Information about the Agency Basic Plan

[qarunqb]

I can't seem to find information directly from Upwork about an Agency Basic Plan and I'd like to find out more about it. From what I can gather from community posts:

1. Agency Basic Plan is Free
2. You cannot purchase connects
3. You cannot add team members

Are the above points true? 
Also, on the Agency Basic Plan, am I still able to submit proposals for contracts?

Thanks in Advance

[qarunqb]

I'd like to know more about Agency-Client communication and how that process works. When an Agency Business Manager submits a proposal on behalf of the Agency and the client accepts that proposal, what happens after? 

1. Does the Business Manager assign an Agency Member to the contract?
2. Does the client have direct communication with the Agency Member? 
3. Does the Business Manager have to be present for the client's communications with the Agency Member

Thanks in advance

[qarunqb]

Hi there, I have a couple questions about Agency Members and Teams

1. Can I have multiple agencies under my account?
2. Does an Agency have to stay within it's niche area or can separate Agency teams branch off into other areas? For example, one team works on Software Contracts while another team works on Sales and Marketing Contracts
3. Can multiple team members work on a single contract (hourly or fixed-price)?

Thanks in Advance

[qarunqb]

Hi there, I had a couple of questions about Agencies and Payment

1. When creating an Agency Basic account, do I have to connect a credit/debit card or can this wait until after the account is created?
2. If I registered a credit card, can I edit those details or switch over to another credit card?
3. Does Upwork accept Debit Cards to pay for the $20/month Agency Plus plan? Or does it have to be a credit card?
4. Is the $20/month payment for Agency Plus Plan billed to a credit card or does that come out of the Agency's funds directly from Upwork?
5. Are the methods of extracting funds from the Agency account the same as a freelancer
6. Are Agencies subject to the same 5-day holding period before funds are available?

Thanks in Advance

[NikolaS]

Hi Qarun,

Yes, to be able to purchase Connects and add members to your agency you will need an Agency Plus plan. Agency Plus is a monthly subscription for $20.00 (USD) per month that gives agencies access to build their team and purchase shared agency Connects for $0.15 (USD) per Connect. You can find more information in this help article. 

Business managers can submit a proposal on behalf of any agency member. They can edit or withdraw all agency proposals and accept or decline all offers. Agency members can also submit proposals themselves, which will be binding on the agency. All proposals will draw from the agency's collective Connects balance.

All agency contracts are paid to the agency's account. Your agency’s balance will be sent to you on a schedule you set, or you can access your funds at any time by going to Settings › Get Paid. The options are all the same as for individual freelancers. How you manage your agency's earnings from there is up to you. Feel free to check this page for more information. 

A person can only “own” one agency Upwork account. You won’t be able to make another one.

You may want to check this page to see what are the things that you need to consider before making an agency account. Additionally, you can find all available articles for agencies here. 

Thank you,

[qarunqb]

Thanks for replying, even thought it was to less than half of my questions. I'll have to get more in-depth information elsewhere. 

[rodion_bezruk]

Hello there,

I have a question that I would like to clarify.
Our company is expanding, we are working in several directions and we have a plans to open affiliated companies. We see that Upwork has the ability to add additional payment information to receive payments.
So, our question is: Could we add the payment information of subsidiaries to the settings of an existing company?

Thanks a lot!

[NikolaS]

Hi Rodion,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I shared your query with our team and one of our agents already reached out to you directly via a support ticket to share more information. You can access your ticket on this page.