Does bonus payment count towards completing a fixed price contract?

[kbadeau]

I have a client who is not super tech savvy and has paid me for one milestone with a nice bonus. Now I want to create one last milestone so he can easily pay me and close the contract.

If I make the milestone for the amount he technically owes (say $100 instead of $125) because of the bonus, will Upwork see that as fulfilling the contract, or will it then be missing the bonus amount, and he'll still need to create an additional milestone to close it out. I just want to make it as easy as possible for the client.

I'm not sure if he meant for the bonus to be a bonus or if he was just trying to make partial payment, and I feel funny asking him directly. I figure if he wanted me to get more than the original amount he can add another bonus to this payment.

[louisaj]

Hello. The amount that you and the client first agreed to on the contract doesn't have to be fulfilled. For example, sometimes a project I work on is reduced due to the client having to put deadlines aside, and they pay me for the work done (the milestones activated), close the contract, and leave a review.

Sometimes, I start with say a $55 contract and it ends up being a $2,000 contract. The client just keeps adding milestones to that contract as the work escalates. When finished, even though it originally said $55, I got paid $2,000. 

So, to answer your question, you can raise a milestone for the amount the client owes you and then close the contract, and it doesn't matter if you already had a bonus. It doesn't matter if the contract said $100, but it's made up of one milestone of say $60 and a bonus of $40. It also doesn't matter if you end up with $200 on a $100 original contract. 

However, I would advise you to talk to the client about the bonus. Honesty and open frank conversation is a good thing between a client and a freelancer. They may thank you for pointing it out. 

Be aware though, if you have submitted more work already than the bonus covered, the client may have ran away knowing that they do not have to fund another milestone. Hopefully, this isn't your situation. Plus, what happened to the original funded milestone? Has that been paid? 

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

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Kelly B wrote:

I have a client who is not super tech savvy and has paid me for one milestone with a nice bonus. Now I want to create one last milestone so he can easily pay me and close the contract.

If I make the milestone for the amount he technically owes (say $100 instead of $125) because of the bonus, will Upwork see that as fulfilling the contract, or will it then be missing the bonus amount, and he'll still need to create an additional milestone to close it out. I just want to make it as easy as possible for the client.

I'm not sure if he meant for the bonus to be a bonus or if he was just trying to make partial payment, and I feel funny asking him directly. I figure if he wanted me to get more than the original amount he can add another bonus to this payment.

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I think you really need to discuss this with the client as they may not have meant it as a bonus at all?

But Upwork do not care one way or the other whether a contract pays more or less than the previously agreed amount.