GUURU COMMUNITY STANDARDS
THE PLAYBOOK
Introduction
GUURU is a platform where customers help each other. The following is an explanation of how GUURU works. We also provide a few valuable tips and tricks for you.
Your profile
You are not obliged to upload a picture of yourself in the GUURU app or provide your name. However, for your chat partners it’s a more pleasant experience if they can see who they’re talking to. You’re also welcome to choose a symbol as your picture. It’s important that you don’t use a picture or name that will make your chat partner believe that you are a customer service representative of the company. Profiles that may suggest this will be locked.
Language
You’re free to choose the language in which you want to answer questions in the chat. We recommend that you choose a language in which you can express yourself in an understandable way. Bad language knowledge and erroneous writing may lead to having your profile locked.
Chats
Assignment
An algorithm assigns the chats to Guurus whose expertise and qualities are best suited for the chat request in question. A large number of parameters are taken into consideration, for example, availability, language, chat ratings, answer speed, Guuru profile (picture and description)… and many more.
The assignment is done automatically and can take widely varying amounts of time. It’s also possible that you are not assigned to any chats despite having a good rating. For example, this may be because more suitable Guurus are available or simply because there are not that many chat requests. In this case, please do not contact us as we won’t be able to help due to the fact that assignments are made automatically.
Answering
You’re free to accept, reject, or ignore a chat request. You should only accept chats if you’re confident you’ll be able to answer them. Do not accept more than three chats at the same time.
Accept a chat request as soon as possible. If you can’t make it, keep the app open or use the web version: https://web.guuru.com.
If you notice that you don’t have time to answer chats immediately adjust your time availability in the GUURU app under “Profile” / “Change availability”.
Ratings
At the end and during the chat, every customer has the opportunity to rate your answer. The quality of your answer and your effort to provide the customer with the best possible support is what matters most. Alongside other factors like availability, your overall rating therefore impacts the future assignment of chats. Occasionally a visitor’s rating might not be appropriate, but there is no need to worry about it, as it happens to every Guuru. Sometimes it can also happen that satisfied customers forget to rate your chat once it’s over. Feel free to actively ask the visitor to rate you, but please respect that explicitly asking for a positive rating is not accepted on our platform.
Banning
The following reasons or similar reasons can cause you to no longer receive chats:
- Leaving chats without proposing a solution or without saying goodbye.
- Pretending being a customer service representative of the corresponding company (and not indicating that you’re a Guuru).
- Addressing chats to yourself.
- Not transferring chats when its necessary
- Creating multiple accounts (only one is allowed)
- Impolite behaviour (you should use the report function if a chat user is being impolite to you)
- Offering or promoting of services outside of the Guuru chat.
- Any kind of fraudulent behavior.
Forwarding to customer service
If there’s a question you’re unable to answer, please inform the user. In most communities, there’s the option to forward chats to the corresponding company’s customer service department. You absolutely need to inform the customer about this beforehand, though. After you press the transfer button, the customer will be able to enter his contact information. The chat record will then be sent to the customer service department.
Reporting
You can use the report function to report situations from a chat that is unusual or in violation of the rules. These include:
- Spam: Off-topic questions, random characters or sentences, and chats that are ended without any interaction.
- Inappropriate behavior: Insults, harassment, etc.
- Other: Disruptions and technical problems.
IMPORTANT: This function should only be used in exceptional cases. Use it with caution and do not use it for any purpose other than the one described above. Improper use can result in your profile being locked.
Earnings
Compensation
Communities compensate Guurus with either cash or points. This depends on the compensation plan of the community which you can see in the app. Payouts are therefore made either in cash or points as defined by each community.
Account balance
You can view your current balance in the GUURU app under “Current balance”. It may take a few minutes until your balance gets updated after the most recent chat.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This balance is reset at the end of every month, but this has no effect on your payouts. If you’d like to check your earnings from the previous month, click “Your profile” > “Chat overview” in the guuru app.
Cash payouts
Your monthly balance will be transferred to the IBAN account you specified in the GUURU app under “Your Profile” > “Change bank details”. If you don’t receive your payout, please make sure your bank details are entered correctly. The payouts are always processed by the 10th of the following month.
The minimum payout amount within a community is 2, regardless of currency. If this amount is not reached, the amount will be paid out after the acceptance of further chats from the same community in the next month.
In the case of fraudulent behavior, your entire balance will be forfeited.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
These communities are usually reserved for customers of the partner. The partner of this group communicates the access code directly to the appropriate group of people. You can only access if you have received the code from the partner directly.
The chats are assigned by an algorithm to those Guurus whose expertise and characteristics are best matched to the corresponding chat request. A large number of parameters are taken into account. Here is a non-exhaustive selection of such parameters: Time availability, language, chat ratings, response speed, Guuru profile (image & description), etc.
This assignment takes place automatically and can be very irregular in time. It is also possible that despite good ratings you will not get any chats assigned, for example, if more suitable Guurus are available or if there are just a few chat requests. Due to the automatic assignment, we have no influence on it.
If you receive the requests, try to accept them faster. If you can’t make it, keep the app open or try the web version https://web.guuru.com.
The report function gives you the possibility to report chats in exceptional situations. Here are the possible reasons for reporting chats:
- Spam: Questions not related to the topic, single letters, and if a chat is closed immediately without the answer of the user.
- Inappropriate: Insult & Harassment
- Others: Faults & technical problems
Important: Please use the function only in exceptional cases and only for the reasons described above. Misuse can lead to the deactivation of functionalities.
Immediately after registration, you will be asked if you want to activate them, this will take you directly to the notification settings on your device. So first check your notification settings. Note that to receive requests, the chat must also be enabled in the app. If you are not sure if you have them enabled, enter the group, click on the logo and ‘Select expertise’ and control the ON / OFF button.
At the end of the month, the balance is reset to zero, but this does not change the payout.
You can change all this information in the app under “Your Profile”.
The payout is always made by the 10th of the following month to the bank details you entered in the app.
No, you are not locked: You can accept further chats.
FAQs about the income of a Guuru (validity CH)
Below are answers to frequently asked questions about the income of a Guuru. If your question is not answered by the FAQ, please feel free to contact us using our live chat.
Our answers are for your information only and do not constitute binding information. For binding information on the social security treatment of your income, please contact your local compensation office. GUURU ltd disclaims any liability arising from the FAQ.
As a Guuru you are self-employed. You must, therefore, report the income earned through your activity on the GUURU platform to the cantonal compensation fund. On this income, you have to pay social security contributions.
If your part-time income via the GUURU platform does not exceed CHF 2,300 per year (as of 2019), social security contributions will only be levied on this income upon your request. If you do not want this, you do not have to register with the cantonal compensation office.
The cantonal equalization fund of your canton of residence is responsible for your registration as a self-employed person. You can find the contact details here.
As a self-employed person, you pay the social security contributions on your income from work via the GUURU platform yourself.
The contribution rate for AHV, IV, and EO is currently 9.65% (as of 2019). With an annual income of less than CHF 56,900, the contribution rate depends on the income earned and is currently between 5.196% and 9.65%. If your annual income is less than CHF 9,500, you pay the minimum contribution of CHF 482. The relevant income is the income determined by the tax authorities.
According to GUURU ltd, working as a Guuru is always a self-employed activity. If the cantonal compensation fund, based on the specific circumstances of your registration, should come to the conclusion that your activity as a Guuru constitutes an employed gainful activity, please contact us at hello@guuru.com.
Yes, all income must be declared on the tax return.
If you pay contributions from self-employment, you are insured against disability, old age, and death as well as the loss of income due to military service or maternity, but not against unemployment and not against an accident. In addition, you are not subject to the mandatory occupational pension scheme. If, in addition to your work for GUURU ltd, you are not also employed and insured by your employer, you should include insurance coverage against accidents with your health insurance fund.
FAQs on the Guuru’s income, valid for Great Britain
Below you find answers t to frequently asked questions about the income of a Guuru.
Our answers are for your information only and, in providing this, GUURU ltd does not accept any liability in relation to your personal tax affairs, which as a matter of law and your contract with GUURU are your responsibility. For more specific information on the social security and/or tax treatment of your income, please contact HMRC or speak to your own accountant or financial adviser.
No. This is because you are self-employed for tax purposes in relation to the work you undertake via GUURU. This means that neither GUURU nor the clients offering work via GUURU are under an obligation to withhold income tax or employee National Insurance contributions, or to pay employer National Insurance contributions, on fees paid to you for your services. Instead, fees are paid to you gross (and inclusive of any VAT due, to the extent that you exceed the VAT threshold).
Provided you meet the relevant qualifying earnings thresholds (see further below), yes you do. As a self-employed individual, you will be required to submit a self-assessment tax return to HMRC. The normal deadline for this is 31 January in relation to income earned in the previous tax year ending on 5 April (or 31 October if you submit a paper return instead of an online return). You can choose to complete this yourself if you want, but some people choose to engage an accountant to assist.
Yes, even if you have a low income you will still need to submit a self-assessment tax return. It may be, however, that if your earnings are very low you will pay no or only a small amount of tax and National Insurance contributions. For information, in the tax year ending 5 April 2020 the relevant thresholds are as follows:
Income Tax
- Personal Allowance up to £12,500: 0%
- Basic rate (£12,501 to £50,000) 20%
- Higher rate (£50,001 to £150,000) 40%
- Additional rate (over £150,000) 45%
National Insurance
For self-employed individuals, class 2 NICs are payable at £3 per week if your profits are £6,365 or more a year. Class 4 NICs are payable if your profits are £8,632 or more: they are payable at 9% on profits between £8,632 and £50,000, and 2% on profits over £50,000.
There is more information on HMRC’s website.
As a self-employed earner, you pay National Insurance contributions on the basis set out in response to question 2 above.
See question 2 above.
Yes, you are likely to need to declare this. You should follow any relevant HMRC guidance on this.
Yes. However, you should follow HMRC guidance on what constitutes a qualifying expense as it may be that you are able to reclaim/offset a lot of these expenses.
We wish you fun & success in your role as a Guuru. Be proud of the exclusive knowledge that makes you a valuable community member!