a scary incident with one paid member and another one never completed the project. The other forum did nothing and continued to allow this person to sell. I don't want to run into the same problem here. As a non tech person, I am far more likely to get ripped off. Now I know better and try to do much of this myself but somethings I will never be able to do and don't really want to learn that much coding.

What to do? Is there some sort of rating system in place?

I think kindness and integrity is a virtue not easily found in tech forums-I'm sad to say.

Thank you kindly

Gabby

Hi,

Before you hire someone to do work on your forum, as mentioned above, it would be better to check that person out before you decide to hire him/her. For example, check out his posting history in the forum. That would give you an idea of his/her level of expertise. Ask him/her for references and contact his/her clients and/or the other users that he/she has done work in the past. That would give you a more complete picture of the person that you would like to hire to work on your forum.

Another thing would be to give them limited access to your forum. For ex, create a temp ftp account and give it access only to the area that they need to be and afterwards delete the temp ftp account. Or if you will have to give full access always change the log in infos afterwards. Make that a habit, no matter whom you hire. Another thing would be to always make a backup of your database and forum files before you let someone to work in your forum.

Also, ask about the prices and the going rate for the stuff that you want done to your forum. Do not be shy and accept blindly the prices given to you. Some users will overcharge.

 

[Forsaken]

Thanks Forsaken. I generally get along with everyone and have never had a person or personality conflict with any of the people I've hired from well known services such as skin developers. However, people from forums were a whole different ball game for me. The first person I hired had some mental health problems far outside of forum life and it was too late to back out of the deal. And as far as the other person, I emailed three times over the course of two months (doesn't seem excessive) asking for my product, never heard a word back from this person, although during this time they were posting to the other forum's site AND taking new jobs. It was just a fifty dollor 4 status icon job, that luckily I can do myself now. But still fifty bucks is fifty bucks. And the third person, a logo designer, kept asking for entire balance before completing the project. A $200 logo in two weeks time is pretty good plan, half down, remaining when complete but this person comes back 24 hours later wanting all of it with no completed logo as if he had an urgent need for the money. Yeah no.

I know I will only work with people from certain countries now as sad as that may be. I've learned my lesson well. One thing you said has me thinking... "Talk to them". I never actually physically talked to them, it was all done via email or forum so I guess that was my first mistake.

Thanks again for your reply.

Gabby

My general opinion is anyone who goes for anything other than 50/50 model, or lump sum at completion (Depends on the service) is likely to be a scammer. My reasoning is that most other methods are too easy to pad for time, or what they've done. Paying by the hour is something I especially would avoid, as you are often charged for everything, including any changes you make when you're not satisfied with the work.

I've only once asked for the rest of a payment before a project was completely done, but that was only due to having to work from their site which meant releasing the information to the client. Unless you're in a situation that is similar and can trust the service provider do not pay the remaining balance. Them asking should throw red flags all over the place, especially if you have not seen the product.

I mostly meant talking to them in email, IM or even through PM. Obviously email and IM are much more personal, and will give you more chances to feel them out. Some providers will do voice chat on Skype (I won't because I barely talk on the phone if I can avoid it), but more often than not email, PM or IM are your options.

If you need opinions on people you have in mind, or recommendations I can give you some as I'm familiar with most of the well known service providers (or know their histories from other platforms). Just send me a PM if ever need help choosing.

 

[MagnusB]

Depending on the size of the project and amount of money, set up a payment plan based on milestones. One would be 50% up front, the rest upon completion, but for larger projects, you might want to divide into more milestones, e.g. 10% up front, 30% at milestone #1, 60% at milestone #2 and 10% at completion. You should never pay full amount before delivery.

Also setting up the money in an "locked account", where they are not released either way until both of you agree, could be a good idea as well.

 

[Gabby]

Thank you everyone for your advice. Some great points were made. Thank you Slavik, I wasn't sure were to put this thread. Sorry.