What is the Platform Fee?

THE PLATFORM FEE

The Platform Fee is a 20% fee charged to talent when responding to jobs. It is calculated against the talent quote when responding to jobs (the ‘Your Quote’ field of the Job Response Form and Additional Payment Calculator) and when additional payments are made to talent. The Platform Fee is not charged on membership purchases like Voices Premium or Voices Platinum. 

This fee helps us provide you with the technologies, tools and support to facilitate the matching of talent to job opportunities, and the fast and secure exchange of services between clients and talent.

HOW THE PLATFORM FEE IS CALCULATED

The Platform Fee is calculated against the ‘Your Quote’ field in the Job Response form and Additional Payment Calculator. When a value is inputted into either the ‘My Earnings’ or ‘Your Quote’ field, the opposite field will be updated accordingly.

For example, let’s say a client posts a job with a budget of $500. When quoting, if you were to put $500 in the ‘Your Quote’ field (which is the final number the client will see when reviewing your responses), the ‘My Earnings’ field would be updated to reflect a take-home amount of $400. In this scenario the calculation is as follows:

• Platform Fee: Your Quote x Platform Fee = $500 x 20% = $100
• Your Earnings: Your Quote - Platform Fee =  $500 - $100 = $400

Alternatively, let’s say a client posts a job with a budget range of $750-$999. When quoting, if you wanted to earn $900 on the job, you would input $900 into the ‘My Earnings’ field, and the ‘Your Quote’ field would be updated to reflect a client-facing quote of $1,125. In this scenario the calculation is as follows:

• Your Quote: Your Earnings / (100% - Platform Fee) = $900 / (100%-20%) = $1,125
• Platform Fee: Your Quote x Platform Fee = $1,125 x 20% = $225

In the above example, the ‘Your Quote’ amount is higher than the client’s posted budget. While you may think this would automatically disqualify you from being considered for the job, we have quantitative and qualitative data, gathered by looking at past jobs and through interviews with clients, that shows that clients are willing to go above their budget if the audition and performance warrants it. It’s important that you not only consider the client’s budget when submitting a response, but also your own value - if there is misalignment then you have the ability to ignore the job or submit a quote that better aligns with what you feel your services are worth.