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dacotto1984
Community Member

How do i start a fixed price contract

So i have had an issue here. 

I created a script for a guy, it took me 2 days to complete and i wanted to charge the guy $75 for the script.  he agreed but i wasnt able to send that script over to him because he didnt pay me... it seemed that we were in some sort of hourly rate ordeal here on upwork... my quesiton is this.. is there anyway that i can immediately just say... hey.. lets end this here with a fixed price... approve the payment .. and lets be on our way.. it seemed that we had to wait a few days in order for the "approve" button to work... as such he got someone else to do the job and wanted a refund which i gave to him but i wasnt able to give him the completed work because of payment issues.. isnt there anyway to just simply agree to a price.. approve it and be off or do am i forced to have to wait til the end of a work week to get paid?  please help.

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prestonhunter
Community Member

Upwork can be confusing to newcomers, but once you get the hang of it, these things are actually quite simple.

 

If you have ANY KIND of contract in place, then the client can use the "Pay Bonus" tool to pay you ANY AMOUNT he wants to.

 

So you do NOT need to scrap the current contract, even if it is the wrong contract type. Just have him pay you using the Pay Bonus tool, and then you can both close the contract, and it will be over.

 

re: "...as such he got someone else to do the job and wanted a refund which i gave to him"

 

That's fine. You will learn more about Upwork contract types, and you'll do better next time.

 

re: "...isnt there anyway to just simply agree to a price.. approve it and be off or do am i forced to have to wait til the end of a work week to get paid?"

 

Yes, there is a way. Use a fixed-price contract, instead of an hourly contract.

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10 REPLIES 10
prestonhunter
Community Member

Upwork can be confusing to newcomers, but once you get the hang of it, these things are actually quite simple.

 

If you have ANY KIND of contract in place, then the client can use the "Pay Bonus" tool to pay you ANY AMOUNT he wants to.

 

So you do NOT need to scrap the current contract, even if it is the wrong contract type. Just have him pay you using the Pay Bonus tool, and then you can both close the contract, and it will be over.

 

re: "...as such he got someone else to do the job and wanted a refund which i gave to him"

 

That's fine. You will learn more about Upwork contract types, and you'll do better next time.

 

re: "...isnt there anyway to just simply agree to a price.. approve it and be off or do am i forced to have to wait til the end of a work week to get paid?"

 

Yes, there is a way. Use a fixed-price contract, instead of an hourly contract.

kat303
Community Member


David C wrote:

So i have had an issue here. 

I created a script for a guy, it took me 2 days to complete and i wanted to charge the guy $75 for the script.  he agreed but i wasnt able to send that script over to him because he didnt pay me... it seemed that we were in some sort of hourly rate ordeal here on upwork... my quesiton is this.. is there anyway that i can immediately just say... hey.. lets end this here with a fixed price... approve the payment .. and lets be on our way.. it seemed that we had to wait a few days in order for the "approve" button to work... as such he got someone else to do the job and wanted a refund which i gave to him but i wasnt able to give him the completed work because of payment issues.. isn't there anyway to just simply agree to a price.. approve it and be off or do am i forced to have to wait til the end of a work week to get paid?  please help.


-----------------------------

Was this an hourly contract. If so, then the client is billed automatically. The client doesn't need to do anything because that payment will be automatically taken out of his financial account. That is, IF you used Upwork's tracker and wrote notes on the screen shots it took.  

 

And if this was a fixed rate contract, as long as you clicked on the Submit Work/Request Payment button then all the client needed to do was to Approve that request and the funds in Escrow would be released to you --- Provided that the client deposited funds into escrow.

 

If you refunded the money this will now count as a job with no earnings and a job with no earnings counts against your JSS. 

 

As Preston said, even if a contract, whether fixed or hourly, is closed, a client can still submit payment as a bonus. Provided that the client wants to. A client doesn't have to and there's no way you or Upwork can make or force them to. And reading that the client had hired someone else, it's highy unlikely that they will pay you a bonus.

yes i feel they hired someone else unjustly on my behalf.  I did the job and he liked it but we were waiting for the payment to be processed.  We were both new to this platform and confused.  Once payment went through and it was approved i was going to give him the script, we tried contacting upwork but it was fruitless.  I guess another experienced user just gave the script and finished it off.  so i was very upset to find out i had worked hard on this and was turned down so abrutly. 

richardsmith94
Community Member


David C wrote:

So i have had an issue here. 

I created a script for a guy, it took me 2 days to complete and i wanted to charge the guy $75 for the script.  he agreed but i wasnt able to send that script over to him because he didnt pay me

 

This already sounds like a complete mess David, can you give some more details so people may be able to help.

 

'You wanted to charge him'? Did you not already have a contract in place before starting the work? 

 

... it seemed that we were in some sort of hourly rate ordeal here on upwork...

 

Had you accepted an hourly contract with the client or not? Freelancing is how I earn a living and pay my bills, I never, ever want to be in the position on this site where I 'seem' to be in particular contract. I'm not even sure that that's possible. Either I am, or I'm not.

 

my quesiton is this.. is there anyway that i can immediately just say... hey.. lets end this here with a fixed price... approve the payment .. and lets be on our way.. it seemed that we had to wait a few days in order for the "approve" button to work... as such he got someone else to do the job and wanted a refund which i gave to him

 

Why or even how did you give the client a refund if, from what you've said, they've never paid you anything?

 

but i wasnt able to give him the completed work because of payment issues.. isnt there anyway to just simply agree to a price.. approve it and be off or do am i forced to have to wait til the end of a work week to get paid?  please help.


 

This already sounds like a complete mess David, can you give some more details so people may be able to help.

 

'You wanted to charge him'? Did you not already have a contract in place before starting the work? 

 

yes when we started the contract it was on a hourly rate. (it was both our first time)  I believe i had to agree to his contract, not sure if there is a way to change that first hand. i believe that would have to be done on his end. not sure im new to this platform

 

Why or even how did you give the client a refund if, from what you've said, they've never paid you anything?

 

So yes we were waiting for the payment transaction to complete.  we waited a few days and by that time he had already found someone to give him the script.  i waited til the end to hand over my work

 


David C wrote:

This already sounds like a complete mess David, can you give some more details so people may be able to help.

 

'You wanted to charge him'? Did you not already have a contract in place before starting the work? 

 

yes when we started the contract it was on a hourly rate. (it was both our first time)  I believe i had to agree to his contract, not sure if there is a way to change that first hand. i believe that would have to be done on his end. not sure im new to this platform

 

A client sends you an offer, you either accept it (if you're happy with it), or you don't.

 

Why or even how did you give the client a refund if, from what you've said, they've never paid you anything?

 

So yes we were waiting for the payment transaction to complete.  we waited a few days and by that time he had already found someone to give him the script.  i waited til the end to hand over my work

 

Once you've completed the task or project, you 'submit work for payment' under 'my jobs', providng the client with everything you've done to complete it. No one is going to pay for work that they havn't received which is why, presumably, you've ended up refunding them. I'm very, very happy to be corrected, but as far as I'm aware, unfortunately, I don't think this will be money that you will now get.

 


 

no i wont be getting any money this happened a long time ago.  im giving this platform, upwork, one more time.  i am getting tired of doing work and not getting paid for it.  I only used this platform once and overall im new to freelancing and this is the 2nd time i worked for someone and they bailed out on my in the middle of work and i dont get paid. One was here on upwork and the other in real life with a client

 

i wanted to refund because i wanted to be a good sport, a good business man and satisfy my client .. but thank you very much for telling me the submit work for payment feature.. I wasnt aware of that.  I wish there was an easier and faster communication with upwork so at least we can get some guidance during the process.  if i could chat or talk with any questions and get results right away. that would take the edge of greatly but yeah its understandable.

With an hourly contract, I immediately set up a central server and I give the client ALL the access credentials.

 

I do all the work there. The client has access to EVERYTHING that I do, the second I do it. In real time.


So there is never a time where I need to "submit" files to the client.

 

The client has everything all along.

 

You never should have withheld files from the client.

Freelancers using an hourly contract are paid AUTOMATICALLY for the time that they log.

The client does not need to do ANYTHING. The money is automatically charged to the client's credit card and paid to the freelancer.


David C wrote:

no i wont be getting any money this happened a long time ago.  im giving this platform, upwork, one more time.  i am getting tired of doing work and not getting paid for it.  I only used this platform once and overall im new to freelancing and this is the 2nd time i worked for someone and they bailed out on my in the middle of work and i dont get paid. One was here on upwork and the other in real life with a client

 

i wanted to refund because i wanted to be a good sport, a good business man and satisfy my client .. but thank you very much for telling me the submit work for payment feature.. I wasnt aware of that.  I wish there was an easier and faster communication with upwork so at least we can get some guidance during the process.  if i could chat or talk with any questions and get results right away. that would take the edge of greatly but yeah its understandable.


================

You aren't getting paid because you aren't using this site correctly. I strongly suggest that you read all of the information in the links located on the Help and Support page. (click on the question mark located at the top  right of the homepage and then click on Help and Support

 

For hourly contracts,you are paid for the HOURS you worked. You need to download, install and use the Tracker plus you must annotate the screen shots it takes. The client can't dispute any hours recorded provided those hour show you were working on the clients job and nothing else. Manual hours and hours that show you weren't working on the clients job will be deleted. You deliver the work when you've completed the requirements or on whatever schedule was agreed on for you to deliver the work, that's what you do. For example, if the clients wants what you've done every 3 days, then you send that work to them even if you're not finished working. That's all you have to do, You can deliver the work any way,  -- attached to a message here, private email, dropbox, Google drive, etc. Just send the completed job and you'll get paid according to the schedule below. 

All time logged i is automatically invoiced to your client using the schedule below.

  • Week 1 – You log time using the Upwork Desktop App (Time Tracker)
  • Week 2 – Your time is invoiced to your client on Monday and they have until Friday to review your work
  • Week 3 – Earnings become available on the following Wednesday

For Fixed rate contracts, the client will FULLY fund escrow either for the entire job or for each milestone as they come up BEFORE you start work. When you've completed the requirements for that job or milestone, you submit those results by clicking on the Submit Work/Request Payment button. The client has 14 days to review that work. When approved they will release the funds in escrow and if there is another milestone, they will Fully fund that, and when they do, then you can start work on those requirements etc. 

Hi David, 


I'm sorry to learn about your experience on Upwork. Kathy has shared how earnings are processed on Upwork, and you can read more about it in this help article - Weekly Billing Cycle. Hopefully, this will give you an insight as to when to expect to receive your earnings on a fixed-price contract, or on an hourly contract. 


I also checked the ticket you were referring to on your post, and can see that the Customer Support Agent who handled your case has explained in detail how hourly contracts work. I think it would have been to you, and your client's advantage if you had a fixed-price contract instead of an hourly contract. You may read more about the differences of both contracts in this help article

 

I highly recommend that you read up on the freelancer resources we have compiled, for great tips and insights on how you can work successfully on the platform. Please also pay attention to the Safety First! section of the resources, and these tips for avoiding questionable jobs for more information about working safely through Upwork.


~ Avery
Upwork
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