Providers in this market sell the same promises: compliance handled, workers paid, risk covered. The differences show up later, on the second invoice, in the renewal letter, or in the fine print of who actually gets sued when a state auditor calls.
Buyers who have been through it once ask sharper questions the second time. This is that list, collected from what companies consistently report after signing: the questions that separate providers who carry your risk from providers who carry your money.
Ask all 9, in writing, before you sign anything.
What you'll actually pay
1. What will my second invoice look like?
The first invoice matches the quote. The second one is where implementation fees, setup charges, and per worker extras commonly appear. Ask for a sample invoice for a company your size, covering month 2 rather than month 1, and get it in writing.
2. Do you require deposits, and how do I get them back?
Some providers hold a deposit per worker, in some cases a full month of wages. Ask how much is held, where it sits, what triggers its return, and how long the return takes. Buyers have reported recoveries far slower than the deposits.
3. What happens to my price at renewal?
Year 2 is where the price increases in this market commonly land. Ask what the renewal history looks like for companies your size: how administration fees, insurance costs, and per worker rates have moved. A provider confident in its renewal behavior will show you.
Who carries the risk
4. If a state auditor questions a worker's classification, who is the defendant?
This is the question the whole category turns on. Payment platforms move money and carry none of the classification risk. Some services assess classification but leave the liability with you. Genuine employer of record arrangements put the provider on the hook as the legal employer. Ask directly, and ask them to point to the clause.
5. Is liability transfer in the tier I'm buying, or a higher one?
Providers often sell a cheap contractor payment tier and a separate, much more expensive tier where risk actually transfers. It's common to discover too late that you bought the first while believing you bought the second. Ask which tier carries the liability, and what your tier leaves with you.
6. Is your misclassification protection capped?
Where indemnification exists, it can be capped at a fixed amount per worker or per incident. A cap is not necessarily a dealbreaker, but an uncapped exposure dressed as a capped one is. Ask for the number.
What service you'll actually get
7. Who answers when something goes wrong, and how fast?
Support quality at the smaller customer tier is among the most consistent complaints in this category. Ask whether your company gets named people or a ticket queue, and test it before you sign: send a hard, specific question, a state tax registration scenario for instance, through their sales process and time the answer. How they treat you before the contract is the ceiling, not the floor.
8. What does leaving look like?
Minimum terms, offboarding fees, notice periods, and how your workers and their records transfer out. Companies report the exit being harder than the entry. A provider that makes leaving easy is telling you something about how they expect to keep you.
Who stands behind the classification
9. Who actually assesses classification, and will you stand behind the assessment?
Ask who performs the assessment, what test they apply, whether it's reviewed by a person or generated by a questionnaire, and whether the provider stands behind the result if a state disagrees. The difference between a classification tool and a classification service is what happens when the answer is challenged.
Ask us the same questions
This list is not a trap for our competitors. It's the standard we think buyers should hold everyone to, including us. Bring all 9 questions to a myBasePay demo and we will answer them directly, in writing, with the clauses to match.
Frequently asked questions
What hidden fees do EOR and contractor management providers charge?
Commonly reported extras include implementation and setup fees appearing after the first invoice, per worker deposits held by the provider, currency conversion margins on international payments, offboarding charges, and renewal increases on administration and insurance costs. Asking for a sample month 2 invoice in writing surfaces most of them.
Who is liable if a contractor is misclassified when using a provider?
It depends on the arrangement, not the marketing. Payment platforms typically leave classification liability with the client. Employer of record arrangements transfer employment liability to the provider as legal employer. Some services sit in between, with capped or conditional protection. The contract clause, not the sales conversation, is the answer.
How do I compare EOR providers?
Compare them on what happens when something goes wrong: who is the defendant in a classification dispute, whether liability transfer is in your tier, how prices move at renewal, what support your size of company actually receives, and what leaving costs. Providers differ far more on these than on their feature lists.
This guide is general information about evaluating providers, not legal advice for your specific situation. For that conversation, talk to us or your counsel.