Global outsourcing online marketplace

To register as a service provider, click on "register" on the top menu, then click the "Register as a Service Provider" button.

This will take you through the registration process. After successful registration, you can login using your username and password, and place your first bid

Portfolio

A service provider's portfolio is where all links to his previous work are listed. You can use the portfolio to showcase your talent, build trust and gain credibility.

To add links to your portfolio, login to your account and click "my portfolio" on the left. Then use the "Add a new website" form to add the URLs of current websites done by you, then click "Add to my portfolio".

Project fees: You pay %7 of your bid's value or $5, whichever is higher

This project fee is deducted from the amount deposited in escrow and released to your account.

Other third party fees may apply depending on your selected payment method (see below)

Bidding

Bidding is the act of offering your service to the service buyer (project owner) in exchange of an amount of money. To place your bid for a project, go to the project listing page and click "Bid now" (on the top of the project title). If you are logged in, you will be taken to the "place bid" page where you specify your bid amount along with a message to the project owner.

Bid amount: this describes the amount you want in exchange for your service. The bid amount may not exceed the maximum budget specified by the project owner.

Days needed for delivery: This describes the estimated maximum number of days needed for delivering the project. This may not exceed the number of days specified by the project owner.

Bid message: This is where you leave a message along with your bid, explaining your offer in details. This is a private message and can be viewed by any browser of the website. You may not post direct contact information in your bid message (example: email address, phone number, ICQ#, etc..). Doing so will automatically cancel your bid as well as your account.

Please note that each user is allowed of a maximum of 10 concurrent active bids. Active bids are bids on open projects, or bids where the project has ended but the Project Owner did not select a winning bidder yet. A bid remains active after a project ends for a period of 1 week maximum, after which the bid will automatically be cancelled.

Sending and receiving private messages

SupportUniverse provides the Private Messaging tool to enable Service Providers and Project Owners to communicate and discuss all aspects of the project before the auction ends and accepting a winning bid.

You may not exchange contact information in private messages. Doing so could lead to the cancellation of your account. Please note that all private messages are monitored by a "human" editor.

Private messages support HTML tags including anchors (links).

To send a private message to a Project Owner, go to the project listing page and click "send message" (at the top of the project title). This will open a small popup window where you can type your message and send it. The PO will be notified by email of the new private message.

When you receive a private message, you will be notified by email. All private messages will be available for viewing by clicking on "view private messages" on the left menu (you must be logged in).

To reply to a private message, click on the message in question, then click on "reply".

Your may send files as attachments in private messages. These files a formal offer, an application or small piece of software to show your talents, graphic and sound files, etc....

Although all files sent as attachments are scanned for worms and viruses, however, it is not real-time automated scan. We scan and check files manually by order of precedence. However, all private messages are scanned within 1 hour maximum.

Managing and editing bids

To edit a bid after it is placed, login to your account and click on "current bids" on the left menu.

Then click "edit". Note that you cannot "change" the previous bid message, instead, you may only "add" new lines. If you want to change the amount, or the bid message, you should cancel the existing bid, and place a new bid with the new amount. To do this, click on "cancel" next to the bid. Then go to the project listing page and place a new one.