HostJane Switches to Ads Model, Marketplace Freelancers to Keep 95% Of Sales

It’s their money, we never wanted freelancers’ hard-earned cash. Now we’ve built our independent platform enough to pass minimum viability, HostJane is changing its revenue model to ads on free listings and a fast VPS hosting service from $3.95/mo.

HostJane
Better Work
4 min readNov 25, 2023

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From December 1, 2023, HostJane freelancers, which include many talented Upwork and Fiverr sellers, will pay the lowest fees in the freelance services industry, with a new slashed 5% marketplace fee, allowing remote workers and stay at home freelancers to reduce costs and keep more of their own money in comparison to other platforms which continue to drain up to 20% off earnings on every sale.

HostJane, which uses Stripe and PayPal to process transactions, will pay for credit card processing costs from its remaining 5% service fee. The company will charge a static $1.99 handling fee to buyers and guarantee that any seller listing a service for $100 will be paid exactly $95 of that sale. A 5 day payout window starting from the time the buyer approves the delivery remains in place, meaning that freelancers can get their money on most standard orders inside a week faster than Uber drivers.

HostJane previously charged 20% of sales for the first 2 years after launching in late 2021. Starting from December 1, 2023, HostJane will switch to honor paying out 95% to its seller on final sales.

95% includes earnings from all category listings — from web development to digital marketing — all custom orders initiated from seller quotes in chats, and all tips sent through chats and studios, received through the HostJane platform which also sells VPS hosting designed for startups and small to mid-sized businesses.

Change will not affect FBH Sellers

On November 16, 2023, HostJane announced it would blur facial identities of big company employees headhunted to work as a freelancer on the marketplace via the Fulfillment by HostJane (FBH) program, to shield people from having to explain to work their side business activities or having to negotiate overreaching, unfair clauses in employment contracts that often interfere with law-abiding side hustles.

The change will not apply to FBH freelancers who are paid on the basis of their industry certifications to fulfill orders through FBH guaranteed to be delivered by an industry expert. Those special freelancers will continue to be paid on an undisclosed monthly fee basis and for their role in the on-demand work program.

HostJane, Inc. officially launched its marketplace two years ago in November 2021, having opted to build a custom technological stack from scratch, backing away from a decision to use Sharetribe (which at the time was promoting Studiotime.io as its prime-example MVP) to code its original web-based software from 2018–2022. During this time, HostJane became a 100% distributed workforce spread out from the U.S. to Australia, negotiated Covid crippling lockdowns, and saw its lead developer caught up in Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

We Assist Startups to Disrupt, Differently.

When a buyer pays a seller for a service on HostJane, such as to develop a mobile app or web development, teach a lesson or design a logo, a free, unique kanban-style collaboration tool opens inside the order, comprising boards, lists, and cards integrated with world-class messaging. This is one of the key features of HostJane that sets it apart from other bigger marketplace platforms.

Every HostJane order comprises a free Trello-like board, with lists and cards, integrated with chat and email notifications, inspiring extraordinary results through a better workspace, and keeping everyone on the same page particularly useful for visual learners.

People and small business teams use HostJane to work with hard-to-find freelancers because the platform inspires more disruptive results. HostJane’s boards which provide free storage of media assets for its users, let people brainstorm ideas, organize and assimilate data and information (that is easily lost in simple chat-only UIs) increasing the efficacy of deliveries.

HostJane’s aim is to help small businesses disrupt through sourcing better freelancers, and offering cheaper, stable VPS hosting to run websites and apps, at a time when big company monopolies are suppressing antitrust laws and raising barriers to entry in most industries.

HostJane gives startups a way to find turnkey talent then go straight to market on live-production servers by managing VPS for business owners who don’t have any linux skills.

It is hoped by allowing sellers to keep more of their earnings, HostJane will attract talent away from the Fiverr-Upwork duopoly, which is using their San Francisco VC and NYSE-listed connections to engage in monopolistic strategies restricting the global freelance talent pool.

With HostJane, freelancers have the chance to fight back by keeping more money in their pockets for the same remote work bought and sold on a fairer, more equitable platform that doesn’t spy on its sellers’ private business or secretly share sellers personal information with affiliate giants.

If you’re a freelancer concerned you are paying too much to big, faceless companies who are monopolizing your intellectual output, it’s 100% free to set up shop on HostJane and start getting paid 95% (minus only credit card processing costs) for the same, equivalent remote work you’re doing on other platforms, by visiting hostjane.com/sell.

You can also direct your clients to pay on HostJane to #KeepMoneyMoving by getting more of your own hard-earned cash in your pocket from December 1, 2023. HostJane’s free WordPress plugin and CodeCanyon plugin, Tip My Work, is easily available to help seller’s accept tips and control more of their IP.

#DisruptDifferently

#JaneIsPowerful

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HostJane
Better Work

We built HostJane, a platform for freelancer services (with a better workspace) to help people work from home.