Hi,

I want to hire somebody to handle support for me and I wonder how much am I suppose to pay him let say per hour?
The support will be only ICQ/email.

Thanks

Well depending on where you live or where they live (US) they have to make at least minimum wage. Anything else above that can be negotiated. You definitely want to stear clear of bartering if at all possible, the IRS here in the US don't really recognize that. All it takes is one complaint from an employee and the cards could start tumbling. So start at minimum wage and offer free hosting/development account as an employee benefit.

They talk about bobcares in this forum alot.
Do a bobcares search and learn about that program.
I think it starts at 150.00 a Month.
Thats sounds pretty good if the support is good.
JFWS

Waitresses are routinely paid under minimum wage and make up for it in tips.

Also I wouldn't "hire" as in pay taxes and workmans comp, etc, instead "contract" them, no one says contractors have to make minimum anything other than what they agree to.

Pay by the ticket closed with bonuses for performance.

"Every ticket closed in under 1 hour earns you $.75 every ticket closed in 1-5 hours is $.60 every ticket in from 5-24 hours is $.50 and every ticket that you close that's over 24 hours old, $.25"

Of course, you wanna make sure his buddies aren't opening bogus tickets :D

I thought about doing it this way. Instead I pay the guy $100 a week to answer tickets for me, he has no hours, or clock to punch, he logs in from home he answers tickets every couple of hours and makes some pocket change for doing practically nothing.

Hell I don't even make minimum wage :( hehe

Heres a way we used to do it that worked pretty well:

each ticket was worth X$
the $$ was divided up by % between all of the techs who responded

That way each tech has incentive to do as many tickets as well as possible becauase if they do a good job and close the ticket with one response, they get more $$, and the customer is happy because they get a fast direct response and solution.

-Brendan

keep in mind that you have to give admin access to the control panel to one of them...for password resets, settings checking, and so on..

flat rate.

Find someone you can trust. Keep the terms open. Something like a month to month contract. That way if they don't cut it. You can let them go.