Frequently Asked Questions

FREELANCERS

The process to follow with Moonlyte is very simple

  1. Sign up with Moonlyte.

  2. Create and build your profile, try and finish up your profile to the best of your ability. Your profile is what a client will look at when deciding whether to shortlist you for the project. Fill in all the fields specially the sections title 'Profile', 'Education' and 'Work Experience' as well as a great profile picture.

  3. Find projects that interest you and apply to them.

  4. Wait for the clients to respond. Please remember that this is a platform for businesses to select the right fit for their projects and the client may not update you or reply to your application. As always, the client is king.

  5. After discussing with the client what is the best way forward the client will send you a contract which you must accept.(please note that to accept an offer to a project you will need to verify your identity. To know why you must verify your details to a accept an offer please read the question below).

  6. Once you have accepted the project please wait for the client to onboard you before start working. The Payment Guarantee is applicable ONLY after you have been onboarded.

  1. We at Moonlyte strongly believe that if you have done work that you should get paid for it. This is why we have a 100% Payment Guarantee for any and all projects you take up on Moonlyte. Verification is a mandatory process that you must take in order to become eligible for the Payment Guarantee and this done to make sure that there is no fraudulent activity on the platform. The verification is an identity verification done against your PAN to ensure that once you have been blacklisted on the platform for fraudulent activity you will not be able to return. It also ensures that all transactions taking place on the platform are tax compliant.

  2. There is an additional bank account verification that is done to ensure that your payment reaches you securely, however this is not included in the verification cost, but is done alongside the PAN verification.

The verification of your identity via your PAN card is done through a government approved third party service provider to ensure that the verification is both authentic and all your personal details are securely stored. It is because of this process that there is a service charge for the verification of these details.

  1. The Payment Guarantee on Moonlyte works on the basis of the contract/ offer that you accept from a client. It is a time-based milestone model. What that means is that every contract can be broken up into several parts or milestones. Each of these milestones in turn have a start date and an end date as well as a monetary value assigned to each milestone. As each milestone completes on the days it has been assigned to end, the money is automatically taken from the client and is transferred to your bank account (Please note it takes approximately 15 days from the end date of each milestone for the money to reach your bank account).

  2. Think of it as similar to a post-dated cheque, the money is guaranteed to you, but will only be available to you after a certain date.

  3. To read more about the Payment Guarantee click here.

Unfortunately there is no easy answer to this other than the client hasn't seen your application yet, or does not think you are the right fit for the project. This process is just like the industry functions when you are applying to a job. You can send out hundreds of applications to hundreds of companies, but very few will reply if any at all. It's a very frustrating process but the client is probably receiving hundreds of applications and is using his own method to shortlist potential freelancers.

If you feel you are not getting any responses you can either try building your profile strength by increasing your portfolio or doing new certifications. Learning new skills always helps get more projects.

A project does not always run according to schedule due to unforeseen circumstances. This can become a problem when the contract you have accepted pays out on a time stamp basis. In case you face a scenario where you are not able to complete a milestone in the time assigned and you still want to leave a good impression on the business you can request that the client extend the milestone. This will move the date the milestone was set to complete to a date in the future both you and the client have mutually agreed upon.

You can only extend a milestone which is ongoing.

To know more about how cancellation and extensions work click here.

Moonlyte works on a commission basis which is called the Moonlyte Convenience Fee. What this means is you only get charged a commission when you are being paid and not for simply using the platform. By doing this you can be sure that we are obsessed with ensuring your success. We only get paid when you get paid.

We also believe that we should only take a fair share, which is why we have set the Moonlyte Convenience Fee at a very nominal rate of 3% of the total amount you have transacted through the platform.

BUSINESS

What this means is that all the freelancers that are allowed to apply to you can only do so after verifying their identity against their PAN. This ensures that there are no identity fraudulent activities happening on Moonlyte. If by chance an Individual does decide to engage in nefarious activities there are two courses of actions that will be possible:

After your complaint has been reviewed by the Moonlyte Grievance Officer the freelancer will be permanently banned from the platform and will not be allowed to re-enter (this is possible to due to the identity verification against their PAN). This will happen compulsorily.

The process you have to follow as a business is very simple:

  1. Create a project filling in all the details so that freelancers who apply or you reach out to will know exactly what the project entails.

  2. Wait for freelancers to apply or shortlist them yourself from the options that the Moonlyte matching algorithm offers you.

  3. Once you have shortlisted candidates and zeroed in on whom you want to bring onto your project, you can talk to them on Teamup to see what they have to offer, what process and contract they would like to build and negotiate the price for that contract.

  4. After the negotiations are done you must send the freelancer an "Offer" which is a contract with milestones which will determine how your payments will be made and in what frequency. We strongly suggest you discuss thoroughly with your freelancer before setting up the contract so that it works for both you and the freelancer. To know more about how payments work click here.

  5. Once the freelancer has accepted the contract you must onboard them and the project can then commence.

We at Moonlyte don't believe in unnecessarily taking your funds in advance in parking them in an account while the project is ongoing. We set an instruction to auto debit the agreed upon amount at the time that is mentioned in the contract that you create. All the choices are in your hands. Before a project begins we simply take your payment details without taking any money from you and you are free to begin the work.

The payment works on a time based milestone system. What that means is that every contract can be broken up into several parts or milestones. Each of these milestones in turn have a start date and an end date as well as a monetary value assigned to each of them. As each milestone completes on the days it has been assigned to end, the money is automatically taken from you and credited to the freelancer.

The milestones work like a post-dated cheque, where the money is promised but is not released until the agreed upon date.

To know more about this click here.

As an organisation it helps to have a complete profile as it allows a freelancer to understand your organisation better which in turn will help them offer you a customised offer that better suits your requirement. Fill in all the details to the best of your ability whether it's what your organization does, it's mission and vision or even it's company culture. All these details will help a freelancer show you why he is the perfect option for you.

As of this point in time Moonlyte is only catering to skills in the IT, Design and Writing & Editing industries. We are working at expanding our capabilities and will let all registered participants know as soon as we open up in additional industries.

When you are dissatisfied with the work that a freelancer has done, the first thing you should do is talk to the freelancer. In most cases he/she will be reasonable to your needs and will be willing to redo the work in a manner that is suitable to you. You may even ask for a refund of the money sent out during the project (all refunds will have to take place outside the platform, Moonlyte does not facilitate this).

The global trend is that most freelancers would rather give up the money than deliver a bad project and take a bad review, and the mechanisms we have built around cancellations and extensions reduce the risk to negligible amounts while allowing you to keep your project and it’s contract flexible. To read more on how cancellations and extensions work click here.

An extension is a mechanism built into the contract that allows you to shift the milestone end date if both you and the freelancer agree. A milestone extension can only be initiated by the freelancer, but for it to take effect that request must be accepted by you.

If you feel that a particular milestone needs to be extended then please contact your freelancer via Teamup and let them know them of the same.

To know more about how milestone extensions and cancellations work click here.

The Moonlyte payment mechanism works on recurring payments system - similar to how a subscription model works. The payments are agreed upon before hand and then deducted at the agreed upon date (the end of the milestone). This can be a problem if your preferred mode of payment is either a current account or a debit card. Most banks by default disable recurring payments for debit cards and current accounts. There are two easy options to solve this problem:

  1. Try a different mode of payment.

  2. Enable recurring payments with your bank (this will have to be done outside Moonlyte).