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152c8426
Community Member

Need help on contract for hired freelancers

In my job post I specifically state what I would pay for the project.  Every freelancers gave a bid when they applied.  During my interviews I went over what I was going to pay for the job and each one agreed to those terms.  However, when I hired each of them and saw the contract each contract showed that their bid amount was "As agreed".  I did not agree to the different bid prices put in by the freelancers.  My payment amount is based on a specific amount per every 100 words written in the articles.  So, why would the contract show the bid amount as agreed when that was not what the freelancer and I actually agreed on.

 

Am i reading this wrong?  Was there something I was supposed to do?  Is this a problem for me?  How do I rectify this since all the writers agrred to my rate of payment, not their bid amounts?

13 REPLIES 13
petra_r
Community Member

When you make an offer you set the offer terms and those are what form the basis of the contract.

 

So if those terms differ from what was bid and / or agreed then you need to change the amount and terms when you make the offer.

 

Are you hiring fixed rate or hourly? If the job is hired for hourly you get charged for the hours logged by the freelancer. If it is fixed rate you pay the first milestone into Escrow

152c8426
Community Member

When I made the offer I put the rate of pay in the offer that was agreed upon by me and the freelancers and they accepted the offer. Are you saying that I will be expected to pay what their bid was just because I am using a fixed price? Why should the the bid be the determining factor of what a client is going to pay? I'm confused. Thanks for responding Petra. Verna

Verna, you can put down any amount you want to for fixed-price contracts, and you can indicate that you want beginner, intermediate or expert skill levels when you post hourly contract jobs. You can even specify a suggested hourly rate when you write your job description for hourly contracts. You have expansive freedom to suggest any rates you want.

 

Contractors have an equal amount of freedom to indicate what rate they will accept. You can negotiate these rates as you discuss the contract during the interview stage.

 

You never have to accept a contractor's proposed rates, and they never have to accept yours. You always see what the rate will be before you click he hire button and actually start a contract officially. If you don't like the rate you are seeing, you do not have to pay that rate. You can negotiate a different rate with the contractor or you can choose to work with a different contractor.

Hi, Preston H.

Really, good answer.

Sincerely, Vitalij - Top Rated brochure designer.

Thank you for your response.  When I interviewed the freelancers, we discussed the rate I was willing to pay.  Each of the freelancers agreed to do the job at the rate I suggested.  I made sure we agreed on the payment amount before I moved forward to click the "hire" button.  I also included info on the agreed amount in the offer for them to accept.

 

I didn't think anything about the bid that they made because they agreed to my price.  It wasn't until I funded the deposit that I saw that the contract showed the bid "As Agreed" and that was incorrect.  I printed out the interview so I can document the amount that was agreed upon.

 

I wanted to know what to do in this situation because I am only going to pay what was agreed to.  Now, on top of that, one of the Freelancers had to be terminated because she disputed the changes/corrections I wanted her to make to the article.  Seemed like she always had some kind of chip on her shoulder every time we talked.  She more or less wanted to do what she wanted to do and not what I was asking her to do.  So, I told her I would pay her for the first article and I would make the corrections myself and that she should not do the second article requested.  She had 1 milestone to write 2 articles.

 

Is there something special that I have to do to terminate the freelancer?


@Verna M wrote:
When I made the offer I put the rate of pay in the offer that was agreed upon by me and the freelancers and they accepted the offer. Are you saying that I will be expected to pay what their bid was just because I am using a fixed price? Why should the the bid be the determining factor of what a client is going to pay? I'm confused. Thanks for responding Petra. Verna

 The bid shouldn't be the only determining factor, but in general, a bid is the price that the freelancer is willing to accept for a project. If you accept their bid, essentially you are agreeing to their bid - even though you do have some freedom to negotiate, and you will only be charged for the milestones you actually set up.

 

Technically, the bid doesn't really mean anything for fixed price contracts. But from the point of view of a freelancer, you shouldn't really accept a bid that you have no intention of honoring. I doubt it's against any rules, but it's sort of misleading.

- Barbara Herrera -

I never accepted the freelancers bid.  I interviewed them first and discussed the payment terms and asked if they were in agreement with my terms and they said they were.  I did not hit the hire button until I interviewed them and got that agreement and the agreement was put in the offer.

 

But upwork is showing me a balance due and there is no balance due because the agreement was less than the bid and I had to terminate the contract because one of the freelancers was unsatisfactory.

Hi Verna,

 

Just to clarify, on fixed-price contracts you are charged the full amount of the project or the amount of the first milestone when you make the offer. The offer should contain the actual terms of the contract that can be different from the freelancer's profile rate or initial bid. Although you are charged when you make the offer, the funds stay in Escrow until you release them to the freelancer. 

 

As for the ended contract you are referring to, it appears that the freelancer refunded the second milestone to you and the amount will become available to you after the security period.

~ Valeria
Upwork

Yes, the freelancer that was terminated did make the refund immediately to her that a duplicate payment was made to her in error. As for the other issue, I finally contacted customer service and was advised that once I interview the person and we are both in agreement of the payment amount I can change the bid amount to what was agreed upon at the time that I hire the person and I should also put the payment information in the offer. I hope that is correct because I will be looking to do that from now on if the agreement is different from the agreed upon amount.
349b98b7
Community Member

Where do I find this "Contract" to send to the freelancer?

Hi Reb,

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. Are you referring to sending an offer to a freelancer? If so after you’ve found the right freelancer or agency for your project, hiring them is simple.

 

To hire a freelancer or agency:

 

  • Go to the My Jobs page
  • Open the posting you wish to hire on
  • Locate the freelancer or agency you’d like to hire
  • Click the Hire Freelancer or Hire Agency button
  • Send an offer to the freelancer or agency

 

You can find more information in this help article. Let us know if you have further questions. 

 

~ Nikola
Upwork

re: "Where do I find this 'Contract' to send to the freelancer?"

 

You don't literally send freelancers a contract.

 

You click the "Hire" button, and then the freelancer clicks the "Accept" button.

 

Those two button clicks create a "contract".

Thank you all so much, my free lancers was fairly new on upwork so she didn't know either.
bec
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