Yes, you need to have an active email account with any email provider, in order to create an account.

When you signup for a new account with AnswerGem, an account activation link is sent via email to the email address you provided during signup. This is a secure link, and by clicking on it, it facilitates the signup process for you with AnswerGem, and to create a new account.

Your email address that you used when you signed up for an account with AnswerGem can also be used to signin to AnswerGem in the username field.

Please click on the “I forgot my password” link in the Signin page, and follow the instructions.

At this time you do not have the ability to delete an account you created. However, if you would like to delete an account please send an email to “support at answergem dot com”. We will validate with you and delete the account for you.

No. AnswerGem is not a free service. Typically, as a customer, you will need to set a value for the question you ask from the choices provided at the time of asking the question. You can choose the minimum value if you wish. After that you will need to deposit the value amount via PayPal as a sign of good faith.

The experts who participate in AnswerGem are mostly professionals whose time is immensely valuable to them. To answer questions at AnswerGem these experts offer their time at a fraction of the cost that they would normally do elsewhere. The deposit you pay for a question is charged when you accept an answer and is used for compensating the expert.

There are two ways you can ask a new question to experts.

(1) Go to the homepage www.answergem.com and type in your new question in the box provided where it says “Ask your question”. Select the expert you want, and click on ‘Proceed’. Follow the instructions in the next page. If you haven’t signed in, you will have to signin. After that, you’ll need to set a value for the question. This is the price you are willing to pay for a good and satisfactory answer from an expert for your question. In the following screen you will be taken to PayPal to deposit this value. Don’t worry, your deposit is refundable if you don’t like any of the answers and don’t want to accept any answer.

(2) If you are already signed in, then you can click on the tab at the top that says “Ask a Question”. Select the expert you want, and click on ‘Proceed’. Follow the instructions in the next page. You’ll be asked to set a value for the question. This is the price you are willing to pay for a good and satisfactory answer from an expert for your question. In the following screen you will be taken to PayPal to deposit this value. Don’t worry, your deposit is refundable if you don’t like any of the answers and don’t want to accept any answer.

After you create your new question, and once you are signed in, you will be taken to a screen where you will be asked to set the value (in dollars) for the question. Typically you will be provided three choices for the value – a low value, a medium value, and a high value. Depending on the importance of the question to you, and its urgency, you will need to choose one of the three values. You will also need to deposit this value via PayPal into your AnswerGem account as a sign of good faith. (Note: If you already have sufficient “Free Funds” balance in your account, then these funds will be applied to your deposit).

Yes, your deposit is fully refundable if you have not accepted an answer and thus have not used up your deposit. To get a refund on your deposit, please make a request for refund at the link provided below. Requests made within 45 days of the original deposit date, are fully refundable. After 45 days, we provide a couple of options: (a) Obtain a `store credit` at AnswerGem for the full deposit amount and re-use it for future questions, or (b) Obtain a refund of deposit amount minus a nominal amount to cover PayPal commissions (approx 3-4%).

To make a refund request on your deposit, go to http://www.answergem.com/contact_us.php . Enter your user information and in the Comments field indicate that you would like a refund of your deposit.

Yes it is very safe. If you are one of those users who say “I don’t like giving my credit card number or personal information online”, you can rest assured. You are in safe hands. AnswerGem does NOT ask for your PayPal password or your credit card info anywhere on our site. When it comes to payment, we transfer you directly to the PayPal website (www.paypal.com) where you provide your information to PayPal directly ON THEIR SITE which is highly secured, authenticated, and guaranteed by PayPal, a leader in online payment systems and a multi-billion dollar company.

Please also read AnswerGem’s Security & Privacy statement at the bottom of our website that further details how your personal info is kept private.

(Note: AnswerGem asks you for your PayPal email address in your user profile information, in case we need to refund your deposit. For most users their PayPal email address is often their regular email address. However, this information and all your other personal information is stored PRIVATE by us and is not made available to anyone on the site, including experts. AnswerGem does not ask for your PayPal password).

Yes, you can. However, you will need to do that through PayPal also. It is simple, easy, and quick to open a basic account in PayPal using your credit card, and to pay for the deposit using your credit card.

When you are in the AnswerGem screen and are asked to pay the deposit, simply follow the instructions there to PayPal, and once inside the PayPal screens, simply follow the instructions there to pay with your credit and/or to open a new basic PayPal account using your credit card.

There are two ways for you to know that an expert has answered your question:

(1) Via Email notification: When an expert answers your question (or requests for more information on your question), you will receive an email notification. Follow the instructions in the email to view the answer.

(2) Via Website: Alternatively, after you signin into AnswerGem, you can click on the “My Questions” tab and then click on the “Active Questions” sub-tab. You will see a list of your active questions. Look at the column that says “Status”. If an expert has answered your question (or is asking for more info on your question from you), you will see a status value that says “Waiting for Accept from Customer” (or “Waiting for Info from Customer” respectively). Click on the question, and you will see the response from the expert. You can either accept the answer provided by the expert at this time by clicking on the appropriate button, or ask for more info from the expert, or do nothing.

If you have many open questions where you still have not accepted an answer, then that information is published regularly to experts. This info is viewed as “not positive” by the experts. As a result, experts may stop answering any of your questions in the future. This may come back to bite you in the future, especially if you have an important question that you really need a good answer from the experts, and you need it fast!

If you felt that the answer provided by the expert was very good, then you may also think about providing a bonus. It lets the expert know that you greatly appreciate the answer.

No. You cannot ‘un-accept’ an answer. Once an answer is accepted, it stays accepted, and the expert is compensated with the deposit you made.

No. Once you accept an answer, your deposit is used to compensate the expert for the answer. You will not get a refund on the deposit.

Currently at this time, you can accept only one answer. We are planning to change this shortly. Stay tuned.

Marked Funds and Free Funds are just sub-accounts in AnswerGem to keep track of how the funds you deposited are being allocated or used.

Marked Funds: If you deposited funds as a “deposit” for a question, then that deposit is recorded as a “Marked Funds” (i.e. it has been “marked” for a question).

Free Funds: However, if you deposited funds, but not as a deposit for a question, then those funds are kept as “Free Funds”. You can use these funds towards deposit for new questions you ask in future, or as bonus to experts for a good answer. Any referral commission you earn will also appear as Free Funds.

Click on the ‘Signup’ button at the top of the AnswerGem page, and when the Signup page appears, select the link on the right side of the screen that says “Are you a new Expert? Click here to signup” and follow the instructions to register for an account with AnswerGem.

You can also click on the link ‘Become An Expert’ at the bottom of every page.

Yes. You will first need to get qualified as an expert in one or more categories in AnswerGem, before you can answer questions posted by customers in those categories. The qualification process is straightforward. First, you have to signin as an expert (if you don’t have an expert’s account with AnswerGem, then follow the instructions provided in an earlier FAQ question to signup as an expert). After you have signed in, then do one of the following: (1) Select the link at the top of the page that says ‘Qualify As Expert In More Category’. Select the category for your expertise, or (2) Click on the tab “My Account”. Click on the sub-tab “My Expertise Profiles”. You will see a list of expertise categories. Click the link “Get Qualified” for the category you are interested.

In the next screen, fill out your profile information for that category. In the following screen you will be required to answer a qualification questionnaire to validate your expertise in that category. Once you successfully pass the questionnaire, you will qualify as a Bronze level expert in that category, and will be able to answer questions in that category as per the rules for the Bronze level (click link on “Expert Levels” at the bottom of this page for rules).

If your computer is Windows XP, you can download a free tool from Microsoft called “Image Resizer” in the Microsoft PowerToys area of the Microsoft website. (this tool is available for download at http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Install/2/WXP/EN-US/ImageResizerPowertoySetup.exe ). Click on this link, and then click on ‘Run’ to setup the Image Resizer tool. Once installed, you can resize any picture on your computer by doing the following steps:

(1) Open Windows Explorer

(2) Go to the folder that has the image file in it (e.g. my-image.jpg)

(3) Right-click your mouse on the image file

(4) Select ‘Resize Pictures’

(5) Click on “Advanced >>”

(6) Select “Custom”, and indicate the final pixel size that AnswerGem requires you to have for the image (e.g. 64 x 64)

(7) The resized picture will be created and stored in the same folder with the same file name but with the phrase “(Custom)” appended to it (e.g. “my-image (Custom).jpg”)

(8) Upload this newly created image into AnswerGem