Freelancer.com helps talent go global with Adyen

Leveraging our fully-compliant,global payment platformallows Freelancer.com to accelerate multi-market fee collection and disbursement, and talent onboarding – the latter of which has been heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only did Freelancer.com see an increase in talent joining the platform, there was also more work available, with a 53 per cent increase in new paying employers and a 39 per cent increase in new funded jobs during the first half of 2020.

Freelancer.com has long sought to pose the question, what if the best person for the job lives on the other side of the world? Global talent has become even harder to reach but with Freelancer.com, employers can connect with the talent they need, when they need it. The ASX-listed company has disrupted the world of work by connecting skilled workers with potential employers. A global work crowdsourcing marketplace, Freelancer.com has matched over 47 million skilled service providers and potential employers since its inception in 2009.

Currently operating across 247 different countries, regions and territories, in 40 currencies, Freelancer.com is continually expanding into new markets.

One of its major competitive advantages is its ability to connect a variety of skilled workers across a range of geographies. The more people on its books, the better it can match employers with the best person for the job, regardless of location. It also prides itself on simplifying the remuneration process – helping to deliver prompt payment to freelancers for their completed work, while reassuring employers the “product” will be delivered on time and in line with requirements.

Leveraging our local acquiring capabilities in Australia and Europe, Freelancer.com was able to reduce transaction fees while enjoying higher authorisation rates.

Using our single payments platform, Freelancer.com could also connect directly to all major card schemes and local payment methods and streamline the process of collecting payments.

“Partnering with Adyen for global payments reduced the burden of supporting a wide range of gateways and relationships,” Christopher says. “It is a one-stop-shop that we've been able to integrate easily into our platform. This makes it much more likely that a payment will be accepted and processed when it needs to be.”

Having successfully partnered with us in Australia and Europe, the company will soon add India and other key markets.

Using Adyen has also set the foundation for other benefits. Freelancer.com is now able to offer its users the convenience of easily adding different local payment methods, which builds both volume and trust for the brand as it expands into new markets.

“We’ve already seen 7 per cent of our users adopting local payments methods, such as Alipay, UnionPay, and WeChatPay. We look forward to expanding our number of payment methods – whether that’s for credit cards or local wallet solutions – while keeping prices competitive,” Christopher says.

Freelancer.com has also managed to reduce chargebacks, a significant issue that previously cost the company 0.5% of transaction volume each year. Chargebacks occur when users ask their card issuer or bank to reverse a charge. These chargebacks are often caused by card testers or fraudulent users attempting to transact on the platform, or when legitimate users try to avoid paying for services by challenging the quality of submitted work.

Previously in a chargeback situation, Freelancer.com could appeal the chargeback and provide documents to the bank or card issuer to support the case for payment. The whole process took time which strained the trust between Freelancer.com and its users. With an increasing number of users on the platform, it has been especially important for Freelancer.com to reduce the frequency of chargebacks.

With Adyen in place, Freelancer.com can automatically dispute chargebacks, while the platform also provides extensive risk management services to analyze fraudulent transactions and minimize chargebacks, allowing the team to focus on other parts of the business.

“The Adyen platform gives us the most clarity in combating chargebacks. It can block fraudulent card testers and notify us very quickly when banks issue a request for information,” noted Christopher. “The process is streamlined so we’re able to respond quickly and effectively.”

Freelancer.com’s partnership with us plays an important role in helping the company to keep ahead of industry trends and compliance requirements such as The Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2). To comply with this regulation, Freelancer.com deployed the authentication solution 3DS 2.0. within a few weeks across multiple countries.

“Adyen is at the cutting edge of payments technology, which lets us focus on successfully growing our business and adding value to our stakeholders. This has been particularly critical throughout an unpredictable and extremely busy year,” Christopher says. “With Adyen’s global payment platform, we are confident about staying in line with regulation and keeping up to date with the latest technologies. Not only does this reduce risk to our business, it also helps to keep our business and stakeholders’ safe – which is a major benefit of our partnership.”