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Direct Contracts now live for all freelancers

lenaellis
Community Member

To help grow and support your freelance business on and off Upwork, we are releasing Direct Contracts to all Upwork freelancers today. With this new release, we have also expanded the functionality to now include multiple milestones. 

 

Direct Contracts allows you to enter into fixed-price contracts with non-Upwork clients, offering access to Upwork's safety and security features with greater flexibility for your business. Freelancers can access their Direct Contracts by clicking on the new paper airplane icon next to notifications or directly here.

 

Direct Contract Icon.png

 

Here’s how it works: 

 

On the Direct Contracts page, freelancers will see the option to start a new Direct Contract and a list of all existing Direct Contracts along with the status of that contract.

 

The steps to start a new Direct Contract are very simple:

 

1. Enter your client’s details

1. Create.png

 

2. Add either a single amount or create milestones with each amount

MM - Collapsed.png

 

3. Review and send the contract

3. Review.png

 

4. An email is sent to your client to begin

4. Confirmation.png

 

 

Your client will receive an email notifying them of your detailed proposal, along with some guidance on how the product works. 

 

Just like your other fixed-price contracts on Upwork, your client deposits project funds in escrow before the contract starts. You will see the status of the milestone listed below each one, so you will know when to begin working. When you’ve completed the contract or each milestone, you’ll request payment from your client. And with Direct Contracts, once they’ve accepted your request, the funds are released to you immediately, with no security period.

 

5. - Active - m1.png

 

As a freelancer, you’ll pay a processing fee of 3.4% of the total contract amount, but you won’t pay any freelancer service fees to Upwork. It’s easy for your clients because they won’t have to create an Upwork account.  And with payment protection and dispute assistance, you can work confidently with your clients who are not on Upwork. 

 

Let us know if you have any questions.

 

405 Comments
agsdeveloprezz
Community Member

A great idea for those clients who are not willing to work here.

This will help more to both.

tunnel_sd
Community Member

I have a client from Maldives, I've send him a direct contract but he could not authorize and fund after verifying email. This error message is showing from last night:

We are sorry! We are experiencing a technical problem and cannot process your request right now. Please try again in a minute.

ue-5-5-2020 5-51-16 PM.png

Please resolve the issue as soon as possible.

g_vasilevski
Retired Team Member

Hi Sohan,


Please ask your client to try clearing their cache and cookies or funding the contract via another browser. If they continue to experience the same problem after this, let me know. Thank you.

tunnel_sd
Community Member

I asked him and he just cleaned browser cache and didn't work. He also tried from his phone, it's the same.

kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi Sohan,

 

This error may occur when a client signs up on Upwork.com for an account, and since Direct Contracts are only for non-Upwork clients they would get an error when sending a Direct Contract. We can have someone from support contact you via email to assist you further.

albert_samuel
Community Member
I used the direct contract feature yesterday to work and receive money.

My client paid (he shared a screenshot with me), but I still haven't received it (my profile still shows 'payment requested')

Can you tell me what's wrong?

I'll appreciate your response
kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi Samuel,

 

Could you please ask the client to try again? It doesn't look like the payment was released. 

albert_samuel
Community Member

He sent the money

 

**edited for Community Guidelines**

AveryO
Community Manager

Hi Samuel, 

I'll go ahead and look into this and I'll come back here once I have more information regarding your concern. 

albert_samuel
Community Member

Thank you