The short answer
An Opportunity reaches you when a booking fits what's on your account. That covers your documents, payouts, skills, distance, rate and when you're free. How much work there is depends on what clients book, and Gaffr can't promise any. This guide explains what Gaffr looks at, so you can see which parts are in your hands. Your rate and your hours are yours to set.
What does Gaffr ask for first?
Gaffr offers bookings only to accounts that are ready to take them. As a condition of using the app, Gaffr asks for:
- your right to work, photo ID and insurance certificate, each checked by a person at Gaffr
- a Stripe account that can receive payments, under Settings, Payouts
- your National Insurance number
- your home address
- the current crew terms, accepted in the app
- an hourly rate
GOV.UK explains share codes for right to work. Getting paid explains the Stripe account.
Gaffr can record an expiry date for your right to work or insurance. When that date passes, your account pauses. Opportunities stop until a replacement has passed the check. The pause then lifts overnight. Settings, Documents shows where each one stands.
How do bookings find me?
There are two ways, and you can use either or both. How Gaffr works for crew covers the rest of the app.
- Go live. You're offered on-demand bookings that start before the live-until time you picked. Scheduled bookings can reach you this way too.
- Your availability. Set your days and hours under Settings, Your availability. A scheduled booking can reach you when more than half its shift falls inside them.
Reaching you by availability needs notifications on and Gaffr Live opened in the last week. Having been live in the last week also counts. If an on-demand booking hasn't filled after a short while, it goes wider. It then reaches crew whose hours cover its start. That needs them live, or notifications on and Gaffr Live opened in the last week.
Scheduled work is switched on for every account.
Do my skills matter?
Yes. Each booking asks for a role, and you're offered bookings for the skills on your profile. You can change them under Settings, Your skills.
Licences and tickets don't decide who's offered a booking. The Opportunity shows what the client asked for, and you decide.
How far does a booking reach?
Opportunities go out in rounds that start near the venue and widen. No round goes more than 50 km.
- Scheduled bookings measure the distance from your home address.
- On-demand bookings measure it from where you were when you went live that day. With no reading from going live, they use your home address.
For an on-demand booking, the client may say how late the crew member can arrive. Gaffr then leaves out crew too far away to arrive by then, on a straight-line estimate.
How does my rate come into it?
Each client sets the most they'll pay an hour for a booking. Gaffr Live doesn't show it to crew. A booking reaches you only if your rate is at or under that maximum.
Your rate is yours to set, under Settings, Your rate. Setting your rate explains how it works, and how a counter offer works.
Does anything put me nearer the front?
Your rate doesn't: a lower rate isn't picked first. Each round goes to a few crew at once: five for an on-demand booking, ten for a scheduled one.
When more crew are in range than that, Gaffr picks in this order. First, crew who haven't been offered that booking before. Next, crew with a preference either way with that client. The app asks about that after a 4- or 5-star rating. Then, for an on-demand booking, crew who have Gaffr Live open; for a scheduled one, crew with notifications on. Then nearer crew.
What else can keep a booking from me?
- One place per booking. Gaffr doesn't take bookings for several crew at once. If it does, you're offered one place on a booking at most.
- A booking you've said no to. Once you decline or release a booking, it isn't offered to you again.
- One you let lapse. It can come back after a gap, and going live can bring it back sooner. You're offered the same booking at most twice.
- Another booking at the same time. You're not offered a booking that overlaps one you've accepted, with time allowed for travel.
- A choice not to be matched. If you or a client have asked not to be matched with each other, their bookings don't reach you.
What happens when I change something?
Gaffr looks at your account each time a booking sends out a round. A change you make counts from the next round of any booking still looking for crew.
On-demand bookings move to their next round about once a minute. Scheduled bookings' rounds are further apart, so a change can take longer to show.
A booking you've already accepted keeps the rate it was booked at.
Does turning work down count against me?
No. Declining is free, and there's no minimum acceptance rate. A booking you decline isn't offered to you again. Other bookings aren't affected.