Averbach Transcription Review: Make Money as a Transcriptionist

If you’ve already tried transcription, you may want to boost your income potential by trying some other transcription platforms. Here we’ll look at Averbach Transcription (AV Transcription) to help you to discover if it could be a good fit for you.

A Brief Overview

Averbach Transcription has a very basic website that does not provide a lot of details about the company or the details of becoming one of their transcriptionists. However, the company claims to be one of the only large 100% transcription services based in the USA. It only uses native English speakers, and all transcriptions go through a rigorous quality control process to ensure superb accuracy. Averbach Transcription even offers a free trial for its potential customers to entice them into signing up.

How Averbach Transcription Works

Averbach Transcription operates like most transcription platforms. The client will submit an audio or video file, which is then available for the transcriptionist team. You can accept or decline any projects according to your availability.

If you accept a project, you’ll need to complete the transcription within the deadline. This could be the same day or even overnight. You will then submit your transcription for review by the Averbach Transcription team.

Averbach Transcription does require a high degree of accuracy, so if your work fails to meet these standards, you may be penalized. This could involve not receiving additional work. However, this is not explicitly stated on the site.

The Job Requirements

Averbach Transcription is not aimed at newbie transcriptionists, so the requirements are a little more stringent compared to many other platforms. This includes:

• Ability to accurately transcribe materials
• Meet deadlines
• Access to a computer with a high-speed internet connection to upload and download the files
• Ability to work independently
• Use Express Scribe or comparable transcription software
• Pass the initial skills test.

Averbach Transcription will also give preference to applicants that can demonstrate a proficiency with the English language, a good ear, keen attention to detail, and two years of transcription experience.

Please see our article on transcription equipment for more details on the items that will help you in your work.

How Much Can You Earn?

Averbach Transcription is one of the highest paying transcription platforms offering transcription jobs. You’ll enjoy a very competitive pay of $1 per audio per minute. Since you will already need to have previous transcription experience, you should already be able to transcribe one minute of audio in four or five minutes, maybe faster. So, this will work out to an hourly rate of $12 to $15 per hour.

There are additional bonuses for overnight and same-day projects. You can earn $1.50 per audio minute for these files.

Averbach Transcription does not require a commitment to work a set number of hours each week, providing superb flexibility. You are free to decline or accept work to fit your schedule, working during your preferred hours.

All payments for transcription work on the platform are made via PayPal.

There are a number of similar platforms that offer flexible transcription work. However, your income will be limited with any of these platforms. If you want to increase your earning potential, working as a freelance transcriptionist could be a better option for you. The free mini course from Transcribe Anywhere will help you to get started.

Averbach Transcription Reputation

Averbach Transcription does have an excellent reputation within the industry. Although the company has a minimalistic website, there are a lot of online comments about the platform. The company has an Excellent rating on Trustpilot, with comments praising the customer service, accuracy, and professionalism of the company.

Unfortunately, the lack of information on the internet about the company does make some people wary. However, it is also difficult to find negative comments about the platform, which is rare for a company in this industry. The Averbach Transcription team appears to respond to forum comments and social media posts, suggesting that they care about their reputation and work hard to ensure that both transcriptionists and clients are happy.

Getting Started

The main part of the application process to join Averbach Transcription is a skills test. This is a five-minute audio file that has been prepared to test your ability to handle difficult audio, discern accents, follow instructions, and research technical terminology. Since you only have 20 minutes, you will need to have a speed of no more than four minutes per audio minute. This is a timed test, so you will be unable to submit your transcript if you fail to complete it within the 20 minutes deadline.

To take the skills test, you’ll need to have transcription software up and running on your computer. Averbach Transcription recommends the free Express Scribe software, but it is better to use a software that you are already familiar with. It is a good idea to set up keyboard shortcuts to enhance your efficiency.

The Averbach Transcription team does appreciate that this test may be a challenge, so they have also prepared a practice test. This will allow you to brush up on using your software or practice before taking the timed test.

After you complete the skills test, the Averbach Transcription team will review the information. If they like the work, they will contact you within one week. You can also email the team with any recruiting questions before you begin.

The Potential Drawbacks

No platform or company is perfect, so it is important to be realistic about the possible drawbacks before you sign up. The potential drawbacks of Averbach Transcription include:

• Lack of Online Information: The Averbach Transcription website is very basic. Although there is a recruitment page detailing the requirements and pay, there is very little other information. You can’t even see an “About” page. While the company does have a solid Trustpilot score, the lack of online information may be disconcerting for some.
• More Stringent Requirements: Unlike some platforms, Averbach Transcription does have quite stringent requirements, which can make the application process a challenge. Additionally, there is a timed skills test, which you need to complete within 20 minutes. Since this is a five-minute audio file with difficult accents and other challenges, you need to be highly skilled to pass the test.
• Tight Deadlines: Averbach Transcription does expect its transcriptionists to meet tight deadlines. There is a bonus for overnight or same-day projects, but other work will still need to be completed quickly. This may impact how flexible a schedule you can operate.

Conclusion

Averbach Transcription does have a solid reputation within the industry, making it a great option for work at home transcription jobs. However, you will need to have experience and great transcription skills to even qualify to join. There is a practice skills test, but once you click on the test link, you will have just 20 minutes to complete it accurately.

However, the flip side of this is that you can earn some of the highest rates in the niche. The base rate is $1 per audio minute. There is also a $1.50 per audio minute rate for overnight and same-day jobs. This adds up to a respectable hourly rate, providing you can reach the transcription speed of less than four minutes per audio minute.

So, if you already have some transcription experience, are comfortable using transcription software, and can manage a decent transcription speed, Averbach Transcription is certainly worth consideration. After completing the skills test, you’ll hear back within a week, so you won’t be waiting to find out if you were successful.