Manage contracts and securely receive payments from any client, even if you didn’t meet on Upwork.
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Your client gives us your payment for safekeeping so you know it’s waiting for you once the job is done.
You'll pay 5% for each contract.
Clients can pay by credit card or Paypal (plus ACH bank transfers in the U.S).
We’ll step in to help if your project hits a snag.
With Direct Contracts, you can create and send contract proposals to your clients that don’t yet have Upwork accounts. Just like your other contracts on Upwork, your client deposits project funds in escrow before the contract starts. When you’ve completed the work, you’ll request payment from your client. Once they’ve accepted your request, the funds are released to you.
As a freelancer, you’ll pay a 5% freelancer service fee of the total contract amount.
Please note that all transactions are in USD.
You can use Direct Contracts only with clients who do not have an Upwork account.
You will have a 5% freelancer service fee while Marketplace contracts have a 10% freelancer service fee.
You create the contract terms and send proposals to your client.
Once your work is approved on a fixed-price or hourly contract, the funds are released to your Upwork account within five days.
Freelancers are charged a 5% freelance service fee. For example, if your earnings are $100 you’ll be charged a fee of $5. Please note that all transactions are in USD.
Yes! You can have both hourly and fixed-price contracts with the Direct Contracts option.
Direct Contracts are supported by escrow services and dispute assistance. If a client has canceled a contract without payment or has failed to release a milestone payment despite the delivery of work, you can file a dispute.
For questions about reporting your Upwork earnings, check out this help article.
No, please avoid sending your client the contract details page URL. Your client does not have an Upwork account yet, so they need a specially generated link to be able to access the contract information. We will send them the link to your contract via email, so let them know to be on the lookout for an email from Upwork.com.
Currently, Direct Contracts are only available to freelancers and their clients in certain countries. If you attempt to sign up and you or your client are not eligible due to the country you live in, you’ll see an error message. We hope to expand Direct Contracts to more countries in the future.
Yes, you can issue a full or partial refund.
Existing contracts on Upwork cannot be changed to a Direct Contracts contract.
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