How SayVia works

If you need an interpreter

1. 1

   Find someone and send a booking request

   Search by language, county and type of work — in person, by phone, by video, or written translation. You can also post an open request and let available interpreters come to you.
2. 2

   They accept and confirm the travel cost

   For on-site work the interpreter confirms the exact distance, so the travel fee is settled before you pay anything. Accepting isn't a commitment yet.
3. 3

   You pay — and that's what holds the slot

   Until you pay, the time isn't reserved and the interpreter can take other work. If someone else books the same interpreter for that time and pays first, they keep it and you're refunded in full, automatically. An accepted booking is released automatically if it isn't paid within 24 hours, or shortly before the job starts.
4. 4

   Your money is held, not handed over

   SayVia holds the payment until the job is finished. The interpreter is paid afterwards, so if they don't turn up, there's nothing to claw back — you're simply refunded.
5. 5

   The job happens, then you confirm

   After the job you can release the payment straight away, or leave it: it's released automatically a day later. If something was wrong, you can report a problem in that window and get a full refund.

If you interpret or translate

1. 1

   Create a profile and upload your credentials

   Diplomas and certificates are checked by our team. Nothing is visible to clients until at least one is approved — that's what makes the marketplace worth trusting.
2. 2

   Connect your payout account

   Payments arrive through Stripe, straight to your bank account. You also need an active membership (€20/month) to appear in search, and you can cancel it whenever you like.
3. 3

   Accepting doesn't tie you up — payment does

   You can accept several requests for the same time. Whichever client pays first gets you; the others are refunded in full, automatically, and you owe nobody an explanation. An accepted booking nobody pays for disappears on its own after 24 hours, so an unpaid request can never quietly block your diary.
4. 4

   Accept the work that suits you

   You set your hourly rate, your travel rate per kilometre, and which counties and job types you cover. Decline anything you don't want.
5. 5

   Close the job when it's done

   On-site, the client signs on your phone. For calls and video, you close it yourself — and attach a screenshot of your call log, since nobody was there to witness the call. The client and SayVia can see that screenshot if the time is ever questioned.
6. 6

   Get paid

   SayVia keeps 8% of each completed booking — including any travel fee — and the rest is transferred to you. No commission on work that never happened. Your share reaches your Stripe account as soon as the job is signed off; Stripe holds a new account's funds for up to 7 days before paying out to your bank, so the first payments take about a week to land and get quicker after that.

If something goes wrong

The interpreter doesn't arrive

30 minutes after the start time you can report it and get your money back in full. The interpreter receives nothing.

You need to cancel

Before you pay, cancelling is free for both sides. After that: more than 48 hours before the job, you're refunded in full; under 48 hours the interpreter keeps the booked hours, because they turned other work down; under 3 hours there's no refund. See our terms for the exact wording.

The interpreter cancels

You're refunded in full. Interpreters can't cancel on the day of the job — you shouldn't be left stranded at an appointment.

The job ran longer than booked

The interpreter logs the extra time and you're asked to pay for it separately, at the same rate. Nothing is charged without you agreeing to it.

Good to know

• • On-site bookings have a minimum of 1 hour, since the interpreter travels to you. Phone, video and written work start at 30 minutes.
• • Travel is charged both ways, at the rate shown on the interpreter's profile, and you see the estimate before you book.
• • You get the interpreter's phone number once the booking is paid, so you can reach them directly on the day.
• • Status badges (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum) are earned through completed work, approved credentials and client ratings. They can't be bought.

How status badges are earned

Every interpreter carries a badge — Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum — and it decides the order they appear in search. It can't be bought. The optional search boost lifts someone among others on the same badge and never above a higher one, so paying can never put a newcomer ahead of a more established interpreter.

Bronze starts at 2 points, Silver at 6, Gold at 12, Platinum at 30. Client ratings then scale the total once there are at least three reviews — consistently good work lifts a score by about 15%, poor work cuts it — so paperwork alone can't carry someone whose clients are unhappy.

Qualifications and experience count from the day you join, which is deliberate: someone arriving with a master's and four years behind them starts above someone who has been on the platform longer with less to show. Work done here then adds to it.