DittoTranscripts

DittoTranscripts review:

DittoTranscripts enlists freelance transcriptionists to type up tapes of 911-calls, court hearings, depositions, medical research and financial calls.

How it works

Transcriptionists need to fill out an online application, which asks about their experience, availability and income expectations. They’re also required to be U.S. citizens. And they can’t live in a handful of states where freelance laws are strict, such as California, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

Transcriptionists are paid by the audio minute. Rates range from 80 cents to 1.10 per minute for general and legal work; and at 7 cents to 10 cents per line with medical transcription. So the faster you type, the more you earn.

Pay

Starting pay is 80 cents per audio minute. But audio minutes are not the same as work minutes. Each audio minute can take from 2 to 10 minutes in real time. So transcriptionists earn anywhere from $8.00 to $30 per hour. CEO Ben Walker says most of the transcriptionists on his site are at the high end of that range, earning $20 to $30 per hour.

Workers are paid by direct deposit twice a month. Transcriptionists also earn more — as much as $5 per audio minute — for rush jobs.

Regular clients

There are two reasons why DittoTranscripts workers are quicker than the norm and, thus, earn more per hour, Walker says. They’re experienced. And they have regular clients. Having regular clients helps transcriptionists save time looking up names or interpreting speech patterns. It also makes it easier for them to use time-saving tools such as text-expander software to accurately replicate regularly-used names, places and phrases.

(Notably, DittoTranscripts is simply a new name for a well-established transcription company — Transcription Outsourcing. As a result, our reviews for both are largely the same. We’ve kept the Transcription Outsourcing review live, so that people who are looking for the renamed company can easily find it.)

Recommendations

Transcriptionists rave about this site. The higher-than-average pay, regular clients and availability of work, makes DittoTranscripts among our top picks in the category.

However, transcriptionists from California, New Jersey and Massachusetts are not accepted here because of these states’ restrictive freelancer laws. If you’re a U.S.-based transcriptionist looking for work, you may also want to check out GMR, Rev and SpeakWrite.

What their users say (from Glassdoor)

Transcription Outsourcing (aka DittoTranscripts) provides excellent service and the highest level of support to its team of contract transcriptionists. The Operations Manager is phenomenally supportive, communicative, and thorough. It is a very efficient process from application to testing to starting your own remote independent contractor business as a transcriptionist. The only con I can think of is that almost every client, even within the same industry (ie. law enforcement, legal, academia, etc), has slightly different style guides and templates that the transcriptionist must pivot between. Transcription Outsourcing, when possible, should establish a standard style guide and template for clients within the same industry.

The audio is almost always pretty good. Loads of work usually. If you are an excellent worker and you really shine through in productivity and competence, there is a real possibility of being moved to full-time.

Good feedback and pay

Working with Transcription Outsourcing (now DittoTranscripts) for about a year and a half as an independent contractor has been great. We work on our own schedules and get paid twice per month via direct deposit or pay pal. The leadership team, including the CEO, allows us to offer input and give feedback on our projects as we go, and we are not stifled one bit. They also pay more than almost every other transcription company I have worked for, and that includes all the big companies you’ve heard of. They like paying more because they want happy people working with them, and if everyone is happy and making good money, they are happy because they have the peace of mind that the work will get done and done right on time.