How to make money using Scribie

 

 

Can you make money using Scribie?  The world’s economy is changing, transitioning into the digital space. Recent events have shown us the frailty of our actual economic system. People from all over the world are looking for alternatives to earn money online.

Earning money online, while not perfect, protects us from the dangers of the physical world (i.e. pandemics). Maybe you are amongst the people looking to gain some extra money or even make a living online. If that’s the case Scribie might be an option for you.

We’ve reviewed a few transcription services recently, so how does Scribie compare to Literably or Daily Transcription?

 

What is Scribie?

Founded in March 2008 by Rajiv Poddar the CGBiz Corporation (owners of Scribie) started as a plugin developer for Skype. Here Rajiv offered a plugin that recorded and transcribed audio. Soon he realized the need to make fast, high-quality transcripts. It’s under this premise that Scribie was born. At its core it’s a transcription service, meaning that they turn audio content into text format. 

They also provide a system that can handle large volumes of content without compromising quality. They manage this by efficiently dividing and distributing work to transcribers around the world. The power of delegation ensures a satisfactory experience for both customers and transcribers.

 

What can you do at Scribie.com?

Scribie has a 5-step process. Transcribers can participate from steps 2-5 with different earning levels.

File Splitting

In this first step, the audio file is split at 6-minute intervals. Even though you don’t participate in this step, it’s very important to you.  A 6-minute audio file is easier to work with, allowing for better time management.

 

Raw Transcription

Using their proprietary software, the audio file is automatically transcripted. This is where you come in, their software is not perfect, achieving between 80-95% accuracy. Your job will be to correct mistakes to ensure a 99% accuracy.

 

Review

After 1 audio hour of raw transcript, you can start working as a reviewer. Here the Raw Transcript is checked word by word against the original audio. You could become a Self-reviewer if you gave an average grade of 3 after 10 review submissions. As a Self-reviewer, you can work twice on the same file, this effectively doubles your income.

 

Proofreading

Increasing your average grade after you become a Self-reviewer might grant you a promotion to Proofreader. As a Proofreader, you earn more and have the possibility of getting a contract position with a fixed monthly salary. Your job as Proofreader is to check the combined transcript, against the full original audio.

 

Quality Check

The entire transcript is quality checked, the result is either delivered to the client or sent back for proofreading. This is the top-level and the best paid. Speaking of money.

 

How much will you earn?

As is the nature of task-based jobs your income will depend on your speed and how much time you put into it. They pay from $5 to $25 audio hour with a monthly $5 bonus for every 3 audio hours completed. If you are a transcriptionist only you may earn $200-$300 monthly. 

As you progress through the ranks you can earn as much as $1000. Of course, as stated your speed matters, you can earn half as much or easily double these amounts. They also have a referral & affiliate program that will allow you to increase your income a bit. For every transcriber you recommend they’ll pay you 2.5% of every dollar your referred transcriber makes.

Scribie will pay you 5% of every transcript order placed by a referred customer.  That’s pretty good as it’s beginning to look like real passive income!

 

What are the requirements to join?

As you would expect there are some requirements to join Scribie.  They make a very bold claim to their customers of 99% accuracy for manual transcripts, therefore, they want to ensure your work is top-notch! They are looking for people that have a good comprehension of English. You must be able to interpret conversations and identify mistakes according to the context.  

As a company that uses automated transcripts, and a lot of delegation, they are looking for people that not only can transcribe but also review and correct.  This means you need to have a good understanding of both spelling and grammar.

You need a dependable computer, headphones, and a solid internet connection.

 

How will you be paid?

Scribie pays only via PayPal so having a verified account is a must. While Scribie has an international community, only people living in PayPal enabled countries can work for them. Their pay rate is between $5 to $25 per audio hour, therefore, to earn $1 requires six minutes of work.

A good aspect of Scribie is there is no minimum payment threshold.  They will pay you $1 if you have it in your account!

 

How to sign up for Scribie

If you meet these requirements your next step is to pass their Certification Process.

 

 

The first step is to go to their website and submit your application form. Once completed they’ll give you an application number which you can track via Scribie.com. Next is to confirm your email.

After, your application will be reviewed within 1 business day.  This is the part where they fully review your application and can either approve or reject it.  If rejected, just re-apply. If accepted, you will be invited to perform a test via a link sent to your email. Follow the link and create an account. 

Once you are logged in you will be presented a list of files. Choose one and start transcribing. Once submitted, your file will be accepted for review. If you pass the review, you’ll be certified, and they’ll pay you for your test. Now you can start working.

If rejected, don’t worry you have 10 attempts and they provide you with great feedback.

 

Promotion opportunities

Scribie has a performance framework that it uses to grade Transcriptionists, and the higher your grade the more you can earn. The gradings are between 5 (high)  to 1 (low)  and will be used to assess your work against huge mistakes found.  They will take your average score which will reflect your overall performance.

Promotion to Reviewer can be achieved if after 1 audio hour and you are scored at least a 3.  This additional rank allows you to review colleagues work and grade them. Self-Reviewer is attained by successfully submitting 10 review transcripts, and your overall performance score is above 3.

This is a nice little earner as it allows you to work on the same file twice, and yes, get paid twice! Maintain a high-performance score and you can get promotion to Proofreader.  These audio files are longer and payment is based on its duration, difficulty, etc.

At this level, Scribie can offer you a fixed position as Proofreader, for a set monthly fee.

 

What about taxes?

Scribie is not your employer.  You will work for them as an Independent Contractor and so you are responsible for filing your income tax. Because you are not an employee, Scribie won’t provide you with any employment benefits, but as this is a side hustle it won’t matter much.  You can choose the hours you work and can delete your account at any stage, with no notice period.

 

Is Scribie legit?

With a company more than a decade old behind them, there’s no reason to not trust Scribie. They have transcribed more than 4,000,000 minutes of audio and have paid around $2,100,00 to more than 30,000 transcribers around the world. Reviews around the internet also claim the legitimacy of this company.

However, we must recognize that the pay-rates are not the best in the market. And their guidelines are a bit ambiguous. Something worth noting is that this is one of the few companies that doesn’t have a minimum withdrawal limit, and you can withdraw anytime. Your money will be paid within 1 business day. This gives us a lot of control over our money.

 

Final Thoughts

Scribie is a great starting point for transcribers starting their careers. The short 6-minute files make transcribing a less daunting task. For more experienced transcribers the earning potential is high. As you progress through the ranks there’s even a possibility of a fixed monthly salary. With more than a decade of experience behind them and more than 400 files added daily. This might be a serious option for someone looking for work online.

However, several reviews have stated how difficult the audio files are to hear and therefore transcribe.  Scribie seems like a great place to get the hang of transcribing, before moving to a company that pays you more.

 

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