Most projects, for most researchers on the platform, will now require a partial pre-payment in the amount of 20% of the total project cost in the event your existing recruitment and incentive balances cannot cover the cost. This is not an additional charge or fee, all charges go directly towards your project, and you still only ever pay for qualified participants that are invited to, and complete, your studies.
See how prepayment requirements are calculated:
When you publish a project, we now require a prepayment to ensure projects are well funded from the start and can move forward without delays. This payment is not an extra fee. It simply contributes toward your total project cost and helps confirm commitment before participants begin applying.Below is a clear breakdown of how project costs are calculated and how the upfront payment works.
Every project has two main cost components:
Your total project cost is the sum of your recruitment cost and incentive cost.
Why is a pre-payment now required?
Previously, projects could be published without any prepayment. This sometimes resulted in projects that ran sessions but did not pay participants.
Requiring prepayment helps ensure published projects are backed by real funding and increase participant trust in the marketplace.
How prepayment requirements are calculated:
To publish a project, at least 20% of your total project cost must be funded upfront. If your team already has a recruitment or incentive balance, the prepayment required will be the greater of 20% of your total project cost or your recruitment or incentive balance, up to the total project cost.
Pre-payments can come from the following source(s):
- Existing (pre-loaded, or leftover) recruitment and/or incentive balances
- Credit card payment
- Combination of both shown above
Since recruitment and incentive costs are considered separately, the same 20% minimum rule will applies to each balance, for each project.
Using your existing team balances:
If your team already has a recruitment or incentive balance, we will automatically apply them toward the upfront requirement.
Example Cost Scenarios:
Assumptions used in the examples below:
- Recruitment cost: $100.00 USD
- Incentive cost: $100.00 USD
- Minimum Pre-Payment Required: $20.00 USD
Scenario Breakdown:
What happens after your project is published?
- Any reserved balances are held and applied as participants are recruited and incentives are paid
- Any prepayment you make is credited toward your total project cost
- You are only charged for the work completed as your project progresses
Key things to remember:
- The pre-payment contributes directly to your project budget. No additional charges or fees
- Existing or previously unused/leftover balances are always used first
- A minimum of 20% funding of the total project cost is required to publish a project
- A breakdown of project specific charges and all calculated costs is always shown in-platform prior to publishing your project
What happens if my project does not fill or I am unhappy with recruited participants (assuming I have pre-paid on the project)?
- Since our platform will work to automatically recruit at least two times (2X) the number of participant recruits you target, a quality project with a strong screener, detailed project description, and strong incentive should rarely fail to recruit 20% of your target ask (which would consume the pre-payment amount). You are only ever charged for participants that are invited to and complete your project, and should you have concerns about participant quality you are encouraged to reach out to our Support Team and/or report the participant within the platform.
- In the unlikely event your project fails to fill with at least 20% of targeted participants, any unused recruitment or incentive balance that was pre-paid will return to your available balances within the platform.
- Unused pre-payment balances are not refundable and cannot be returned to your originally method of payment. Instead, they will be returned to your in-platform balances to be used for a future project on Respondent.
- We are unable to issue credit card, payment card, or original transaction refunds in accordance with our Terms of Service.
Questions? Feedback? Please reach out to our Support Team by using the in-app chat bubble in the bottom right hand corner of your screen (when logged into the Respondent platform) or email us at: support@respondent.io