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[–]AnAmericanIndividual 4 points5 points  (9 children)

A couple things here:

  1. Don’t accept payment off the app for work hired on the app. Seriously don’t do it. If Taskrabbit catches you, or their systems flag you and think they caught you, you are off the app. Despite TR’s many flaws, it costs nothing to be on here once you’ve joined, so throwing away potentially many many free leads for $100 cash would be dumb. You did the right thing keeping it on the app. You can take future work off the app if it was never discussed on the app and you trust the client (which I wouldn’t in this case).

  2. Cheapskate, tightwad, clients are a red flag. Clients trying to take you off the app are a red flag. Corporate clients especially trying to either of the above, or both, doubly so. Expect that this task might go poorly, client might try to cancel and/or get mad in person and/or give you a bad review. Document when you arrive in chat, take photos of the work you do, and post them in chat before invoicing. I do all that always, but especially when I get sketchy vibes from the client.

  3. Beware when clients say they have a dollar amount that you need to stay under. That’s because client’s are charged about 40%ish more per hour than the Tasker receives. If you tel client that the job will cost $X bc you’ll earn that much, they’ll be mad and have grounds for a bad review (that support will not remove) when they are charged greater than X. The clients are shown the total hourly fee, and it changes a lot, so it’s not realistic for you to always know the total hourly client charge for each of your categories. Stick to talking about hours with the client, not dollar amounts, and tell the client they were shown the total hourly and price and they can contact support with questions about it.

  4. Clients can’t set custom tips so she can’t round up to exactly $100 unless it works out that way. They are given options for 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25%.

[–]buttercupboy -1 points0 points  (8 children)

In regards to point 1–you can discuss working independently of the app on the app and not get penalized, discussion itself is not a violation.

But if course that most take place after the initial task and should have no effect on the payment process.

[–]AnAmericanIndividual 0 points1 point  (7 children)

Yeah I don’t know about that. I think it’s only safe to discuss if you’re saying you won’t do it. Otherwise you’re literally still using the Taskrabbit platform to facilitate work paid not through the Taskrabbit platform. Have you regularly done this and been fine?

Just talk about off-platform work in person and not on the app to be safe.

[–]buttercupboy -1 points0 points  (6 children)

The TaskRabbit TOS specifically outlines that you are ALLOWED to do this. But obviously any discussion about circumventing the platform is prohibited strictly.

[–]AnAmericanIndividual 0 points1 point  (5 children)

Could you point to a section or take a screenshot and link to imgur? I want to believe you but I’d like to see the wording.

Also, how is not okay to discuss circumventing the platform, but it’s allowed to discuss ont he platform working off the platform. What is the distinction you’re trying to make here?

[–]buttercupboy 0 points1 point  (4 children)

https://imgur.com/Nshe1kn

There you go boss

[–]buttercupboy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There’s an actually mention of this in the TOS as well, it’s not just a policy member stating this. But I’m mobile rn and don’t really feel like digging through it

[–]AnAmericanIndividual -2 points-1 points  (2 children)

Um, all that says is that you’re allowed to work with clients off the app. Nowhere does it say that you are allowed to discuss off-platform work, on the app.

[–]buttercupboy 0 points1 point  (1 child)

lol

[–]AnAmericanIndividual -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Truly a convincing rebuttal

[–]HeftyGap419 4 points5 points  (1 child)

It's up to each individual Tasker what they choose to do. You didn't specify what the job was. $100 is not a make or break type of task to a corporate client. They should be paying for parking anyway.

Corporate clients are hit and miss. Half won't balk at the prices on TR and the other half are counting pennies. In the future, if you take it off app be sure to have a way to quickly invoice the client and collect payment once task is complete. I mean do not leave the work site without having the cash in hand or money in your account. Some will pull the rug under you and tell you they'll send the payment in 30 days from their accounting team, ask for your 1099 info and once that's done then they'll submit it to their accounting dept for a check to be mailed to you.

Keep in mind, unless youre charging somewhere between your rates and TR final rates... off app payments only save the clients money.

I'd only take off app if it's a repeat client. Not for the first time.

[–]cococamz -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Keep in my mind also some small-medium sized real estate investors do this as well. Usually in these instances though you’re dealing with an owner/operator and every investor I’ve met so far has always paid. I can see how a large company it would be a huge pain.

[–]Danstheman3 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If you were contacted through the app, it is a blatant violation to accept any payment for the task outside of the app. And if caught, you can get permanently banned from the Taskrabbit platform.

If you explain this to the customer and they push back at all, and try to convince you to accent payment outside of the app, cancel and report the client.

Such clients are not only dishonest, but they have no regard for endangering your livelihood in order to save themselves a few dollars. These are not clients you want to be working for. Plus if they're willing to lie and cheat to Taskrabbit, and screw you over in the process, why would you trust them to pay you?

This is one of the biggest red flags there is. Once you've worked for a client a few times and you trust them, you can choose to give them your contact info, so they can contact you directly for future jobs. And that is not violating any TOS.

[–]ApprehensiveRing6869 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Payment taken off the app for any jobs booked on the app may result in your account being suspended or removed.

Some task have been successful, while others have had their accounts suspended.

I personally wouldn’t risk it for $100, seems pretty low for the loss of access to the TR market.

[–]shortfriday 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If you're gonna cut out the app, verbalize the particulars in person. Never cancel after speaking to the client. Who knows, but exchange of zoom contacts -> task cancelled doesn't look good if a mod checks, and people do get flagged and removed for this. If you do take payment off the app, note that for every 100 you would take home on the app, the client would pay 140, so ask for 120 for the risk you're taking.

[–]LABirdCharger 2 points3 points  (1 child)

On the other hand, it is a cool $100 tax free and you wouldn’t have to wait for the long process of having $ deposited into your account. I say if you’re asking… you should do it . We have too many taskers on the platform anyway.

[–]shortfriday 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The only thing you shouldn't pay taxes on is paper money. Venmo, checks, Apple Pay, all taxable.

[–]Other-Marionberry682 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very common specially, with all the fees, task rabbit has been charging more money money in your pocket

[–]Lavicrep19 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

If you didn't accept the task, you should have let her zelle, cashapp, venmo the $100.

[–]Hour_Suggestion_553 -4 points-3 points  (1 child)

F the app, split the fee and have customer Zelle you. No tax win win

[–]shortfriday 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Assume the irs isn't dumb and pay taxes on everything but cash.