Clients with Unverified Payment

[hamdyahmed90]

Whats the Point of Having Clients be able to post Jobs without Having their Payment Verified .. that can lead to Huge Scam of others.. How others Make sure they dont get scammed while doing the work !!? 

[k_nadel]

Clients can post jobs prior to having their payment method verified, but they are required to do so upon sending a job offer. It's up to you whether to work with clients that are new to the platform or not, but know that in order to set up a contract, they will need to verify their payment method.

[abranen]

I was just about to ask about this! I had a great discussion on Friday with a potential client (who'd sent me an invitation), and then I saw that they're not verified. This makes me feel better about working with them, if they hire me. 

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

Ahmed:
You can SEE whether or not a client is payment verified.

You can thus choose whether to apply to jobs or not based on that factor.

I have earned a lot of money from clients who were not payment verified when I applied to their job or replied to their invitation.

They became payment verified before I started working for them. It's not a big deal.

[hamdyahmed90]

yea that Explains it all .. they have to Make their Payment Verified Before Sending Contract ..Right !!? Thanks alot for Clarifying that Part

[petra_r]

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Ahmed H wrote:

they have to Make their Payment Verified Before Sending Contract ..Right !!? 

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No, they don't. They can hire before verifying their payment method, it's just wise not accept the offer, or at least not to start working, until the payment method is verified.

[hayyuzair]

Hi Petra,

could you please explain why it is not 'wise' to start working until a client verifes their payment method? what are the potential risks? 

thanks,

uzair

[petra_r]

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Uzair H wrote:

could you please explain why it is not 'wise' to start working until a client verifes their payment method? what are the potential risks? 

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Never getting paid because a client with an unverified payment method can't pay you even if they want to, even if the funds are in Escrow and even if you tracked your hours 100% correctly.

[hayyuzair]

as per my understanding, client has an unverified payment method if they have not given their credit/card details to Upwork so that Upwork can charge the client. am i correct in my understanding? if not, please explain what the correct concept is, and also how can client verify their payment method? what exactly do they have to do in order to get their payment method verified?

[petra_r]

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Uzair H wrote:

as per my understanding, client has an unverified payment method if they have not given their credit/card details to Upwork so that Upwork can charge the client. am i correct in my understanding?

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No, you are not. Just giving a credit card does not verify it. That is a second step.

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Uzair H wrote:

 if not, please explain what the correct concept is, and also how can client verify their payment method? what exactly do they have to do in order to get their payment method verified?

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They can follow the steps explained here

[tanujwadhwa]

Hi all
This is really bad experience sometimes when a genuine client posts a job but we have to simply skip ignore a good job posting because the payment is showing unverified

As a standard, I beleive UPWORK should restrict posting a job from such client for following reasons mainly
1. Payment unverified - it just looks in unethical and illegal
2. Spamming - as I can see multiple posting for same requirement from payment unverified client. Probably because they don't have to spend connects like us.
3. Mostly Unprofessional advertisements- it is clearly evident after reading such bogus ads thats those are written is haste, vague and lengthy. For just $10 they put multiple subtasks too..

[mtngigi]

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Tanuj W wrote:
Hi all
This is really bad experience sometimes when a genuine client posts a job but we have to simply skip ignore a good job posting because the payment is showing unverified

As a standard, I beleive UPWORK should restrict posting a job from such client for following reasons mainly
1. Payment unverified - it just looks in unethical and illegal
2. Spamming - as I can see multiple posting for same requirement from payment unverified client. Probably because they don't have to spend connects like us.
3. Mostly Unprofessional advertisements- it is clearly evident after reading such bogus ads thats those are written is haste, vague and lengthy. For just $10 they put multiple subtasks too..

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There is absolutely nothing unethical or illegal about it. The vast majority of my jobs have been with clients who hadn't verified their payment yet. It's not a big deal ... you just do not start work until their payment method is verified. That's it. They are not spammers, they are new clients testing the waters to see if Upwork is a good fit before commiting themselves.

I would have missed out on a lot of great clients if I didn't bid simply because they hadn't registered their credit cards yet.

[tanujwadhwa]

Thanks for the reply, I am still not convinced 😞  here is an example of a job listing i saw today. This looks unprofessional and there are several job postings like that .. but yea, I would give it a try as you said.. because I have been ignoring these job postings so far

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

A good description includes:

What the deliverable is
Type of freelancer or agency you're looking for
Anything unique about the project, team, or your company

As per discussed on the email extraction.

[tlbp]

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Tanuj W wrote:

Thanks for the reply, I am still not convinced 😞  here is an example of a job listing i saw today. This looks unprofessional and there are several job postings like that .. but yea, I would give it a try as you said.. because I have been ignoring these job postings so far

Data Extraction

A good description includes:

What the deliverable is
Type of freelancer or agency you're looking for
Anything unique about the project, team, or your company

As per discussed on the email extraction.

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The best scammers use a stolen credit card to verify their payment method and then scam you after you've taken the gig. Verification and a poorly written gig ad have nothing to do with one another. 

[mtngigi]

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Tanuj W wrote:

Thanks for the reply, I am still not convinced 😞  here is an example of a job listing i saw today. This looks unprofessional and there are several job postings like that .. but yea, I would give it a try as you said.. because I have been ignoring these job postings so far

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

A good description includes:

What the deliverable is
Type of freelancer or agency you're looking for
Anything unique about the project, team, or your company

As per discussed on the email extraction.

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And you can choose to ignore vague postings. But if the job is something you're interested in, you can ask questions for clarity in your bid and state that your bid is dependent on more complete information about the job scope. Tonya is correct, "Verification and a poorly written gig ad have nothing to do with one another".

I also do what Will does - state that work will start once payment metnod is verified and escrow is funded (for fixed price jobs). But I would never use that as an opening statement.

[michelle-reyes_f]

Thanks, Virginia. I've been reluctant to submit proposals until now.   

[wlyonsatl]

Tanuj,

All of the many proposals I send to potential clients with unverified payment methods include the following sentence:

"I can start work on this as soon as Upwork verifies your payment method."

I have never had a potential client object to this, probably because honest clients understand that I expect to be paid for my work and the potential scam artists move on to greener pastures.

Scam artists depend on their unfortunate freelancer victims not clearly understanding how Upwork works.

[tanujwadhwa]

Thanks everyone for the email support here. I am new here and looking at the job postings I was skeptical if the clients are event genuine.. 2 days back I could see majority of payment unverified clients and vague descriptions and emojies ..

But surely instead of ignoring those posts i will open up those posts and carefully review them and if suitable i will apply by the opening statement that Will mentioned 

cheers

Tanuj 

[weirdtaste]

Hi, I just got a fixed price contract, and my client hasn't verified the payment method, but I've completed the milestone and the money has entered the review process, is this safe?

[felawrk9]

If upwork actually wanted to protect freelancers they would not allow them to post with unverified payment methods. Waiting to post until they do further ensures the safety of the site. There is a client now that I've had to report because they are asking for ssn and pictures of photo Id before sending a contract. People are desperate in these times for money/jobs and allowing these kinds of things to happen on this site is negligent on Upwork's part.

[petra_r]

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Felicia B wrote:

If upwork actually wanted to protect freelancers they would not allow them to post with unverified payment methods. 

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It would lead to less freelancers winning less contracts and earning less money because genuine new clients would walk away.

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Felicia B wrote:

Waiting to post until they do further ensures the safety of the site.

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Whilst destroying the business.

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Felicia B wrote:

 There is a client now that I've had to report because they are asking for ssn and pictures of photo Id before sending a contract.

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Yes. That happens. Flag the job post as inappropriate and move on.

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Felicia B wrote:

allowing these kinds of things to happen on this site is negligent on Upwork's part.

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Upwork don't "allow" those things. 

But as it's really difficult to get scammed without violating Upwork's terms of service (by communicating with a client outside the platform for example before a contract is in place), it seems Upwork (like all the other platforms who would prefer to stay in business a little longer), don't force clients to verify their payment method until they have found the right person to hire.

I wouldn't want them to, I've made many tens of thousands of Dollars from such clients. I just don't start working on their projects until they have verified their payment method after deciding to hire me -problem solved (or rather "problem never existed in the first place").

[5f846afb]

Hi I am new . concern that I have he is my client for data entry job and he doesn't require any payment before I start but the problem is I have to pass all the projects first before I get payed. He offers payment thru bank or bitcoins I just want to make sure if he is legit because he has unverified payment method at upwork.

[petra_r]

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Silent G wrote:

concern that I have he is my client for data entry job and he doesn't require any payment before I start but the problem is I have to pass all the projects first before I get payed. He offers payment thru bank or bitcoins.

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You need to familiarize yourself with Upwork's terms of service before you do anything else.

1) It is a serious violation of Upwork's terms of service to communicate with any prospective clients outside of Upwork

2) It is a serious violation of Upwork's terms of Service to agree to be paid outside of Upwork.

That person isn't "your client". He is a scammer.

[7b1dbdd8]

My potential client told me that the money wsa taken out of her account from upwork but he account still shows up as unverified...and I cannot accept the offer. Any insight here?

[ArjayM]

Hi Peta-Gaye,

I'm sorry to learn that you're having difficulty accepting an offer. Could you please confirm if you're receiving an error message when trying to accept the offer? If you can share a screenshot of what you can see from your end, that would be extremely helpful. Looking forward to your response.