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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
kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Samuel,

 

We checked again and it looks like the client has released the payment and the contract is now showing as completed. Please, let us know if you have any further questions. 

nicola1979
Community Member

Hi Valeria!

"...since Direct Contracts are only for non-Upwork clients..." this means I can't send a direct contract to an existing client already on Upwork after 2 years from our first job?!

If this is true, I suggest you to change this asap. I really don't understand who had this really bad idea.

 

I will have in July a new job for an old client (2+ years from first contact on Upwork), amounting between $6,000 and $7,000 in total. I wanted to use a Direct Contract for this one but:

 

1 - I need to know asap if I can do it, because she is a client already registered on Upwork.

2 - Please remove the $5,000 limit for a Direct Contract, or I have to make different contracts instead of different milestones.

 

Otherwise, I will have to handle everything outside Upwork and directly with the client, and Upwork will not get any fee from me for this contract. I'm sure I am not the only one in this situation, therefore Upwork has only to lose if they don't accept direct contracts for clients already registered in Upwork.

VladimirG
Community Manager

Hi Nicola,

 

Unfortunately, Direct Contracts cannot be used with clients who already have an account on Upwork. This feature is designed to be used by select freelancers on Upwork when working with clients who do not have, nor want, an Upwork client account.

nicola1979
Community Member

Hi Vladimir,

thank you for your quick response.

I find this decision not good for anyone, not for freelancers, and not for Upwork.

I hope this will be reconsidered.

Can you forward my feedback, please?

BojanS
Community Manager

Hi Nicola,

 

We appreciate and regularly share the feedback we see on this thread with the team.

 

Thank you!

lgeocole
Community Member

Hi, I have created a direct contract but the link to the client by email is not working. The link redirect to a http://prana_upstream/ab/flservices/cl/auth/******* but this address is not working.

aguilosjason
Community Member

Hi Geoffroy,

 

Thanks for reaching out - we're looking into this now and will update you as soon as possible.

aguilosjason
Community Member

Hi Geoffroy,

 

UPDATE: This issue has been fixed so your cilent should now be able to access the contract via the email.  Please let us know if it's still not working.

 

 

lgeocole
Community Member

Hi Jason. It's working now thanks.

arqcova
Community Member

Hello, I have a question from the client's side, what will happen regarding taxes for the client? The client pays the direct contract (3.4% fee for me), and then the escrow is liberated, etc. and then if the clients need some sort of W9 form or other documents for his US company (for an audit or similar), how does it work with direct contracts?

 

obviously I'm no expert on the topic, I hope I explained myself