Client wants to make a trial before hiring

[mahmud_sup]

Hello there!

Client wants to make a trial before hiring and he gave me below messsage. 

"Okay, what I've done is created a contract that holds an escrow for $10. You will receive your payment as soon as I confirmed that the assessment has been completed. Send me your email so I can send you the contract"

What should I do.  I am not clear. Can you please help me on this. It's kind of urgent. 

Thanks.

[prestonhunter]

It is completely fine for a client to create a trial contract with $10 in escrow for the trial task.

But you are not allowed to send the client an email address for this.

The client will create the contract on Upwork, and will send you an offer that will go through the Upwork user interface.

[yofazza]

From what I see, the client has made a contract and fund the escrow. If that's the case then there's no problem with contact sharing.

And contact sharing before contract is allowed under some circumstances. 

[prestonhunter]

If the client created an Upwork contract, the freelancer needs to ACCEPT the contract and THEN the freelancer can provide his email address to the client.

The freelancer CAN NOT provide his email,address first in order for the client to set up the contract.

The freelancer told us that the client said: "Send me your email so I can send you the contract."

THAT is not how it works. The client is either a scammer or someone who doesn't know how to use Upwork correctly.

[yofazza]

Okay maybe he doesn't receive or accept the contract yet.

But what about the link that explains freelancer may provide contact information before contract?

> The freelancer CAN NOT provide his email,address first in order for the client to set up the contract.

I keep seeing you insisting on that statement where I believe it is not true. I understand if your intention is to save the freelancer from scam by assuming the client is a scammer. In that case my intention (other than telling the truth) is to not make the freelancer annoy the client by requiring the client to create a contract before a simple NDA or Google Docs share.

Telling a prospective client to sign a contract just so you can share your email address is good only if you're an extremely busy person with so many busy jobs which is not the case for most Upwork freelancers. Upwork agrees, by providing those exceptions.

[prestonhunter]

We're not talking about NDAs or Google Docs.

We're talking about a client asking a freelancer to send his email address so that the client can set up escrow and send a contract.

That is not how it works.

This client is a scammer, or the client does not know how Upwork works, or the original poster is not accurately telling us what happened.

[sofia2008]

Fixed price contract and escrow work just like your other fixed price contracts. They have to hire you in Upwork and fund a milestone. There are no other contrats. You are not allowed to send personal info before being hired officially on Upwork.

You can take a look at the Academy courses to refresh your knowledge of the platform.

[williamtcooper]

Md,

Reminder them that it is against Upwork's Terms of Service to go off site with an email address until they are a client. Tell them to send the $10 fixed-fee Contract. Have a great day!

[750daced]

yes