With Solar Staff's product for freelancers, you can register in the service without a client's invite and work on projects as a team.
Important: These features are currently only available in the Solar Staff app (App Store, Google Play, AppGallery).
To learn more about Solar Staff for freelancers, read this overview.
Creating an offer
Offers are a way for freelancers to interact with clients in Solar Staff. An offer includes a set of tasks that the freelancer is going to perform for the client, for example "CCTV Installation." One offer can contain several differently-priced tasks, which is especially convenient on big projects.
Offer vs tasks: The two are essentially different in that an offer is a collection of tasks set by a freelancer that is sent to the client. In this case, the freelancer creates the offer's tasks. But the client can still set tasks and assign them to freelancers, in which case they don't form an offer.
Important:
You can assemble a team and work on a project together, or do all the work yourself.
If you create an offer and work as a team, don't forget to include yourself as a team member and assign yourself a task with a price. This applies even for purely managerial roles. When the client accepts and pays for the work, Solar Staff will send money directly to the performers specified in the offer, so if you're not there, you won't get paid.
When creating an offer, you choose its language and currency. The language setting does just that – determines what language the client receives the offer in. As for currency, choose the one that's convenient for the client: if you specify your domestic currency when working with a United States client, they'll have to open a dedicated account for that, which will hinder the payment process or render it altogether impossible.
Set a deadline – the default is one day following the offer creation date. Allow some leeway so that the client has enough time to register and top up the balance. If the deadline is too tight, you may not be able to complete the tasks in time.
Due to sanctions, some services may be unavailable. Our support team is always there for you: contact us via chat, or email [email protected].
A newly created offer in the app:
After creating an offer, the freelancer sends an invite link to the client through any convenient channel, like messenger or email.
No need to enter any tax details or other information about the client's company – Solar Staff collects this data from the client when they accept the offer.
Client receives the offer link: Next steps
Upon opening the invite link, the client sees the offer page and the following info:
The page contains:
Task descriptions, along with the performers and deadlines.
Offer price and total cost.
Offer terms.
Offer instructions.
To accept the offer, the client presses Accept, whereupon they are taken to the log-in/sign-up page.
Important: The offer is only accepted after the client logs in to Solar Staff and puts enough funds on their balance to cover the offer price. If you send an offer to a client that is not registered in Solar Staff, then before accepting the offer they must first sign up, get verified, and top up their balance.
Clients (both new and existing users) go through three steps:
After the client accepts the offer, the respective tasks become visible in each team member's account under Tasks. All tasks in the offer have a single deadline – the same as the offer's.
After you create an offer
Once an offer is complete, you can:
Change the description, scope, and price of tasks, as well as the offer language and currency.
Change task performers (learn more).
Duplicate the offer (when you need a similar one and don't want to compile it from scratch).
A client may not accept your offer the first time around, citing the price or some other reason. In this case, you can edit the offer and resend it.
You cannot delete offers that are already tied to the client's account (in other words, offers that are already accepted by the client).
Offer approval
When the offer is ready, you can send it to the client. To make sure they see exactly what you intended, you can preview the offer:
If everything's in order, send the link to the client.
After the client accepts your offer, you receive a notification. At this point, you can begin working on the tasks.
To learn more about roles and working as a team, see a separate guide.
Work acceptance
When you complete all the works on the project, it's up to the client to accept the results. For the offer to be sent to the client for review and payment, it needs to be closed by the creator after all team members change their task statuses to "Completed."
The team manager will be able to send the results in for approval only once all the tasks have the "Client review" status.
Remuneration and project completion
Solar Staff has in place a Transaction Security feature, which means that before accepting an offer, the client has to add enough funds to their Solar Staff account to cover the project price. After all the work is done and the client accepts the results, this amount is automatically transferred to the balances of all the team members.
What other scenarios are possible other than "you complete the work on time, the client accepts the results, and you get the payment"?
You miss the deadline. Contact the client and negotiate rescheduling. Solar Staff notifies you twice: first time when the deadline draws near, second time – on the day.
Not all freelancers meet the deadline. In this case, the client may only pay for the completed works: for example, they may pay the designer, but not the editor who "disappeared" and went past the deadline.
The client refuses to accept the results of the work. This may happen due to a variety of reasons – if you disagree, you can initiate a dispute. Learn more in this article.
FAQ
Is there a charge for creating an offer?
Yes, 3%. When creating an offer, you can choose who pays the commission – you or the client. If you pass it on to the client, the price for them will be 3% higher: $1,030 instead of $1,000. Conversely, if you pay the commission, then it will amount to $29.13 on $1,000.
The app automatically calculates the final offer amount.
What tasks can be included in an offer?
You can only include works or services that are available in the selection list. If keywords return nothing, you can't create that task. Contact the support for possible solutions.
What info does the client see in an offer?
The client sees the names of the tasks, prices, deadlines, and contractors. We disclose this information in the interests of openness and transparency.
How do I invoice my client?
You don't need to – just create an offer, and an invoice will be generated automatically after the client accepts it.
Can I send one offer to several clients?
Yes, you can. However, as soon as one of the clients accepts that offer, the other ones will only see the "offer not found" message in place of the task descriptions. Once accepted, offers are tied to a client's account.
How long does the link to the offer last?
Until the client accepts the offer.
Who can act as the client?
Only legal entities (or other business entities like individual entrepreneurs, depending on the jurisdiction). Individuals cannot act as clients.
What currency can I specify when creating an offer?
You can create offers in USD, EUR, or RUB. Freelancers can withdraw money to their chosen option for receiving payments, in any currency those options support (at the Solar Staff exchange rate). Learn more about payments and different currencies.
On December 1, 2023, Solar Staff introduced withdrawal commissions. Learn more
What if the client doesn't accept the offer?
You can make adjustments to alleviate the client’s “pain points”: change the prices, deadlines, the scope of the work, or the list of freelancers.
What kind of agreement do the client and I have, and with whom?
You enter into an offer agreement with Solar Staff's Cypriot entity. The client concludes an agreement with our legal entity in the US, EU, Russia, or Armenia – depending on the country where their company is registered.
What documents do the client and I get?
Both parties receive a set of closing documents consisting of certificates and invoices.
Can I initiate a dispute?
Yes, but only if you're the one who created the offer. Invited contractors cannot initiate disputes.