The remote work world is booming and is here to stay. More and more people are looking for ways to make money online, either as full-time job or as a side hustle.
It’s pointless to debate what is the best online job out there since you can outsource anything nowadays. However, transcribing, translating and captioning are the most common ones; and that has a couple of reasons: people want to reach wider audiences, and people need jobs where they can own their time.
If you have good writing skills, speak more than one language and you’ve been on the search for an online job, you must have come across Rev.com. Today we’ll be digging deeper into Rev.com reviews and answering the frequently asked questions to analyze if it’s worth your time and effort.
What’s Rev.com?
Rev.com is an American Speech-To-Text company based in San Franciso and Austin. It provides translation, transcription, and captioning services to companies like VIACOM and TCM.
How Is The Work Style of Rev.com?
Rev hires freelance transcriptionists, captioners, and subtitlers from all around the world. Clients upload audio and video files for Revvers to work on them within a specific time range. The company typically allows people to work on a flexible schedule, making it suitable for people looking for a part-time job to earn a few extra bucks. Some of their services include
Captioning
Transcribe dialogue and relevant audio content from video files to text so that viewers with hearing disabilities or who can’t listen to the audio for any other reason understand the auditory information.
Subtitling
Transcribe and translate spoken words in a different language to reach a larger audience.
Automated Transcription Service
Rev also offers a highly accurate AI-powered transcription tool with a less than 5 minutes turnaround time.
Rev.com Reviews and Complaints
It only takes a quick Google search to realize that there are tons of mixed opinions about Rev, both from their freelancers and customers.
Some freelancers often complain about their low pay rates. If you catch a glimpse at Rev’s website, you’ll see that the payment is different for everyone. Most of their payment reviews say that it’s not great money if you’re taking it as a side job and not spending much time on it. However, some say having a flexible schedule is worth it, as they can focus on their primary jobs while also earning that extra money.
Another frequent complaint from freelancers is the apparent poor audio quality of jobs, which seems to be the reason their actual turnaround times aren’t as quick as they claim.
Most of Rev’s clients say they’re one of the most reliable Speech-To-Text companies out there. However, if you further research you’ll also encounter unhappy clients, who claim they’ve gotten additional fees for services they weren’t asking for or who had to reach for customer service agents to get their finished projects sent to their emails.
From the negative Rev reviews we’ve been analyzing, we could find that one of the biggest issues of the platform is its grading system. Rev claims on their website that they base on aspects like accuracy, formatting, and timeliness. Nevertheless, some users say their grading system is made by other freelancers and can be extremely harsh, and sometimes unfair. Needless to say, bad grading can result in penalizations and even getting your account deactivated.
Pros and Cons
Rev is the go-to Speech-To-Text website for a considerable amount of big and small companies. It’s not a secret that people have a lot to say about their services, so based on the numerous reviews we’ve gathered, we’ve summed up the pros and cons of working with them as a freelancer or a client.
Pros
- It’s a legit company
- It’s a great option for work-at-home freelancers
- Great for converting spoken English audio to text
- Great for people who need their Youtube videos transcripted and translated into a foreign language
- It’s a good start for making money online
- They have an efficient support team
- They assure 90%+ accuracy on your projects
- You get to manage your own time as a freelancer
Cons
- Your account can be easily deactivated
- Low pay complaints from former employees
- Video transcription can be time-consuming
- Not so-good quality audio sometimes
- Its alleged unfair grade system
- You could get your project in more than the turnaround time established
- Additional fees for non-standard transcription services
FAQs
Can You Make Money On Rev.com?
The short answer is: yes, you can make decent money on Rev.com. Positive reviews have established that if you put enough time and effort into it, you can make a living wage out of it. If you’re good at working with audio and video transcription, and deliver your work promptly, Rev can become a steady income for you.
Most complaints come from people who expected more than what they earned. But let’s be honest, transcription is not a job that requires the highest effort. Yes, it requires time, but keep in mind that you’re working from the comfort of your home, and basically whenever you want or whenever you can.
It’s notorious that you will not become a billionaire by ONLY working as a Rev transcriptionist. But if you’re a college student, a retired employee, a stay-at-home mom, or simply need some extra money, this is a good option. You don’t need to get a Ph.D. to apply. Just a computer, time, and you’re good to go.
How Does Rev.com Pay You?
Rev pays per audio minute. As we mentioned, Rev pay rates depend on the work you do.
For transcriptionists, the rates are about 0.25$ to 0.90$ per minute.
For captioners, ranges vary from 0.45$ to 0.75$ per minute or per audio.
Rev reports average earnings of 156$ a month for beginners, and up to 1000$ for seasoned transcriptionists. There are three levels for Rev workers: Rookie, Revver, and Revver+, the more transcription minutes you complete, the higher you rank and therefore, the higher you get paid.
Rev’s major drawback is its payment. But there’s not a big difference between their pay rate and other transcription companies’ pay rates.
You have to understand that Rev is not a fire-your-boss job, yet it is a good start if you’re looking for that extra income online.
The amount you can earn will increase as you finish more projects. Transcription is a speed job that requires agility, which may be hard to achieve when you’re just getting started. But if you’re determined to make this your job, you will get through the challenges and slowly but surely increase your earnings.
Rev pays weekly, specifically each Monday through PayPal.
What Are The Minimum Requirements To Work In Rev.com?
Like many other transcription companies, Rev has a set of minimum requirements before you start your application process.
First of all, you need a decent internet connection. Having an unsteady internet connection will affect your workflow. It’s recommendable that you set a distraction-free environment at your house or wherever you’re at to work faster and more efficiently.
Good grammar. This one is a MUST. We’ve already mentioned how harsh Rev can get when it comes to grading, so if you don’t want to get penalized, make sure you’re typing every word grammatically correctly.
Transcribing spoken English audio can get messy. Sometimes you’ll hear multiple voices talking, or you’ll deal with terrible audio quality, so this is a task you should take calmly and put your complete attention to.
If you’re applying for a translation job, you need a good command of the second language. Did we say “good”? Correction, you need a native or almost-native level to achieve a Revver level.
You can’t cheat here. Rev’s hiring process has requirements like sending videos of yourself speaking in both the language you’re translating and your native one. So if you were planning on using a translating tool, we’re sorry to inform you that that won’t be possible.
The Wrap-Up
Depending on who you ask, Rev is an excellent platform to get that extra income or transcribe, subtitle, and translate your video and audio files. Further analyzing what former and actual employees and clients had to say online, we can see an equilibrium between positive and negative reviews.
Whether it’s for earning less than a minimum wage or making more money than other freelance jobs, it’s up to you. Set realistic goals, and don’t expect to earn 1000$ in your first month. Build the habit, don’t try to take shortcuts, and you’ll join the 1500$ earning Revvers in less time than expected.
As for clients, we understand one could easily step back from hiring a service when having seen negative reviews from people who didn’t get their projects sent back promptly, or from people who got charged additional fees.
Nobody’s perfect, and we should consider that Rev’s workers are human beings, not robots (except for the AI transcription tool, hehe.)
That being said, remember that Rev.com also has an effective customer support section, so any issue you may have is highly likely to get solved quickly.
