Nicely done!!
My favorite two things about Microlancer:
  1. KYC-free!!! Neither tasker nor asker provide identity, beyond an e-mail address (which can be from an anonymous e-mail provider, such as Proton mail). Optionally, you can have notifications sent also to your Telegram account, but the Microlancer doesn't see the phone number tied to your Telegram account. This means everyone from everywhere has equal access to the tasks offered!
  2. Fees of just 2%, when using escrow (1% paid by Asker, and 1% taken from Tasker). Otherwise, there is no fee if not using escrow: https://microlancer.io/fees
Compare that to Upwork:
  • Freelancer (i.e., "Tasker"): On Upwork, fees for freelancers are a variable percent, but they start at 20% taken from the first $500 per-client, then it drops to 10% taken from additional amounts up until $10,000, then 5% taken from amounts exceeding $10,000. So the absolute minimum is 5%, but let's say work by a freelancer hits $4,000. 20% of fees from the fist $500 is $100, and 10% in fees from the $3,500 remaining is $350. So the fee taken from the freelancer's $4,000 earned is $450, or 11.25% -- leaving the freelancer with just $3,550.
  • Client (i.e., "Asker"): On Upwork, fees for clients are 5% (or 3%, if "eligible", which is essentially limited to those in the U.S. who are paying using ACH). So to pay the freelancer the $4,000 (from the example above), the client would have to pay 5% extra, or $200 -- totaling $4,200.
Combine those two, $4,200 - $3,550 means Upwork is receiving 18.3% in fees (in this example) above the net amount ($3,550) paid to the freelancer. Even with "eligible" clients (client is in the U.S. and paying with ACH bank transfer), the "reduced" fee is 16.1% (in this example).
This makes me think of patreon where there is sales tax on the donation. 25% in my case. Then the receiver has to pay income tax which can be 40% or more so at the end of the day a minority of the money ends up with the person it was going to. Sad.
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